Sunday, May 31, 2009

Fighting Religion in Texas

Ever wonder what it would be like to go up against religious forces? Don McLeroy, who wanted evolution to be exposed to scientific scrutiny now knows. He was ousted this week from his post as the Texas chairman of the State Board of Education. This is the first step of a new religious offensive against science. And this offensive will of course require a righteous mandate. For that, McLeroy is reportedly being blamed for a host of evils, including recklessly disregarding the advice of education experts (i.e., evolutionists), causing the board to be “extremely dysfunctional,” fueling endless culture wars, and putting ideology and partisanship ahead of the schoolchildren of Texas. It is apparently OK to promote religion in science, but to ask for scientific scrutiny is to be reckless, ideological, partisan and dysfunctional.

If you are a journalist, law maker, educator, administrator, policy maker or scientist who thinks that evolution should be exposed to scientific scrutiny, then beware. You will be going up against religious forces. In this case, the inquisition was divided along party lines, with one of our great political parties aligning itself with enforced religion. It is ironic that these same politicians claim to support the separation between church and state.