FUNDAMENTALISTS BATTLE WITH SCIENCE
Texas Morons Flex Muscles Against Evolution

From the Houston Chronicle:

Today is the deadline to sign up to testify on new biology textbooks for public schools, and supporters and critics of how the books present evolution are gearing up for a heated battle.

The State Board of Education will hold its second and final hearing on the textbooks Sept. 10. Already, more than 80 people have registered to testify.

And

David Hillis, a biology professor at the University of Texas, said he thinks the publishers have done a good job discussing evolution, but he is worried that the text will be diluted or that misleading information will be added. If science really is the issue, he asked, why are there no similar controversies at scientific meetings or in scientific journals?

"This argument is being waged over high school textbooks because that is where the final decisions are not made by scientists but rather by politicians," said Hillis.

Leaders of groups advocating changes to the textbooks said they just want a full discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of evolutionary theory.

Ike Trotter, a spokesman for Texans for Better Science Education, said 400 people have signed the group's Internet petition supporting the inclusion of the weaknesses of the theory of evolution.

Trotter said the books contain factual errors, a contention disputed by Hillis.

Click here.

Make no mistake about it. These throwbacks to the Scopes Monkey Trial believe that evolution, which is considered by reputable scientists to be fact, is simply an unproven "theory." Their attack on what they call "factual errors" is a thinly veiled attempt to insert fundamentalist Christianity into Texas schools. It is truly amazing that their position is even taken seriously. This is not only dangerous for Texas, a haven for fundamentalist lunatics, but also for all of America: Texas is among the top two or three high school textbook markets in the country and, therefore, exercises disproportionate influence over what publishers are willing to print. In other words, if Texas decides that its biology textbooks must discuss so-called "weaknesses" in the concept of evolution, there is a very good chance that almost all biology textbooks will do so--somehow this makes good business sense to publishing houses.

More and more, it seems that the similarities between the Taliban and the various brands of American Bible Nazis outweigh the differences...

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