Here are some of the week’s most notable quotes culled from news reports from across Texas, and beyond.
Evangelical pastor Rick Warren, comparing the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate to forcing Jewish delis to sell pork.
That’s what I support. That’s called freedom of speech. In other words, if all of a sudden they made a law that said every Jewish deli in Manhattan has to start selling pork, I would be out there with the rabbis protesting that. Why? I don’t have a problem with pork, but I believe in your right to not have to sell pork if it’s not in your faith.
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The Houston Press, on the War on Christmas.
It’s martyrdom fan fiction written by people who have only the firstiest of First World problems.
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Rush Limbaugh, denouncing Pope Francis’ call on world leaders to do more to fight poverty as “pure Marxism.”
I mean, it totally befuddled me. If it weren’t for capitalism, I don’t know where the Catholic Church would be. Now, as I mentioned before, I’m not Catholic. I admire it profoundly and I’ve been tempted a number of times to delve deeper into it. But the Pope here has now gone beyond Catholicism here, and this is pure political.
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Texas Freedom Network President Kathy Miller, on the State Board of Education’s adoption of new high school science books that include full coverage of evolution and climate change.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of today’s vote, which is a huge win for science education and public school students in Texas. Four years ago this board passed controversial curriculum standards some members hoped would force textbooks to water down instruction on evolution and climate change. But that strategy has failed because publishers refused to lie to students and parents demanded that their children get a 21st-century education based on established, mainstream science.
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Former Texas State Board of Education member Cynthia Dunbar, complaining about new science textbooks approved by the board last week that include full coverage of climate change.
This is what happens when you have socialized education pushing particular viewpoints within the classroom. I know Americans are concerned about socialized health care through Obamacare. I think they need to be equally concerned about socialized education through Obamacore.
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Rafael Cruz, father of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Political correctness is killing us. It is killing us. I speak to pastors all the time. You know, the Lord back in the beginning of this year, the Lord told me very, very clearly, ‘If there is one group of people that I hold responsible for what is happening in America it is the pastors.
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From a T-shirt being sold by the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Happy Holidays is What Liberals Say
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Linda Harvey, host of the right-wing radio show Mission America, explaining that what she sees as President Obama’s “ungodly values,” including support for abortion rights and marriage equality for LGBT people, contribute to the slaughter of babies and the spread of HIV in the African-American community.
(I)f the definition of racism is to support policies that harm people of color, then Barack Obama is the most racist president in U.S. history.
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Eric Marcus, author of Making Gay History, on the progress of gay rights in 2013.
This year represented the true tipping point. We’ve reached a moment in history where it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to go back.
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President Obama, on the passing of Nelson Mandela.
He no longer belongs to us. He belongs to the ages.
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Bill Nye the Science Guy’s response to the latest attempts to denigrate science at the Texas State Board of Education.
This textbook business is, to my way of thinking, a very serious matter, because of the economic impact,” Nye said in an email to HuffPost. “Everyone should take a moment and think what it will mean to raise a generation of students who might believe that it is reasonable to think for a moment that the Earth might be 10,000 years old.
Just for the record, in Lenoir City, Tennessee, it is not “Bill Nye Science Guy.” It is “Beel Nah Sconce Gah.”