That seems to be a fair question. After all, a number of Republicans continue to praise the Texas State Board of Education‘s passage last month of a resolution criticizing social textbooks for — allegedly — being anti-Christian and pro-Islamic. In fact, here is Texas state Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van, echoing the claims made by Republican state board members who passed the resolution:
“I urge all Texans to support the Texas State Board of Education members who want to stop the pro-Islam/anti-Christian, anti-Judeo bias in our students textbooks. School children should be spared the move to ‘political correctness’ and instead be taught a true and correct version of history.”
But here’s the thing: Republicans have held a majority on the State Board of Education since after the 1994 elections. There have been a lot of textbooks adoptions since then. In fact, the state board adopted an entire slate of new social studies textbooks in 2002.
So if Republican State Board of Education members and their supporters think social studies textbooks are anti-Christian, why in the world have they been approving those books for use in Texas public schools?
Seems to us that there are two possible explanations. One might be that Republicans on the state board are anti-Christian themselves and thought the textbooks were just fine when they adopted them. On the other hand, maybe they’re as phony as a $3 bill and think Texas voters are too stupid to realize they’re being manipulated by politicians promoting fear and prejudice in an election year.
