With the next Ohio State Board of Education (OBE) meeting just days away, opposition to a lesson plan adopted in 2004 , that gave the green light for teaching Intelligent Design, heats up.
Some on the Board don’t see the big deal. Americans United for the Separation of Chruch and State want to give them a reason to be concerned.
In the next post of….. Secular Left
Ohio’s Board of Education (OBE) in March of 2004 adopted a “critical analysis of evolution” model lesson after a long hard fought campaign between those who support real science and those who want to force children to learn religion in the public schools.
In light of the Dover decision and this new evidence of the behind the scenes manipulation, Americans United are prepared to file a lawsuit against the OBE.
The Board has been meeting with its legal team and is trying to decide if they will remove the lesson plan.
The OBE will meet next Tuesday January 10 starting at 8 AM in Columbus.
Help them decide in the next post of Secular Left
On the January 3rd “Late Show with David Letterman”, host David Letterman called Bill O’Reilly out on his Christmas sham. I missed it.
I am a regular viewer of the show but I refuse to watch any show that people like Bill O’Reilly host or appear on. I do that for my sanity and blood pressure. That is one reason I have not watched the Sunday morning talk shows for many years.
I should have watched this time. Letterman called O’Reilly out during his segment when O’Reilly brought up the “war” on Christmas. He once again used as “proof” an elementary school in Wisconsin that supposedly changed the lyrics of “Silent Night” for a holiday concert. He never mentioned that his “proof” had been debunked months ago.
Lucky for me, and for you, the website Media Matters has the transcript and a video clip of the exchange. It went something like this…..
See it on the next posting of Secular Left
In this last post of 2005, I wanted to review the struggles those of us who want to get the government out of the religion cheerleading business.
In 2005, the mayor didn’t put up the Navtivity scene. He claimed that road work in front of city hall made it too difficult to keep the scene safe from damage. He intends to put it back up in 2006 along with symbols from other religions:
McPherson said he already has approved a symbol celebrating the winter solstice and another for the Hindu religion — a partman, part-eagle deity called Garuda who sometimes represents the sun.
Of course if he plans on including such symbols then he also needs one from Kwanzaa, Jain, Sikh, Witchcraft, magick, the occult, Sumerian, Zoroastrian, Baha’i, Islamic, Wicca, Neopaganism, Druid, Celtic, and on and on. If Mayor McPherson says no to any religious symbol then he is risking the city of Reynoldsburg to a law suit.
Just like in 2004, McPherson is ignoring the law and even the advice of his own City Attorney.
We are told we are “affected” by skepticism that we only believe what we see. Our minds are small, we are told, unable to grasp the whole “truth” of the vast universe. We are told that there would no art or romance and we would live in a dreary world indeed. We are told children need to believe or all light in the world would be extinguished — What the hell!?!
What is interesting about the editorial is if you substitute “Jesus” or “God” for “Santa Claus” you can read some of the very same arguments used to rebut those who don’t believe in any of them.
Here is how I rewrite the editorial had it come to me in 1897:
Virginia, your little friends are right. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their minds. We may not know everything about this great universe of ours, but we know there is the possibility we may learn.
Read more in the latest episode of Secular Left
