Archive for November, 2010

Science Under Siege — Louisiana Edition

November 12, 2010

The religious right’s war to undermine teaching about evolutionary science has spilled over the state line from Texas into Louisiana. Today a Louisiana panel is considering proposed biology textbooks that religious-right groups criticize as pro-evolution. Barbara Forrest, a professor at Southeastern Louisiana University and a co-founder of the Louisiana Coalition for Science, is very concerned:

“We now have a Texas-style attack on the selection of biology textbooks, courtesy of the Louisiana Family Forum (LFF), which brought us the creationist Louisiana Science Education Act (LSEA) of 2008. (See the LFF’s “Action Item” in its August 10, 2010, Family Facts newsletter.)”

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Making Texans Sound Silly

November 11, 2010

Is it really too much to ask that members of Congress from Texas not make it sound like everybody in this state is silly? Talking Points Memo reports this about Joe Barton, the Republican congressman from Ennis (near Dallas) who could be chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee come January:

Barton laid out his plan for, essentially, undoing most of what President Obama and Democrats accomplished in the past two years. He laid out the central fronts: the battle to repeal what he calls Obamacare, the fight against the EPA, backing the growing insurgency opposed to net neutrality regulations, taking on “environmental radicalism” and — of course — defending the “traditional, incandescent light bulb” against government regulators who want to replace it with what Barton called “the little, squiggly, pig-tailed ones.”

What? Now it’s “traditional, incandescent light bulbs” that need defending? Is that something like “traditional family values”?

The silly is strong with this one.

‘God-Fearing Conservatives’

November 10, 2010

In an e-mail to WallBuilders supporters today, David Barton calls last week’s elections a victory for “especially for God-fearing conservatives.” Apparently, everybody else is God-hating. Always remember: if you oppose them, they won’t just attack your politics. They will attack your faith.

UPDATE: And now we see a press release in which the Family Research Council says it is trying to gather 1 million Americans to pray for U.S. Senator Jim DeMint, the Republican tea party champion from South Carolina. From Tony Perkins, Family Research Council’s president:

“We want the men and women from both parties to know that an attack on Sen. DeMint is an attack on all conservatives and people of faith.”

Why? Is Sen. DeMint the Messiah? The arrogance would be astonishing if it weren’t so typical.

Religious Right Targets Speaker Straus

November 10, 2010

Battle lines are forming in the newest “culture war” flash point in Texas: the state House of Representatives. In fact, religious-right pressure groups are working furiously to replace Republican Joe Straus of San Antonio with a hard-right Speaker of the House. Each day brings a new attack in the far right’s “scorched earth” strategy, with pressure groups denouncing Speaker Straus and his GOP supporters as “liberals” and “RINOs,” or “Republicans in name only.”

Dave Welch, head of the far-right Texas Pastor Council, suggests that Straus stands in the way of “moral law.” In an e-mail Monday, Welch even called on clergy to contact House members in opposition to Straus.

On Tuesday the president of the anti-everything Texas Eagle Forum, Pat Carlson, sent an e-mail to far-right activists attacking Straus: “We must not allow him to be elected speaker again.”

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And So It Begins…

November 9, 2010

Texas lawmakers have begun filing bills for the 82nd Legislative Session, which begins in January. Among the early legislation is House Bill 79 by state Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van:

POSTING OF TEN COMMANDMENTS. The board of trustees of an independent school district may not prohibit the posting of a copy of the Ten Commandments in a prominent location in a district classroom.

Expect more legislation like this. At a time when the Legislature is faced with a massive budget deficit, some lawmakers simply can’t resist trying to distract voters with divisive and unnecessary “culture war” battles. Indeed, the culture wars to some politicians are like light bulbs to June bugs.

You might recall that Rep. Flynn also spoke before the Texas State Board of Education earlier this year in favor of the board’s politicized rewrite of social studies curriculum standards.

Checking the Hate Mail Bag

November 7, 2010

The Texas Freedom Network’s efforts to keep politics out of social studies classrooms this year has attracted the usual batch of right-wing hate mail. We also heard from folks who didn’t like our opposition to a State Board of Education resolution attacking Islam and falsely claiming that social studies textbooks are anti-Christian and pro-Muslim. Let’s take a look at some of the mail:

“It’s time for you left wing nuts to get out of public schools and open your own private schools, like the Catholics and Lutherans did decades ago.  That way you can indoctrinate your offspring in your silly religion and leave the rest of us alone.”

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Gov. Perry: Throwing Seniors Under the Bus

November 5, 2010

Texas Gov. Rick Perry doesn’t just pander to religious-right extremists. He’s also a big favorite of “tea party” folks (many of whom, in Texas anyway, are also religious-righters). So we weren’t surprised when Gov. Perry suggested last year that maybe Texas should consider seceding from the Union. Now he says Texas should be able to leave the Social Security system. Gov. Perry had this to say on MSNBC today:

“Why is the federal government even in the pension program or the health care delivery program? Let the states do it.”

Oh yes, because Texas has done so well on social policy in other areas like health care (highest percentage of uninsured) and sex education (third-highest teen birth rate in the nation). We think senior citizens in Texas might be more than a little concerned about Gov. Perry’s newest idea. Interesting that he didn’t mention it during his re-election campaign, yes?

Polling about Religion and Homosexuality

November 5, 2010

Distressingly, a recent survey shows that many Americans give low marks to places of worship when it comes to dealing with homosexuality. According to the poll from the Public Religion Research Institute in partnership with the Religion News Service, 18 percent of Americans gave religious organizations in general a “D” and 24 percent gave them an “F.” On the other hand, nearly half of Americans gave their own places of worship high marks (an “A” or a “B”). Says Dr. Robert P. Jones, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute:

“The survey shows that a significant number of Americans are aware of and concerned about the negative impact of messages about homosexuality from places of worship, particularly with regard to gay and lesbian youth. Notably, despite the negative evaluations of places of worship in general, Americans are more likely to give their own places of worship high marks; nearly half Americans give their own place of worship either an ‘A’ (28%) or a ‘B’ (17%) on their handling of this issue.”

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Group Promotes Anti-Muslim Discrimination

November 4, 2010

UPDATE: We had hoped this could go without saying, but apparently we must make it clear: comments promoting anti-Muslim bigotry and, especially, violence against Muslims will not be approved. Sadly, there are plenty of forums for that kind of trash. This isn’t one of them.

Texas Eagle Forum’s website has posted an essay that calls for exempting Muslims from the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee for religious freedom, firing Muslims from government jobs, barring them from running for elected office and monitoring their houses of worship. The essay, written by Elijah Abraham, an evangelical Christian convert from Islam, is among the most strident, hate-filled pieces of paranoia that we have read. You can read the whole thing here. Excerpt:

In the U.S., there are Muslim training camps across the country actively planning attacks on American soil. Young Americans are being converted to Islam in our jails, our military, public schools and universities, and in churches that preach Liberation Theology.  Muslims have gained two seats in the U.S, Congress and have won seats in state and local races. Public school textbooks are becoming pro-Islam and anti-Christian. Muslims are buying Fortune 500 companies and high tech companies. There is a Dow Jones Islamic Index.  Islamic banks, insurance companies and mortgage companies are springing up across the country. Our open borders welcome Muslims.

The challenge to America is to stop the spread of Islam in the U.S. before it is too late.

SOLUTIONS:

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New Texas Education Board: What’s Ahead?

November 3, 2010

Yesterday’s elections will bring a lot of new faces to the Texas State Board of Education in January. The big question is whether those new faces will bring to the board a new focus on educating children instead of promoting personal and political agendas.

As of now, the state board will still have at least five members aligned in a far-right faction that has dragged nearly every curriculum and textbook issue over the past four years into divisive and unnecessary “culture war” battles. The elections yesterday may add at least one member to that faction on the 15-member board, but that remains to be seen. That would appear to leave nine or ten other board members — Republicans and Democrats — who can work together to put education ahead of politics.

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Check TFN’s Voter Guide — Then VOTE!

November 1, 2010

On Tuesday voters head to the polls in important elections for state and national offices. Races for the Texas State Board of Education are especially important this year. For the past four years, a powerful faction of political and religious extremists on the state board has turned nearly every critical debate on curriculum standards and textbooks into a “culture war” battleground. Those divisive and destructive battles have put politics ahead of the education of millions of Texas schoolchildren.

The Texas Freedom Network Education Fund’s 2010 Voter Guide will help you learn more about the candidates and their positions on critical education issues. Check our Voter Guide here — then get out and vote!

Are You a Christian or Judeo-Christian Voter?

November 1, 2010

The religious right insists on using faith to divide Americans. So with voters headed to the polls on Tuesday, the website for WallBuilders — David Barton’s Texas-based group that opposes separation of church and state — offers two links to voter guides: one for Christians and one for “Judeo-Christians.” (Click the image below to see what we mean.) Both links take readers to a map showing all the states. Interestingly, clicking on “Texas” gets you the same voter guides whether you accessed the map for Christians or “Judeo-Christians.” Maybe this is a “separate but equal” kind of thing.