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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Dan Flynn, R-Van State Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van, is of two (or three) minds when it comes to the role religion should play in American law and society. Warning: Do not try to reconcile these statements, all of which were made over the last five months. Flynn, on the urgent need to post the 10 commandments […]
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 […]
