For years, teachers have been limited in teaching students about the Creation of the universe. That included staying away from Intelligent Design, considered taboo due to its ties to the Bible.
One West Virginia high school student felt that was unfair and helped draft a bill allowing West Virginia teachers to cover “scientific theory,” which includes intelligent design.
Sixteen-year-old West Virginia high school student Haden Hodge was just 14 when he decided to help his teachers increase the scientific theories they could include in lessons on how the world came to be.
While the so-called Big Bang and evolution made the list, the theory that perhaps God supernaturally created the universe and humanity did not.
“So I think a lot of it was fear. They were just afraid if a student asked a question like that and they answered it truthfully, then they were afraid of anything that could happen to them with their jobs or in their personal life or anything like that,” Haden told us.
“And like I said, with that science teacher, he was afraid even to have conversations like that and I thought, ‘This needs to change. He needs to feel like he can talk about this without fearing losing his job,'” Haden said.
With the help of his father, Tony, and some West Virginia lawmakers, Haden drafted a bill that would allow teachers to discuss Intelligent Design in their lessons.
“Well, first of all, I’ll tell you, Haden, he spearheaded this himself. I mean, he came to me and asked for my advice, ‘Dad, how can we do this?’ or whatever, and I just gave him a little bit of advice. I said, but if you want to do it, you need to be the one to head it up. He sat down and did research, and he ended up working on the language himself.
He talked to the senator who represents our district and went to her, Sen. Amy Grady, the chair of the Education Committee. He took it to her, and from there, the ball just kept rolling. And we’re really proud of him and all of his efforts,” said Haden’s father Tony.
Due to political pushback, they agreed to remove the phrase “Intelligent Design” from the bill, although it still allows West Virginia public school teachers to discuss it in the classroom.
Some senators saw it as the easiest vote they cast all year.
“You have to understand, in West Virginia, this is a God-fearing state. The people here love the Lord. They love God, they love Jesus, and when people have things like this presented before them, they put God first in their lives. And the same goes for our legislators in this building behind me,” said Tony.
Gov. Jim Justice, an outspoken Christian, signed it into law in March. “Anyone that denies God’s presence is just not looking and just absolutely not with it,” Gov. Justice said. “And so, for our teachers to be able to teach the foundation of all of our lives, well, why wouldn’t they teach it and everything?”
