the religiously insane taking over school boards

[donsu]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1372086,00.html

Anti-Darwinians step up challenge in school crusade

Evangelicals take evolution fight to Supreme Court


-snip-

Dover has been catapulted into the centre of a renewed battle over the teaching of evolution in schools. The religious right, emboldened by its spreading influence in the Republican party and an explosive growth in the number of evangelical Christians, has launched a major push to get an alternative to evolution - which they believe denies the biblical version of God's creation of the world - into the classroom. At least 40 US states have faced legal challenges in recent months.

-snip-

The Browns say Buckingham and a group of evangelical Christians have hijacked the school board and imposed their views on a community, where creationism in the classroom had never been an issue. 'They are on a crusade,' Brown said. His wife added: 'Dover is just ahead of the curve. There will be a lot more things like this in other places.'

In fact, Dover is already just part of a growing phenomenon. In Cobb county, Georgia, textbooks have had stickers stuck inside them telling children that evolution is 'theory, not fact'. In Grantsburg, Wisconsin, new rules direct teachers to analyse the 'strengths and weaknesses' of evolution, as well as allow for the study of other theories. In Ohio the state school board has sought to open the way for the teaching of opposing theories to evolution. The Missouri legislature will consider bringing intelligent design into its classrooms last year.

-snip-

Christians are being encouraged to join school boards and lobby to get intelligent design on the curriculum. 'We have as much right as the evolutionists to be on our school boards,' said Dr Patricia Nason, of the Institute for Creation Research.

She and fellow creationists believe Bush's victory gave them a chance to get their agenda into schools. 'I feel that if we don't make progress in the next four years that window of opportunity will close,' she said.
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get on a school board and you have it made - lots of power

[BiggJawn]

1. Here they come..."Every Knee shall BEND!"

And after you get done with the school board, then it's off to the Statehouse, or maybe even the US CONGRESS!!!!

Scary...

[sam sarrha]

2. It is payment for giv'n Bu$h the Mandate to be DickTatter God of the World

......"they know Not What They Do"

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[arcane1]

4. Pat Robertson has been on this for decades

I remember seeing episodes of the 700 Club way back in the mid-80's where he would encourage his viewers to join local gov'ts, school boards, etc, on the theory that the best way to take over the country was to start small

as a student in VA (patty's home-state), I never, not even ONCE, saw ANY reference to evolution in a science class or textbook

not once

it was non-existent

[SoCalDem]

6. NO elected office is too small for repubes..That's how they WIN

Every little piddly office (that most people don't even WANT)is a stepping stone to "name recognition"...and higher office..

Repubes are patient, and they are good soldiers. If they are told to wait, they cheerfully step back in exchange for an offer of greater support in a different or future race..

They are the "marathoners" of politics.. Dems are sprinters..

[H2O Man]

19. That is a more important

point than most people realize. They have worked since Goldwater's loss to LBJ to take over from the ground-floor of America, and to then work up.

Democrats need to think in those terms. Think about how on Nov 3, we already had DUers talking about who to run in 2008. That's how come they control a disproportionate amount of the country.

[Southpaw Bookworm]

8. Hell yes

A good book regarding the influence of the right wing on school boards is "Lies My Teacher Told Me," which focuses on the jingoism and bald-faced untruths to be found in American history textbooks.

[arcane1]

10. a damned good book it is, too

:toast:

[Southpaw Bookworm]

11. Another one to check out

School board battles : the Christian right in local politics

Haven't read it yet, but I did order it for my library (community college level).

[arcane1]

14. sounds interesting...

also sounds like the kind of book that gets flung across the room in frustration often :)

[PROGRESSIVE1]

15. Democrats need to do the same too.

[alvis]

5. Happened in Kansas a few years back

Creationists got on the school board, then took evolution out of the curriculum.

http://www.cnn.com/US/9908/12/kansas.evolution.flap/

[MaryH]

7. Yea, but they got laughed out of town!

I wonder how you simply go back in time. Just erase the knowledge that we have gained and then make up your own.

I hope we all don't live to find out.

[alvis]

13. That's true, but the damage was done.

They used stealth tactics to get elected to the BOE. From what I remember, they weren't outright creationists, but showed their true colors after getting elected.

I used to have quite an interest in the Creationism vs. Evolution debate. I still have a little interest in it now, but haven't really kept up with it. I used to lurk on the talk.origins Usenet News Group. There's some really scary stuff there.

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/talk.origins

[blurp]

9. This is just Democracy. Don't we like Democracy?

These school board members were elected right?

The majority should rule, right?

OK, I'm trying to start trouble (discussion).

I don't buy the idea that democracy is the reason such and such countries are successful or that it necessarily leads to freedom.

More successful countries, it seems to me, have a prevailing philosophy of individual rights -- that there are some things you just don't vote on or are off limits from public interference.

The Bill of Rights is a good example. It lists all the things the Federal government CAN'T do. It's why we have no national religion and it has saved us the heartache of religious civil wars. Putting such things off-limits, even to the majority, has led to peace instead of conflict.

[Poiuyt]

12. I heard that they've been working on this for a number of years

The fundamentalists have had an agenda to get on school boards and city councils for a while now. They have been doing this very silently and without divulging what their real agenda was. They would run on other platforms without mentioning religion at all. Then as they got into power, they could do as they pleased.

I know someone who was at one of their meetings where these plans were being discussed.

[TahitiNut]

18. Yes, it began during Reagan/Bush - the early 80s

I had conversations with various family and friends in different parts of the country and these were organized nationwide efforts to "put God back in our schools" by having Old Testament Xtians get elected, almost always in a nearly 'stealthy' fashion. While they'd include their church affiliation in their bios, they wouldn't bang on the Bible very loudly in their campaigns.

[catmandu57]

16. They're out in the open now

and are making no bones about what their agenda is, this may be a good thing, it brings sunlight to shine on their dark minds, and might just wake up the fucking couch potatos.

[twenty2strings]

17. They are crapping their pants at this very moment...

The kids are not really buying it. When you force people to pray you can be pretty sure they are cursing under their breath. The newer generation just don't come with the required baggage. They can't give them the GIFT...Nostalgia for what never really was...selective memory...Fear of science..ect. This is just a bad patch. Stay involved. Act locally. And no compromising on OUR basic values.:thumbsup: