It turns out that there are TWO (not just the previously reported Barney Maddox) distinct threats to the delicate pro- vs. anti-science balance on the Texas School Board.I had earlier alerted you to trouble brewing in Texas, with Full Blown Creationist Nuthead Barney Maddox poised to take the swing seat on the Board of Education there. (PZ has also posted on this.)Now, Wired has a piece this developing story.
… two pro-intelligent design candidates will vie for seats on the Texas Board of Education.The board selects textbooks and decides what Texas children are taught. Later this year, the state will review its science curriculum; observers fear that creationist explanations of life’s origins will be presented as scientifically valid alternatives to evolution….The 15-member Board of Education is roughly balanced between supporters and opponents of evolution — but the March 4 board election features two pro-ID candidates, both running against pro-evolution incumbents… would-be board member Lupe Gonzalez, a retired school administrator, wants intelligent design given “equal weight” with evolution in school textbooks. The second challenger, retired urologist Barney Maddox, considers the state’s current science curriculum an attempt to “brainwash our children into believing evolution.”
[source]Please agitate for the re-election of Mary Berlanga and Pat Hardy in those seats. It matters.Also, you can visit the Texas Freedom Network (which describes itself as “A mainstream voice to counter the religious right.”) and keep track of things there. You can sign the Stand Up for Science Petition.
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“brainwash” – Um, yeah, like we “brainwash” students to believe matter is made of atoms and the earth orbits the sun. It seems like our whole system of education is failing when school administrators and board members are on the side of ignorance.
Why oh why are elected people who are NOT education nor science professionals given the task “selects textbooks and decides what Texas children are taught.”I know this is how it is done everywhere, but WHY?We don’t conduct public health by consensus of non professionals, why education?
I am getting really tired of adult people who believe in Santa, begging schools to teach students how Santa’s sled works because car engineering is just theoretical crap, because somebody allegedly wrote something down in a oppressive primitive desert society where there were hundreds of tribes with their own personal Santa’s, who all claimed to know everything and promised glorious victory over the whole world, just within a few years. Of course these Santa’s sent messengers instead of flying by personally on their magic carpets.Really, Texas is not that far from Taliban Afghanistan.
Don’t forget when it comes to Texas, whither go Texas goes everwhere elseIt’s time to take decisions out of the hands of rednecks. No more NH or Iowa primaries, no more Texas deciding schoolbooks. They have proven time and again they cannot handle this responsibility
This is just incredible. They’re well organized though, and in some ways I feel that as scientists we’re lacking an effective strategy to deal with them… Being scientific doesn’t work on illogical people, but using their methods risks damaging our own solid foundation of credibility.And all this as the first issue of the Answers Journal gets launched (*shameless plug* I blogged on it here – http://layscience.net/?q=node/42). We have a fight on our hands if we’re going to get these extremists (because that’s what they are) stopped. It’s really quite depressing…It also strikes me, why are these people so obsessed with trying to get creation taught? Where has this militant view that “everyone else must believe what we believe” come from? And where the hell does it end? I mean, I don’t want to sound like I’m over-reacting here, but if this battle becomes more-and-more intense over the coming years, are we going to reach the point where these creationists start using more extreme methods to try and push their agenda?