Not quite, but the Board is voting on the age of the universe.
Why stop there? Why not vote on the mass of the Higgs boson? Heck, next session, why not vote and fill in the missing quantities for the Millennium Prize in mathematics?
Unsurprisingly, many members of the Board are adherents to creationism and have pushed forth various new laws and resolutions to change the wording in various text books.
If nothing else, this should serve as a case for why taxpayer-financed Board’s of education should be abolished. Consequently, the easiest and fairest way to remove politics from the science room is doing just that, axing all the committees and barring future oversight.
Thus, in addition to a separation of church and state there should also be a separation of science and state as well as separation of education and state.
When pigs fly
So that will probably not happen on this side of the singularity, but while creationism is in the news, I wanted to point out a germane comment that Gene Callahan made the other day (Gene usually confuses me, but this one is concise and to the point):
Early evolutionary theorists who were theists:
St. Augustine: A man brilliant enough to realize, by 400, that Genesis “should not be taken too literally.”
al-Khazini, al-Jahiz, Ibn al-Haytham, AbÅ« RayhÄn al-BÄ«rÅ«nÄ«, Nasir al-Din Tusi: All developed Islamic theories of evolution in the Middle Ages.
Leibniz, Herder: Devout theists who developed theories of evolution in the 18th century.
James Burnett, Lord Monboddo: Theist and early advocate of the idea that men descended from apes.
I could keep going, but you get the point, fundamentalist: The idea that the theory of evolution was “devised by atheists” or “devised to support atheism” is a lie propagated by fundamentalist websites, and easily disproven by spending 15 minutes browsing the Internet.
There is a game being played with this stance (“Every line of the Bible must be taken literally or else!”) and the name of the game is “Holier than thou” — it’s about getting an ego boost, not about acting as a Christian.
But then again, these guys were obviously on the dole of the Big Evolution – Big Textbook establishment!
Reasons not to believe
The one other blurb I recently came across that ties into all of this was a post from Michael Shermer on Biblical Patternicity. Irrespective of your belief system, his whole post is worth a read as he does a good job showing how creationist groups like Reasons to Believe (RtB) use postdiction (as opposed to prediction) as a methodology.
The reason this struck my fancy is that 8 years ago, when I was deconverting from Christianity/creationism, it was actually debates hosted by RtB that began to untwist my own nutty worldview I had been taught. Oh the irony!
And then there wasn’t light
The only other comment I have regarding the Texas situation is that these luddite literalitists are doing no favors to Western civilization as their rigid fundamentalist thinking is similar to the Islamic literalists of yore. Guys like Chief Mufti, his janissaries and the ulema did wonders to “enlighten” the advanced, sophisticated Arab world of the 16th century (Hint: they helped destroy it, much like the Wedge potentially can do).
- Christian Convenience Store (College Humor)
- Creationist Students Take Field Trip to Hotbed of Evolution (Washington Post)
- I’ll buy one, but only if the back says “CURRENT LIAR” (Kevin Roose)
- What not to do in an emergency (Pharyngula)
No, he didn’t become converted and fortunately for humanity, was not burned at the stake for publishing his story.
Salon recently posted an excerpt and based on its vivid lucidity it’s hard to imagine that this was written by a college student.
The excerpt is about an evangelical mission trip during Spring Break that unsurprisingly turns out to be a complete waste of time for everyone involved, that is if you do not believe hell exists.
Having several friends and family members that hold similar views to those taught at Liberty University and whom practice cold-turkey evangelism, I think Roose paints a pretty accurate picture of their sincerity and determination.
Here is his frequently updated blog and here are other excerpts: 123
Nope, not in Korea, at least not yet. I mention this because I have been witnessed to ten times more here than I ever was in Texas.
For instance, last week I was waiting for a friend near the subway and a couple of Korean girls approached me. While their sales pitch was not too dissimilar to the Bible-belt variety (e.g., what is the meaning of life), it struck me as an odd way to befriend foreigners (i.e., if you’re caucasian here, it is assumed that you speak English, why not talk about something else first?).
I suppose its because I look really evil, right?
Anyways, an enterprising soul ventured into the newly opened $27 million Creation Museum in Kentucky.
While his report was rather bland (how many time can you say “horseshit” in an essay?), the photos were quite interesting.
Based solely on the look of them, one of my favorite exhibits would be Noah’s Ark.
Because after all, animals indigenous to specific diets and climates would have easily been able to traverse the thousands of treacherous miles to reach his wooden boat. Mountains, oceans, deserts, storms, famine, disease, predators — obviously nothing would have stood in the way of their journey.
VERONA, WI—Friends report that HVAC installer Kirk Pulver has markedly similar advice on both relationships and deer hunting. “You have to dress either to blend in with the scenery or to stand out from it, depending on the situation, but either way, you want to disguise your scent,” said Pulver to friends at a local tavern. “You have to find out where they eat, where they sleep, where they pee, and when they’re most likely to be off guard. Then, when you’ve got a clear look at their rack and you’re sure they’re legal, bam! You take ‘em.” Pulver’s associates noted that he has not bagged a deer or a woman in six years.
This reminded me of that guy who, no matter what kind of situation you are in, always has some kind of advice to give. That guy.
And to round things off, I thought this was a great headline for the simple fact that despite similar contents it illustrates just how disturbingly ridiculous products can be if they are merely rebranded: Christian Juggler Regrets Years Wasted As Secular Juggler
Some believe Jesus was actually a misunderstood Pastafarian. They say that Jesus was the first prophet of the FSM, but that his speech at the Last Supper was misrepresented by Atkinites. He actually said; “Drink this wine, ’cause it’s great with pasta.” and “Eat this pasta for it is His Noodly Appendage.” Which was deceptively changed by the atkinite to “This is my blood, the blood of the new covenant, to be poured out in behalf of many.”
Not quite, but the Board is voting on the age of the universe.
Kevin Roose, an evil humanist senior from Brown University, transferred to uber religious Liberty University for one semester lin 2007. He wanted to experience another culture and wrote a book about his experiences: 
Nope, not in Korea, at least not yet. I mention this because I have been witnessed to ten times more here than I ever was in Texas.
