Like Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst this month and Gov. Rick Perry for years, David Bradley is courting conservative evangelical pastors in his bid for re-election to office.
Bradley, R-Beaumont Buna, will speak on March 27 at a luncheon for the Beaumont Area Pastor Council, which is affiliated with the right-wing Houston Area Pastor Council. From a Pastor Council email today:
“David has been a bulwark against liberal forces who want to rewrite our history books and insert liberal causes into school curriculum. These forces are also working diligently to get access to the Permanent School Fund for their own agendas.”
Bradley supported new social studies standards in 2010 that even the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute criticizes as a “political distortion of history” with “misrepresentations at every turn.” One of the most divisive voices on the state board, Bradley also opposes sex education, wants to dumb-down instruction on evolution in science classes and rejects teaching social studies students that the Constitution protects separation of church and state. In 2008 he boasted that the state board “spanked” teachers who disagreed with its controversial decisions on curriculum standards. But the Pastor Council emails praises Bradley as supposedly being “on the front lines for our children and grandchildren.”
Bradley faces Republican Rita Ashley of Beaumont in the Republican primary on May 29.
Read more about the State Board of Education elections this year at TFN’s SBOE election online HQ.
Why are all these churches able to participate in politics without losing their tax-exempt status? I’m pretty tired of subsidizing churches only to have them turn on me like a bad dog.
They don’t pay taxes, so the rest of us have to pick up the shortfall. Then when parishioners donate to the church, that’s tax deductible, so less money is going into our Treasury. And the final blow: Many religious organizations/churches/whatever get federal money from the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.
Then they bitch if their female employees are able to access birth control through the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act. And they whine about some imaginary “war on religion.” For pete’s sake!
Off topic, but Charles, you might enjoy this. PZ Myers recently defined “Bible-believing” as follows……
Codeword alert! Be wary of that phrase, “Bible-believing”. It doesn’t mean what you think it does. “Bible-believing” is actually a very narrow, very specific phrase used by modern evangelicals that means they fervently accept a remarkably literalist, radically right-wing, extremely judgmental and vicious version of Christianity. It means he really believes he has been privileged with the words of his god, and is justified in every hateful claim he makes.
Thanks Ben. I have never liked PZ Myers much because he once attacked me for just being a Christian. It apparently did not matter to him that i was a scientist who (at one time at least) knew more about primate and human evolution than he does. Times have changed and the new fossils have left this old guy in the pits of ignorance. However, I do think that PZ’s definition of Bible-believeing” is right on target.
On other matters of possible interest to you:
1) My childhood school system settled out of court and basically agreed to abide by the First Amendment forever in very specific ways that the ACLU dictated. Jesus and the Bible are still in the school system, but the fundies have been kicked into outer darkness. They were too stunned to wail and gnash teeth—basically just stuck their tails between their legs, lowered their heads, and moped away without much comment.
2) A teach-the-controversy law passed our state Senate yesterday but went back to the State House, which had already approved it, for assent to an extra Senate amendment. If the Republican governor signs it, it is going to be Scopes Trial II. I feel sure that my fellow scientists here in town are most upset. A few years ago, I wrote all of the local school board members and told them that I would be organizing local scientists and leading a jihad if they ever even think about bringing any of that crap into our local schools. I think a follow-up message is in order if the bill is signed.
The goods news is that this is a progressive town with a highly educated population. Soap opera housewives often have their Ph.D. The bad news is that the local hillbillies who man the counters at McDonalds and other such places are here in large numbers to support the upper crust. Please recall the greasy-haired Georgia law officer that loved Bar-B-Q in the movie “Fried Green Tomatoes.”
“Youins local sontists iz in the waya the law now. Weez ones izza gonna use it to kill yore evilution now. Weez ones iz gitcha this time ’cause youse ones is a messin’ with the law. Nobody messes with the law. Ituns is ours now.”