Politics
At least we don’t live in Texas
Our “atheist prophet”, PZ Myers, posted a really great video about the Texas State School Board, and where many of the candidates stand on teaching evolution and creationism to children in schools. Needless to say, it’s not looking good. Republican Gail Lowe, running for re-election to the board, says she will never support the adoption of an environmental science book that attributes global warming to human activity.
This is a really succinct rundown of those on the school board and those running for seats. It just all sounds like a political nightmare.
I have to admit that I have a hard time listening to the man in the video. He’s kinda crazy looking, in a conspiracy-theory-the-government-is-putting-flouride-in-the-water-to-control-our-minds type of way. But he has a lot of great points, and this makes me glad I don’t live in Texas.
At least our local school board election isn’t fighting over whether or not we should be teaching evolution or creationism intelligent design. We stick to actual isues like the Code Yellow vs. Code Blue remonstrance debates. is this a concern we might face in the future, though? I’d love to hear your ideas on the topic in the comments.
Disclaimer: The views expressed by an individual contributor to this blog are not necessarily shared by all members of FreeThought Fort Wayne. That is what makes this organization so interesting. Commenters on the FreeThought Fort Wayne blog are expected to abide by our comment policy. About the author: Andy Welfle is a marketing professional in a non-profit arts organization by day, and a net junkie, an Apple fanboy, and a freethinker by night. Follow him on twitter: twitter.com/awelfle. | Read more from this author
The At least we don’t live in Texas by Andy Welfle, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
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3 comments for “At least we don’t live in Texas”
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I agree the narrator of the video looks to be a bit on the wild side. They say,” never judge a book by its cover”, but he could stand a good chance of being cast as the villain in the next Harry Potter film. I like the one shirt he dons which reads something to the effect – do not start with me, you will not win.
I am also thankful to not live in the state of Texas. On top of the “Do Not Mess With Texas” road signs which pop up frequently on the landscape, this push to “Creationize” the public schools is frightening.
A return to the Dark Ages is not my idea of a quality, enlightening education. In no way do I want my children being taught creationism in a public school. Ironically, teaching abstinence-only education was also brought up in the video.
Watching the movie “Jesus Camp” was enough for me.
Unfortunately, we are becoming a more divided nation between the more fundamental of the Christian evangelicals and the folks who lean towards reason and being open minded. I feel some of the more rural, conservative parts of our country are only going to feel more isolated from mainstream, rational thinking.
I do think this topic might surface here in NE Indiana though. Remember the teacher who was fired a few years back from the NW Allen Co. school district? The teacher was let go for allowing a high school student to compose and print a story in the local student newspaper which addressed the suicide rate among homosexual teenagers. I believe the student who wrote the story was only asking for more tolerance and understanding for the homosexual community.
The problem of Texas could turn into a nationwide issue and hence an Indiana problem. I forget how but Texas is very influential in text book selection and overall production of most public school text books. The creationist know this too…
I will look up that issue and tie in….
It’s funny you brought up one of his videos. His handle is AronRa and he is one of my favorite subscriptions on youtube. Check out his Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism series. If you like him, you have to watch Thunderf00t’s videos as well.