Back from the Grave. Again.

As the two people who read this blog, "believing in evolution" to me is the same thing as "believing in electric light bulbs". The only difference is that no one has staked their religious teachings on light bulbs having been around for six thousand years. I've even proposed a religious point of view that can allow someone to completely believe in young earth creationism and evolution-- see Back to the Dark Ages.

I feel about such arguments as did Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:11, "When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things."

But childish things are happening in Texas. Unfortunately, neither of my two readers are Texans. Florida has approved (sort of by accident) a fairly evolution heavy curriculum recently. But many in Texas won't be swayed by the Floridians turncoat behavior and are rallying forces to reintroduce (Not So) Intelligent Design back into the schools. Heinlein said once of the Irish that they were the only truly logical people on earth; facts did not sway them from a higher truth. Now, the same can be said of Texans.

Back in November, Chris Comer, the Texas Director for Science curriculum, was sacked for forwarding a email announcing a lecture on Intelligent Design being the Trojan horse to introduce Creationism into the schools. Anybody who followed the Dover trial can say that has been safely proven. Of course, that didn't stop Lizzette Reynolds from saying she should be fired since sending out this sort of email was inappropriate to her job.

Don McLeroy, the new Chairman of the Texas State Board of Education, believes similarly. Ever articulate, here is a transcript of one of his speeches supporting Intelligent Design.

What happens in Texas affects everybody. Florida, Texas and California are the largest markets for textbooks. Publishers of textbooks know this and gear their product to penetrate all three markets. If Texas drives a wedge into biology texts it's fairly probable that same wedge will show up in the other three markets and, eventually, in Kansas and Massachusetts.

As I said, we need to put these childish arguments behind us. Religion doesn't need science. Science sure doesn't need religion. But there are a lot of children that need textbooks and they ought to get the right ones.

It's possible the Texas State Board of Education will prevent that.

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Links of Interest
Seabirds and Dinosaurs in New Zealand
West Antarctic Glaciers on the Move