They are afraid of anything that can shatter their delusion. Reason and logic.

Because evangelical "true believers" are so blindly and deeply wedded to the biblical creation myth that they feel that evolution undermines the "truth" of the Bible, ergo of their religion. We must fight against these efforts without fail.

When I was a high school teacher in central Florida in 1966, I put my job and career on the line to resist such efforts against evolution. I was teaching biology, and my principal came to me and directed me to NOT teach about evolution. I responded that as a science teacher, I had the obligation to deal with all of the principles and facts of science, and did not have the right to withhold any. My principle responded, "It's your ass." I did teach a full unit on evolution and had no complaints from the community.

Stand up to ignorance, superstition and mindless "true belief."

Uh oh. Yet another step back into the dark ages.

Evolution says, stupidity should be fatal, and many of these ill trained children will live shortened lives.

Idiocracy

Because the adults want their kids to be as IGNORANT as they are! I have a co-worker who has a degree in geology, and was a math teacher, but he doesn't believe in evolution, or carbon dating (he believes the universe is only 6,000 years old). There is NO debating or discussing anything with someone like that. When you try to offer FACTS, he just laughs until you stop talking. So I ignore him when he starts talking about such things. he is very naive, but a devout Catholic who is CERTAIN he is going to that happy place in the sky one day. There's no arguing with a true-believer. Oh, and he HATED Obama ("He's OUT THERE!" ), but LOVES the Drumpf!

"IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH!" -- George Orwell, "1984"

Because it would be a terrible thing if Arizona graduated literate students.

Because they don't understand evolution and they don't want their children to either

Evolution contradicts the literal "word of god". If the Bible is wrong about evolution, it can be wrong about anything and everything. They don't want to go there.