Author Archives: Ryan

Who Will Stand? No, Seriously. Who?

| July 21, 2014





TFN Insider is pleased to present this guest post from Rev. Michael Diaz, Director of Connections at Resurrection MCC Church in Houston. Rev. Diaz is a proud voice for social justice in his community for a host of issues, including equality for LGBTQ citizens. Lunch with Liberty Counsel Rev. Michael Diaz Religious-right propaganda distributed at the event […]

Internet gems

Prof Tears Apart Official Texas Textbook Review, Pt. 2

| October 6, 2013





Yet another Texas science professor has stepped forward to challenge one of the inaccurate textbook reviews prepared by an SBOE-appointed science review panel (see last week’s installment here). This one comes from Dr. Rick Hammer, a professor of botany, ecology, and environmental ethics at Hardin-Simmons University, and he zeros in on the misleading claims about climate change […]

Cargill: ‘I’m one of you’

| September 15, 2013





Another first-hand report from the science review panel meeting last month in Austin has emerged, and it seems to corroborate some of the concerns about the flawed process expressed last week by biology panel participant Jimmy Gollihar. Specifically, it raises more questions about what State Board of Education Chairwoman Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands, was doing […]

What’s Happening with the Science Textbook Adoption? - Pt. 2

| August 26, 2013





Late last week, TFN finally obtained an official list of the biology textbook reviewers who attended the in-person review panels in Austin earlier this month. You can see the list of reviewers – along with the products they were assigned – here. We don’t yet know what is contained in the official recommendations these teams […]

What’s Happening with the Science Textbook Adoption?

| August 21, 2013





For those of you who have been following the debate over science textbooks at the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE), here’s a simple explanation of where things currently stand: Initial drafts of science textbooks and instructional materials have an uncensored, robust discussion of evolution without any promotion of creationism or intelligent design. Review teams […]

C’mon, Texas. Evolve Already.

| July 22, 2013





Earlier today, the Texas Freedom Network relaunched its Stand Up for Science campaign, the latest installment in our ongoing efforts to ensure Texas schoolchildren receive only mainstream science, and not creationist arguments, in their public school science classes and textbooks. So why now? Because there are some big decisions coming over the next four months […]

“Do we as a society have the right to impose our religious beliefs on somebody else?”

| May 10, 2013





That’s the question Rep. Tim Faust, a state representative in the Minnesota House — and a minister — asked in announcing his vote in favor of same-sex marriage yesterday. The speech is quite moving and an eloquent defense not only of the importance of basic fairness under the law, but also of the beauty of the American secular […]

Reason for the Season

| May 9, 2013





With Christmas celebrations on the brink of extinction in Texas, the Texas House intervened yesterday by passing the “Merry Christmas bill” to ensure public schools remain a welcome place for Jesus Santa. Santa’s attorney — and lobbyist for the religious-right group Texas Values — was at the Capitol to whip votes and remind us all of the […]

Another Strange Twist for Anti-Sex Ed Legislation

| April 26, 2013





On Thursday, the House Public Education Committee voted 7-3 to approve HB 1057 by Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, making it eligible soon for consideration by the full House. But the version of the bill the committee passed bears almost no resemblance to the bill as originally filed, or its Senate companion (SB 521) that passed out of the Senate Education committee […]