Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Fundies on the March

Well, they told us they would. So it’s not a shock.

They’ve got a bill to ban all abortions in SD in the works, except those where the mother’s life is in danger “or she might suffer irreparable harm” – apparently a little repairable harm is no big deal – and they’ve been dumbing down sex ed for years now and now they’re going after evolution in both Kansas and Missouri. Because, you know, Fundamentalist Christians want it that way.

And, after all, this is their country, right? The rest of us can just shut up and sit down.

In 1999, the Kansas board voted to erase any mention of evolution from the state science curriculum, opening the door for the teaching of creationism. That was reversed in 2001, after three board members who supported the move were defeated in a Republican primary. Kathy Martin, a newly elected member of the board who favors teaching alternatives to evolution, said the board would probably take a different route this time, like introducing the teaching of "intelligent design," a theory that holds that the development of the universe and earth was guided at each step by an "intelligent agent."

(snip)

State Representative Cynthia Davis of Missouri prefiled two bills for the next session of the Legislature that she said "reflect what people want." One would remove the state's requirement that all forms of contraception and their potential health effects be taught in schools, leaving the focus on abstinence. Another would require publishers that sell biology textbooks to Missouri to include at least one chapter with alternative theories to evolution.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/13/national/13states.html?oref=login&oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=

Not gonna be happy, the Fundies, until they’ve turned this into a theocracy.

And anyone who thinks that’s not their plan isn’t paying attention.


1 comment:

zelda1 said...

Okay,
This is really pissing me off because I love mythology. I can apply a myth to everything and not just the Biblical myths but the clasicals and even as far back as Gilgamesh. Now, what happens when the fundies say that myths other than those in the Bible are not going to be taught or sold in books in stores or in libraries. Will I have to go underground to learn about Hades or about Icarus. Myths are the only thing, in my humble opinion, that truly connects us soiciologically, antrhopologically, psychologically, and all the other lys. to our ancient past. Now, there are those people who have the right to not like a myth or two but at the same time are wanting me not to like them and if they can ban other things they can ban myths then fables, then nursery rhimes, then the tooth fairy and then oh my god, santa clause. We will then be living in a time when only one way will be allowed. I wonder if that is truly what the fundies want. Do they want to give up Disney? I think, I need to run to the book store and buy all the books that I can because one day, they may disappear.