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the_archfiendScientists are “atheists.” Parents who want to teach their children about evolution are “monsters.” Pastors who support sound science are “morons.”
Is that the sort of message Chairman Don McLeroy and his cohorts on the State Board of Education have in mind for Texas science classrooms if they succeed in their campaign to shoehorn “weaknesses” of evolution back into the science curriculum standards? That’s certainly the message of a new book McLeroy is now endorsing.
All of this hooey is courtesy a book McLeroy endorsed entitled Sowing Atheism: The National Academy of Sciences' Sinister Scheme to Teach Our Children They're Descended from Reptiles, which was authored by an obvious card-carrying member of the Stupid calling itself Robert Bowie Johnson, Jr. It's a wondrous collection of complete gibberish, made-up catcalls like "evo-atheist" and the usual collection of creationist attacks on biology and paleontology in particular and science in general that usually end up in tomes like these. Ultimately, though, that's not the problem. The real problem, according to the TFN, is this:
As bizzarre (sic) and abrasive as some of these ideas may be, clearly any yahoo with a half-baked idea can write and self-publish a book. That is not the important point here. The real issue is the inability of the chair of the Texas State Board of Education to distinguish between legitimate, mainstream science - as represented by the National Academy of Sciences - and a lone crackpot with an openly religious agenda.
Given that the state board will vote next week on science standards for a whole generation of Texas school children, it seems fair to ask Dr. McLeroy: does he believe the information in this book is appropriate for high school science students, or just elected education policy-makers in the second largest state in the country?
I'm still under the impression that the real hidden agenda of the promoters of "scientific creationism" and ID in the classroom isn't to merely derail scientific research in the US - it's also an effort to make high schoolers so dumb that the only job they've got a shot at is head fry chef at the local fast food stop. Aren't some of those chains actually headquartered in Texas...?
