Texas Freedom Network

Let’s talk about freedom and education for a moment.

Today’s Austin American-Statesman includes an advance story about this week’s Texas State Board of Education public hearing and preliminary vote on proposed new science curriculum standards for public schools. Board member Ken Mercer, R-San Antonio, trots out the now-familiar talking points of the board’s creationists: teaching students “strengths and weaknesses” of evolution is about “academic freedom” and allowing students to ask questions.

What a crock.

This debate isn’t about protecting students’ freedom to ask questions. Asking questions is how they learn. No one suggests stifling that freedom. Rather, this debate is about whether the board will force publishers to include phony arguments (“weaknesses”) against evolution in new biology textbooks submitted for board approval in 2011. The board’s creationists have said they will use the “strengths and weaknesses” language currently in the standards to do just that. They tried to do so in 2003, but they lacked the votes to carry the day. Now they run the board.

Search around on “the Google” to learn about their phony “weaknesses” of evolution, such as claims about gaps in the fossil record, polystrate fossils and “Piltdown man” (one of Mr. Mercer’s favorites). If your research is complete, you’ll learn how scientists have knocked down all of those arguments. But that doesn’t matter to the board’s creationists. They keep recycling the same nonsense anti-evolution crackpots write in countless Internet screeds and propaganda pamphlets or that we might read in chain e-mail spam. You can listen to the audio archive of the state board’s November 19 public hearing for some samples.

Each of those phony arguments is a lie calculated to do one thing: call into question the validity of evolution. And that leads us to another lie — that the attacks on evolution have nothing to do with religion. In truth, creationists’ religious beliefs are the reasons for their phony attacks on evolution.

The board’s creationists believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible, which suggests that God created the earth and all life in six days just a few thousand years ago. That belief leaves no room for science and evolution of the wondrous diversity of life over billions of years. Yet the belief in a “young earth” is hardly shared by all people of faith, certainly not by Roman Catholics and many mainline Protestants.

So as we said at the top, let’s talk freedom and education for a moment. The debate before the State Board of Education isn’t about freedom for students to ask questions or for teachers to answer them truthfully. It’s about fundamentalists misusing public school science classes to promote their own religious beliefs over everybody else’s. It’s about handicapping our kids with a 19th-century education in their 21st-century science classrooms. It’s about whether we’ll be hearing more nonsense about “Piltdown man” all over again when biology textbooks are up for adoption in 2011.

The coalition supporting a sound science education in Texas public schools is growing. Today the Center for Inquiry in Austin and the Clergy Letter Project launched a new Web site — Teach them Science — that promotes a 21st-century science education for Texas schoolchildren.

The Web site offers a wealth of information about the Texas State Board of Education and the debate over teaching evolution, links to pro-science groups, and other great stuff. Check it out!

The anti-evolution Discovery Institute is crowing about next week’s scheduled science smackdown at the Texas State Board of Education. On Wednesday afternoon, the board will hear from a panel of six individuals appointed to review proposed new science curriculum standards for public schools.

Three of the reviewers — nominated by far-right board members — are creationists who want the curriculum standards to require that students learn so-called “weaknesses” of evolution. One of them — Stephen Meyer –  is a co-founder of the Discovery Institute. (Surprise!) The panel’s other three reviewers — all science faculty members at Texas universities — support the overwhelming scientific consensus behind evolution.

The Discovery Institute has issued a press release that celebrates the board’s decision to hear from the evenly split panel. That should surprise no one. Evolution deniers have been trying for years to manufacture such a “show trial.”

In 2005, creationists on the Kansas State Board of Education attempted to attack evolution in a similar stunt, but scientists refused to participate in the charade. The Texas panel, however, is part of the formal curriculum revision process. As a result, the Discovery Institute will finally get the public “debate” it has tried so hard to bring about elsewhere.

We have a question: when will elected officials in Texas start taking science education seriously?

In 2007, state Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, distributed to his colleagues in the Texas House of Representatives a memo that, in addition to attacking evolution, referred readers to a Web site promoting the notion that the sun and rest of the universe revolve around a stationary Earth. Really. (Click here to see the memo.)

The notion of an Earth-centric universe is ridiculous, of course. Likewise, it’s absurd when dentists, insurance salesmen, attorneys and political activists on the State Board of Education argue that the thousands of scientists who have found overwhelming evidence for evolution through more than a century of scientific, peer-reviewed research are all just wrong. Moreover, to use a curriculum revision process to stage a “show trial” in an attempt to “prove” that evolution is a fraud is little more than a stunt designed to perpetuate a lie. Even worse, that lie is aimed at undermining the science education of the next generation of Texas schoolchildren.

The Discovery Institute and its friends on the State Board of Education are hoping the news media will cover the panel discussion next week as if the two sides in the debate were somehow on equal footing. Yet evolution deniers have failed to produce a shred of scientific evidence that supports “intelligent design”/creationism and that truly calls into question the overwhelming scientific consensus supporting evolution. In truth, next week’s panel discussion will not represent a debate between equal scientific points of view. The discussion will represent, instead, what happens when ideologues decide that science can be determined by politics and public relations gimmicks, not by scientific research and evidence.

The folks over at the Discovery Institute, an anti-evolution pressure group based in Seattle, appear to have little problem with irony (even if they do have problems with the truth).

Robert Crowther, DI’s director of communications, has written a letter to the editor at the San Antonio Express-News, offering his disingenous critique of a pro-evolution op-ed column the newspaper published last week. Eric Lane, president of the San Antonio chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, penned the op-ed, “Science classes are for science only.” Lane focused on the debate at the Texas State Board of Education over teaching evolution in public school science classrooms:

The intelligent design folks will say (this debate is) only about “weaknesses” of evolutionary theory, “freedom of speech” and “academic freedom.” Don’t fall for it. The debate has nothing to do with science. It has everything to do with religious fundamentalists trying to force non-science into the public science classroom.

Crowther begins his rebuttal with this:

Not surprisingly, Lane apparently didn’t bother to do a shred of research. Instead, he was quite satisfied to let his imagination come up with all sorts of ridiculous things.

Oh, do tell.

Crowther and the Discovery Institute should know something about not bothering “to do a shred of research.” After all, there isn’t a shred of scientific evidence to support the DI’s pet “intelligent design”/creationism alternative to evolution. Nor is there any real science behind the DI’s “weaknesses of evolution” argument. Mainstream scientists have repeatedly debunked the phony “weaknesses” promoted by Crowther and other anti-science fanatics. Moreover, representatives of the 21st Century Science Coalition — an organization of Texas scientists — have pointed out that there are thousands of research articles in peer-reviewed journals — over decades — about the evidence supporting evolution. 

Crowther then offers this howler:

The SBOE is not considering religious, non-scientific beliefs, nor creationism, and certainly not intelligent design for inclusion in science classes.

Please. The fundamentalist religious beliefs of the state board’s creationists are the true motivation behind their opposition to teaching the real science of evolution. This was made clear in a New York Times piece in June of last year. The newspaper quotes board Chairman Don McLeroy, R-College Station, as saying he saw the debate as being between “two systems of science”:

“You’ve got a creationist system and a naturalist system.”

McLeroy has also called for redefining science to include supernatural explanations for phenomena. In a church lecture he gave in July 2005, McLeroy characterized this way the debate over evolution when the board considered new biology textbooks in 2003:

(T)here were only the four really conservative, orthodox Christians on the board were the only ones who were willing to stand up to the textbooks and say that they don’t present the weaknesses of evolution.

And Barbara Forrest, a Louisiana professor who has thoroughly researched the “intelligent design” movement, has shown how undermining evolution is a key part of the creationists’ strategy for promoting their religious beliefs in public schools. (You can find a wealth of Forrest’s research — there’s that problematic word again for the DI folks — by clicking here.)

As Lane wrote, don’t fall for the disingenous arguments from the creationists on the state board and at the Discovery Institute. They’re simply blowing smoke. The national crusade — with its focus now on Texas — to undermine science education is all about promoting the fundamentalist religious beliefs of some over everybody else’s.

State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, has just filed legislation that would strip the Texas State Board of Education of all authority assigned to it by statute. Among the board’s powers that would go away: setting curriculum standards and adopting textbooks. That authority would be transferred to the Texas Education Agency.

The only authority the board would keep under Senate Bill 440 is power granted under the state Constitution, primarily managing the Permanent School Fund. Removing that authority and eliminating the board altogether would require passage of a constitutional amendment, followed by approval from Texas voters.

We noted last month that state lawmakers had begun looking at ways to rein in the deeply politicized board. We wouldn’t be surprised to see additional legislation targeting the board.

All of this comes as the state board flies farther into the outer political fringes under the control of a far-right bloc headed by Chairman Don McLeroy, R-College Station. McLeroy, a creationist, has called for redefining science to include supernatural explanations. Board member  and fellow creationist Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, has written a book calling public education a “tool of perversion,” ”unconstitutional” and “tyrannical.” Last spring the board’s far-right faction threw out three years of work on new language arts curriculum standards by teachers and curriculum experts. The faction instead pushed through a replacement version of the standards patched together the night before the final board vote.

Currently, creationists on the board are trying to dumb down the public school science curriculum and force publishers to insert phony attacks on evolution in new science textbooks up for adoption in 2011. (Click here to learn about TFN’s Stand Up for Science campaign.)

What the Texas Legislature ultimately will do is, of course, hard to know at this stage. Clearly, however, lawmakers are becoming increasingly embarrassed and agitated by how ideological extremism and political shenanigans on the board are influencing what Texas children learn in their public schools.

Records recently filed with the Internal Revenue Service show that James Leininger, a San Antonio businessman and sugar daddy for the religious right in Texas, continued through at least 2007 to fund efforts to recruit pastors into the Republican political machine in this state and across the country.

In 2005 the Texas Restoration Project spent nearly $1.3 million to host six so-called “Pastors’ Policy Briefings” around the state. Hundreds of pastors and their spouses attended the confabs free of charge to hear speechifying and praise for (and from) Republican Gov. Rick Perry. (You can read more about the Texas Restoration Project in a Texas Freedom Network Education Fund report here.) Speakers encouraged pastors to get their congregants to the polls to vote for candidates who support “Judeo-Christian values” — values that Gov. Perry and fellow GOP candidates made clear they support (and, they suggested, Democrats don’t).

The Texas Freedom Network later discovered that Leininger, Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, East Texas chicken tycoon Bo Pilgrim and beer and wine distributor Don O’Neal of Colleyville, Tex., had funneled money through a nonprofit entity called the Niemoller Foundation to pay for the Texas Restoration Project events. All were major financial backers of Gov. Perry’s campaigns and those of other GOP candidates. TFN filed a complaint with the IRS in January 2008, but whether or not the IRS ever launched an investigation is unknown.

As it turns out, the executive director of the Texas Restoration Project — a man named David Lane — also helped organize similar pastor recruitment efforts elsewhere. We began to see “Renewal” and “Restoration” projects crop up in Colorado, Florida, Iowa and other states that were expected to become major battlegrounds in the 2008 presidential election.

Documents filed by Niemoller with the IRS show that Leininger and the far-right American Family Association were continuing to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Niemoller Foundation in 2006 and 2007, when these national pastor recruitment efforts were  moving into high gear. In 2006 more than $200,000 of the Niemoller money went to pay the salary of Lane for “fundraising.” Niemoller also spent nearly $400,000 on “Pastors’ Policy Briefings” in Florida (Jan. 15-16, 2006) and Colorado (June 5-6 and again Oct. 2-4 of that year). Niemoller reported $615,000 in contributions that year, much of it from Leininger and the AFA (which were the only two names listed as “substantial contributors” on the foundation’s IRS Form 990).

IRS documents show that Niemoller raised another nearly $240,000 in 2007, nearly all of it from Leininger. That money helped cover $56,000 for Lane’s salary and nearly $200,000 to pay for an Austin ”Pastors’ Policy Briefing” to celebrate Gov. Perry’s reinauguration in January of that year.

The Niemoller Foundation’s Form 990 detailing income and expenditures for 2008 isn’t due to the IRS until November of this year. So it will be a while before we learn how much money was funneled from Texas to national efforts to recruit pastors for partisan politicking during the presidential election year itself. Those efforts were likely substantial, including another “briefing” last October in Austin.

Reports tonight say state representatives John Smithee, R-Amarillo, and Dan Gattis, R-Georgetown, have withdrawn their candidacies for speaker of the Texas House. That leaves Rep. Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, as the only remaining speaker candidate.

So what does Cathie Adams of Texas Eagle Forum have to say about the man (Straus) she has been attacking in e-mails to far-right activists over the past week? She just sent out a new e-mail:

Rep. John Smithee withdrew from the Speaker’s race late today. Rep. Joe Straus is expected to be the next Speaker of the Texas House.

I look forward to working with the new Speaker and each of YOU in the upcoming legislative session.

So she looks forward to working with a Republican speaker she spent the last week characterizing as a liberal, pro-abortion, anti-family leader of a Democratic coup? Yeah, well, good luck with that.

Cathie Adams at Texas Eagle Forum isn’t turning down the heat in her assault on Texas House speaker candidate Joe Straus, R-San Antonio. In a new e-mail to far-right activists today, Adams essentially accuses Straus of being a liar. Adams writes:

Representatives should not be thrown off by Straus’ claim that he will not support an expansion of gambling if he’s elected. That is champaign rhetoric. His record votes prove that he supports an expansion of gambling, third trimester abortions and homosexuals for foster parents.

With Tom Craddick, R-Midland, having now dropped his bid for a fourth term as speaker, Adams has thrown her support behind state Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo. But Quorum Report says Smithee is disassociating himself from the vitriolic attacks launched by Adams and others orbiting along the political fringes.

Even so, Texas Republicans are getting a clear view of how vicious the party’s far-right fringe can get. It’s old news to us. As we reported last October, in the final days of the presidential campaign, Adams — who also serves as a Republican National Committeewoman for Texas — attacked Democrat Barack Obama’s religious faith in an e-mail to activists:

While many question Barak Hussein Obama’s “religion” . . . the more important question is whether he has a “relationship” with Jesus Christ because that is the only HOPE that any of us have to obtain eternal life. I personally see NO evidence that Obama has that kind of “saving faith.”

Well, we see no evidence that Adams has much respect for grace or civility. Shame on her.

The contest for speaker of the Texas House of Representatives is exposing deep divisions in Republican ranks — and the religious right is doing all it can to widen those divisions. A collection of religious-right groups is sending out mass e-mails, calling on activists to contact their local lawmakers and demand that they support the re-election of Tom Craddick, R-Midland, to a fourth term as House speaker. Some of the e-mails use almost identical language, suggesting coordination in support of Craddick.

Craddick has alienated Democrats and a number of Republicans with his autocratic rule of the House and by forcing controversial votes on hot-button issues like private school vouchers. The religious right has strongly supported Craddick’s speakership, seeing him as an important tool in the far-right’s ongoing and deeply divisive culture war on mainstream values like strong public schools, religious freedom and civil liberties in Texas.

Eleven House Republicans have moved to support state Rep. Joe Straus, a Republican from San Antonio, as speaker after the new legislative session begins on Jan. 13. To win, Straus will need the support of a large majority of Democratic votes as well.

According to Associated Press, the leader of the anti-abortion Texas Alliance for Life sent an e-mail to its supporters about the speaker’s race:

In an e-mail blast, the group urged recipients to light up the capitol switchboard with pro-Craddick phone calls. Alliance director Joe Pojman said the chances of passing anti-abortion legislation under Straus would be “greatly diminished, if not eliminated altogether.”

“We will have almost no chance of getting badly needed pro-life bills through the committee process and onto the House floor, effectively killing them,” Pojman said.

Straus said in his statement to the AP that he was “communicating directly with legislators on several ‘social issues’ where my record has been mis-stated.”

Various religious-right groups are describing opposition to Craddick as an attempted “coup.”

From David Barton, founder and head of WallBuilders:

Rep. Straus (who has been in office for only two sessions) has developed a clear voting record that demonstrates overt hostility toward unborn life and traditional family values. [Jan. 3 e-mail]

The Speaker chooses the Committee Chairs (who then decide which bills they will hear and which they will kill) and the Speaker also chooses which of the bills that emerge from the committees will come to the floor for a vote and which will be buried. If these liberals succeed in their effort to choose the Speaker, pro-life and pro-family legislation will no longer move through the Texas House. What they are attempting to do is not only disgraceful but will be highly destructive to all of our issues.

 It is crucial that you call your State Representative immediately and demand that he/she not participate in this coup. [Jan. 2 e-mail]

Cathie Adams from Texas Eagle Forum calls the Republican opponents of Craddick the “Gang of 11.”

Remember how the “gang of 12″ US Senators stifled President Bush’s court appointments? This type of renegade politics is now being practiced by a “gang of 11″ TX State Representatives concerning the election of the next Speaker of the House.

This is clearly a coup attempt by the “gang of 11.”  [Jan. 1 e-mail]

From Free Market Foundation, the Texas affiliate of James Dobson’s Focus on the Family, in a Jan. 2 e-mail:

Over the past decade, it is arguable that no state in the nation has made more progress in enacting laws protecting unborn life, traditional marriage and family, parental rights, and public religious expressions. However, there is now an aggressive and unprecedented attempt underway to halt progress on the issues about which we care most. 

In the Texas House, there are 150 Representatives, so a majority of 76 votes is required to enact any measure or pass any policy. Currently, 65 of the most anti-life and anti-family Democrats have joined with 11 of the more liberal Republicans in a coup attempt to take over the House leadership, replacing the current House Speaker with one of their own. (While we are hopeful, minds can be changed, the 11 Republicans currently identified by the Houston Chronicle as participating in this coup include Edmund Kuempel, Brian McCall, Jim Keffer, Burt Solomons, Byron Cook, Delwin Jones, Tommy Merritt, Jim Pitts, Rob Eissler, Joe Straus, and Charlie Geren.).  [This passage is almost identical to language in a WallBuilders e-mail.]

The Texas Freedom Network has taken no position on the speaker’s race, but calling those 11 Republicans “liberal” is almost laughable. It does appear, however, that they are tired of the extremism and divisiveness that have been on display in the House for the past six years.

UPDATE: Vince over at Capitol Annex has more here, including a look at the far right’s attacks on Straus’ voting record regarding abortion.