Op-ed: Enough is enough in Charleston

(A News and Sentinel Op-Ed - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)
As acting State Director for the national organization American Atheists in West Virginia, I’ve been tracking numerous bills in the current WV legislature and submitting testimony where and when appropriate as they move through committees. Per usual, the Republican supermajorities in both houses in Charleston are wasting session time and the taxpayer’s dime on culture wars nonsense.
WV Delegates and State Senators are paid $20,000 per session plus per diem. In 2025 that is set to go to $30,000, tied to the per capita income in West Virginia. There are 134 legislators in the WV state legislature. Some simple math tells us that we’re paying these people $2,680,000 plus per diem, per session, for this ridiculous, petty foolishness.
Three bills in particular exemplify the idiocy well. SB152, introduced by none other than local zealot Sen. Mike Azinger (R-District 3), aims to display the motto “in god we trust” in all public school and collegiate classrooms across the state. This phrase was adopted as the national motto in the 1950s by congressional joint resolution with the signature of President Dwight Eisenhower during the red scare of the McCarthy Era when the federal government was anxious to show its anti-communist bona fides.
The Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation (CPCF) has been moving model legislation with this aim across the country for years so it’s no surprise Azinger stumbled upon it and has introduced it for two straight legislative sessions. Lower federal appellate courts have upheld the motto’s display, but the Supreme Court of the United States has yet to rule on it, having refused to hear a case on the matter as recently as 2019. Some of these lower courts have ruled that the motto has a more ceremonial than religious meaning and that it does not compel engagement with religion. Sure, that’s why the CPCF has pushed model legislation for the states–just for ceremony with no religious intent (note heavy sarcasm).
The second example bill is SB280, introduced by Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Amy Grady (R-District 4). Sen. Grady says the bill isn’t about “intelligent design,” but for the life of me I can’t figure out what else the bill would really cover. The bill language suggests “certain theories” are what it covers and says teachers cannot be prohibited from discussing any “scientific theories” regarding the origins of the universe or life. Well, the only scientific theories on these matters are the big bang and, in terms of human life, human evolutionary theory stemming from Darwin.
The term scientific theory is strictly defined. The American Museum of Natural History defines the term as “a well-substantiated explanation of an aspect of the natural world that can incorporate laws, hypotheses and facts.” Other than intelligent design, which is a pseudonym for creationism, what does Grady suggest should be discussed or taught? Intelligent design (again, just creationism) does not meet these criteria. What tests could you possibly develop for this idea and how could you possibly begin to measure success? On what tangible, observable, testable basis can you declare the existence an intelligent entity behind the design and creation of all that exists? All of this is absurd.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on this one (against) and, should this law get the Governor’s signature, there will no doubt be litigation. I’ll probably be a plaintiff. Have we seriously ventured such a short way from the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925? If Grady and her family want to line Ken Ham’s pockets by visiting his joke of a tourist attraction in Kentucky, by all means, but let’s stick with just the science in science classrooms.
The third and final bill I have the space to cover here is HB4654, introduced by Del. Brandon Steele (R-District 42). The short title of this bill reads “Removing bona fide schools, public libraries, and museums from the list of exemptions from criminal liability relating to distribution and display to minors of obscene matter.” This bill would allow for criminal prosecution if school curricula contained “obscenity” (a highly subjective word) or if public libraries or museums displayed or distributed the “obscene” to minors, even with their parents or guardians present.
This pearl-clutching authoritarianism brings to mind the battle between Tipper Gore and rock group front man Dee Snider from the band Twisted Sister about parental advisory warnings on packages for music bought in stores. Any older millennials like me or Gen Xers out there remember how that went? That parental advisory label became forbidden fruit. Every album, tape or CD we bought had to have one!
I’ll be the judge of what my minor child can engage with or take away from a public library or museum. I’ll work directly with my County Board of Education, State Board of Ed, County Superintendent’s Office, school administrators and especially teachers regarding curricula and academic standards for my public school child. I don’t need right-wing extremists in Charleston threatening schools, libraries and museums my federal, state, local and property taxes fund with criminal liability for what their own belief systems and faith traditions tell them is obscene.
This crap has gone on every legislative session for 10 years, West Virginia. Enough is enough.
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Eric Engle is acting State Director for American Atheists in West Virginia.