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==Creation science debate==
==Creation science debate==
In 1979, while he resided in Mooringsport outside Shreveport, Keith won the District 39 Senate seat vacated by [[Don W. Williamson]] of Vivian, who did seek a third Senate term and instead ran unsuccessfully for Louisiana insurance commissioner, having been narrowly defeated by the incumbent Sherman Albert Bernard, Sr. (1925-2012). As a state senator, Keith is primarily remembered for having introduced legislation, which acquired national attention, that would have given equal emphasis in public school science instruction to creation science and evolution.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://billkeithbooks.com/wordsmith/|title=Visit to Shreve Memorial Library|date=October 14, 2009|publisher=billkeithbooks.com|accessdate=November 25, 2009}}</ref><ref name=aguillard/> The measure, signed by [[Republican Party|Republican]] [[Governor]] [[David C. Treen]], was entitled the Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science Act. Keith's act required that scientific evidence for creation-science, the view of abrupt appearance of organisms in the fossil records, whenever related material on evolution was presented in classes. A panel of seven creation-scientists, appointed by the governor, would advise local school districts on the appropriate curriculum. The act did not specifically require or allow instruction in any religious doctrine.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grisda.org/origins/12038.htm|title=News and Comments|publisher=grisda.org|accessdate=November 25, 2009}}</ref>
In 1979, while he resided in Mooringsport outside Shreveport, Keith won the District 39 Senate seat vacated by [[Don Williamson]] of Vivian, who did seek a third Senate term and instead ran unsuccessfully for Louisiana insurance commissioner, having been narrowly defeated by the incumbent, Sherman Albert Bernard, Sr. (1925-2012). As a state senator, Keith is primarily remembered for having introduced legislation, which acquired national attention, that would have given equal emphasis in public school science instruction to creation science and evolution.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://billkeithbooks.com/wordsmith/|title=Visit to Shreve Memorial Library|date=October 14, 2009|publisher=billkeithbooks.com|accessdate=November 25, 2009}}</ref><ref name=aguillard/> The measure, signed by [[Republican Party|Republican]] [[Governor]] [[David C. Treen]], was entitled the Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science Act. Keith's act required that scientific evidence for creation-science, the view of abrupt appearance of organisms in the fossil records, whenever related material on evolution was presented in classes. A panel of seven creation-scientists, appointed by the governor, would advise local school districts on the appropriate curriculum. The act did not specifically require or allow instruction in any religious doctrine.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grisda.org/origins/12038.htm|title=News and Comments|publisher=grisda.org|accessdate=November 25, 2009}}</ref>
Keith's law was subsequently overturned by the [[United States Supreme Court]] in the 1987 decision ''[[Edwards v. Aguillard]]'' because the court held that the law was specifically intended to advance a particular religion.<ref>Justice William Brennan in the majority opinion said, ''As in <u>Stone and Abington</u>, we need not be blind in this case to the legislature's preeminent religious purpose in enacting this statute.'' opinion, 482 U.S. 578, page 588; and ''Here, it is clear that religious belief is the Balanced Treatment Act's "reason for existence."'' opinion, 482 U.S. 578, page 603.</ref> Keith recalled that his interest in the matter developed in 1978, when his then 13-year-old son came home from school to report that a teacher had ridiculed the youngster's belief in [[God]] as the creator of human life.<ref name=aguillard>{{cite web|url=
Keith's law was subsequently overturned by the [[United States Supreme Court]] in the 1987 decision ''[[Edwards v. Aguillard]]'' because the court held that the law was specifically intended to advance a particular religion.<ref>Justice William Brennan in the majority opinion said, ''As in <u>Stone and Abington</u>, we need not be blind in this case to the legislature's preeminent religious purpose in enacting this statute.'' opinion, 482 U.S. 578, page 588; and ''Here, it is clear that religious belief is the Balanced Treatment Act's "reason for existence."'' opinion, 482 U.S. 578, page 603.</ref> Keith recalled that his interest in the matter developed in 1978, when his then 13-year-old son came home from school to report that a teacher had ridiculed the youngster's belief in [[God]] as the creator of human life.<ref name=aguillard>{{cite web|url=
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19870620&id=tbgMAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0GADAAAAIBAJ&pg=4418,4944792|title=Ridicule sparked creationism law|publisher=''St. Petersburg Times'' |date=June 20, 1987|accessdate=November 25, 2009}}</ref>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19870620&id=tbgMAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0GADAAAAIBAJ&pg=4418,4944792|title=Ridicule sparked creationism law|publisher=''St. Petersburg Times'' |date=June 20, 1987|accessdate=November 25, 2009}}</ref>
In 1983, Keith was defeated for a second term for the District 39 state Senate seat in Caddo Parish by the [[African American]] Democrat Gregory Williams Tarver, Sr., the owner of J.S. Williams Funeral Home and insurance companies. Tarver received 9,264 votes (51.4 percent) to Keith's 8,769 (48.6 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, November 19, 1983.</ref> After the 1980 census, the 39th became majority black and has not since elected a white senator. Keith soon left Louisiana and lived thereafter in east Texas. For several years, he published a conservative weekly newspaper in Marshall, Texas.
In 1983, Keith was defeated for a second term for the District 39 state Senate seat in Caddo Parish by the [[African American]] Democrat Gregory Williams Tarver, Sr., the owner of J.S. Williams Funeral Home and insurance companies. Tarver received 9,264 votes (51.4 percent) to Keith's 8,769 (48.6 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, November 19, 1983.</ref> After the 1980 census, the 39th became majority black and has not since elected a white senator. Keith soon left Louisiana and lived thereafter in east Texas. For several years, he published a conservative weekly newspaper in Marshall, Texas.
==References==
==References==
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