Something to Say

A religious group bent on religion being taught in school science classes has provided a thousand bibles to be distributed at the National Education Association convention next week.

A spokesman for the Creation Science Education Caucus makes no bones about their mission, “To be clear, the NEA Science Educator’s Caucus purpose is to reach individual teachers with the creation/gospel message”. Whether they publicly claim to want to change curriculum, or not, that is clearly their mission.

It turns my stomach to hear the phrase “Creation Science”, since it is decidedly not. Clearly, I’m not the only one.

It isn’t just any bible that is being distributed, it is the Charles Darwin Bible.  A bible that is specifically targeted at Atheists and has additional references propagandizing religious creationism.

Why should I be surprised that the religious continue to target the young and the education system? This is where they’ve always preyed, as it is fertile ground for sowing the seeds of credulity.

I’ve really been busy, honest.

My son just graduated high school and we’ve been involved in the transition from High Schooler to almost college freshman.  Visiting relatives, parties, orientation and such.

Also, I’ve been involved in some long email exchanges and some stuff on Facebook that would have been blog posts (and may yet).

That being said, I hope to start posting again.  At least once.  Real soon. Really.

Chad Farnan, a high school student, successfully sued his European history teacher, James Corbett, for disparaging Chad’s religious beliefs.

In all fairness, he had a point. Mr. Corbett, was probably a little too free with his opinions given his position of authority in a public institution like a high school.

What was very interesting was the number statements about religion that the court failed to find afoul of the First Amendment. Statements like, “when you put on your Jesus glasses, you can’t see the truth” and “conservatives don’t want women to avoid pregnancies — that’s interfering with God’s work”.

It took calling creationism, “superstitious nonsense” to cross the line. Now, I personally feel that stating a fact like that should be legal anytime and anywhere. It is unfortunate that the courts were unwilling to defend free speech in the one instance where the teacher was on VERY solid ground.

So, what is the bright side in this?

By saying that Mr. Corbett was “displaying hostility” towards religion with that statement, the court clearly equated Creationism with religion. That is useful precedent when they try to preach it in the science classroom.

“Every man has a right to his opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts.”
– Bernard Baruch (American financier, stock-market speculator, statesman) via
The Skeptics Guide to the Universe