Hearing What They Want to Hear

Opponents of evolution have reacted with shock and alarm to the release of TFN’s survey of Texas science faculty last week. This is not, in itself, terribly surprising, since the first-of-its-kind survey exploded many of the myths perpetuated by evolution-deniers. Indeed, its definitive rejection of any hint of a “controversy” in the academic community over evolution […]

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Public Charter School or Public Christian School?

Creationists who control the Texas State Board of Education aren’t focused just on pushing religion-based arguments in public school science classes. On Friday they voted to allow a Christian school to convert into a publicly funded charter school. The full board voted unanimously to grant charters to six schools. The board’s seven creationist Republicans and […]

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Can’t Be Bothered

The Texas State Board of Education’s public hearing on proposed new public school science curriculum standards lasted until nearly midnight on Wednesday. Parents, scientists, teachers, clergy and businesspeople waited for hours for the chance to voice their concerns about the standards — particularly what students should learn about evolution. Many traveled to Austin from other parts […]

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Shouldn’t Texas Kids Know As Much As a Purple Dinosaur?

Guess who turned up at the Texas State Board of Education for the hearing on evolution? Barney the Dinosaur! And he had a good question for board chairman Don McLeroy: “How Old Am I – 4,000 or 64,000,000 years?” Good question, Barney. We’d like to know the chairman’s answer as well. Barney was also seen handing […]

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Your Words Say ‘No,’ But Your Lobbyist Says ‘Yes’

Creationist members of the State Board of Education repeatedly assert that their crusade to teach kids the “weaknesses” or “limitations” of evolution has nothing to do with religion. We heard it time and again at the state board hearing on Wednesday. One of the testifiers, Jonathan Saenz, tried to explain this to the Houston Chronicle: “The reality […]

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