Bad Astronomy

Texas: not so doomed?

Wow, some actual heartening news out of the doomed state of Texas! State Board of Education members are fighting back at the idea of teaching fundamentalist religion as a science in Texas school.

As you may remember, Governor Rick Perry of Texas has appointed a very, very unqualified man by the name of Don McLeroy to be the head of the State Board of Education. McLeroy thinks the Earth is 6000 years old, evolution is wrong, and that abstinence education works!

He lives in a fantasy world. However, as head of the Board, he has power to impose that fantasy on reality.

Well, according to the article linked above, 2/3 of the Board’s members object to brainwashing children, which is heartening. They don’t want to include Intelligent Design in the Texas science curriculum.

But wait! Maybe we’re being unfair to McLeroy! After all…

McLeroy, R-College Station, said he doesn’t want to change the existing requirement that evolution be taught in high school biology classes. But he joined several of his colleagues in arguing that biology textbooks should cover the weaknesses of the theory of evolution.

In fact, this is standard creationist rhetoric, and it’s a lie. This is all part of the leaked Wedge plan to get religion taught as science; first they try to show the weaknesses of science, then they make the “if not A then B” argument, which is bad logic (the only kind most promoters of creationism are capable of). If one scientific explanation is weak, why then, creationism must be right!

Feh.

But let’s be positive here:

Other board members who said they believe the curriculum should continue to include evolution and not be changed to accommodate intelligent design were: Geraldine “Tincy” Miller, R-Dallas; Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands; Gail Lowe, R-Lampasas; Bob Craig, R-Lubbock; Mavis Knight, D-Dallas; Rick Agosto, D-San Antonio; Lawrence Allen, D-Houston; and Mary Helen Berlanga, D-Corpus Christi.

Show them your love, folks. They need our support, for surely they have an uphill battle.