Texas State School Board Valuing Creationist Ideas

From AU.org (American’s United for Separation of Church & State):

Americans United for Separation of Church and State today urged the Texas State Board of Education to stick to sound science and reject creationist concepts when revising its science standards.

The state school board is currently examining the science curriculum, which is reviewed and updated every 10 years. The Seattle-based Discovery Institute and other Religious Right forces are seeking to include loopholes that undermine instruction about evolution and open the door to creationist ideas.

Scientists, teachers, mainstream religious leaders and civil liberties activists want to improve the Texas standards to ensure that the public school classroom does not become a vehicle for religious indoctrination.

“Public schools should educate, not indoctrinate,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. “The Religious Right is exploiting Texas public schools to push a narrow viewpoint and in the process is doing a great disservice to its students, not to mention undermining the mandates of our Constitution.”

The battle in Texas is focused on Religious Right-backed language currently in the standards that requires schools to teach the “strengths and weaknesses” of evolution. That wording, experts say, is an invitation to introduce creationist concepts based on fundamentalist religion, not science.

“Let’s just hope members of the Texas school board recognize the ‘strengths and weaknesses’ language for what it is,” Lynn concluded. “If they don’t, they could be inviting public school districts to face some costly litigation.”

School in Texas to Offer Minor in GLBT Studies

According to a post on chron.com:

Melanie Pang has participated in educational events and political theater as a leader in a University of Houston campus group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students.

Next spring, she’ll move that interest into the academic arena.

Pang plans to be among the first students enrolled when the university begins offering a minor concentration in GLBT studies, the only college in Texas to do so.

“We thought it was necessary to recognize the scholarly importance of GLBT people and their contributions,” said Guillermo De Los Reyes, assistant professor of Latin American studies and director of the new program.

The program won’t be a support group for students who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, but an academic exploration of that community, he said.

“There are other spaces where students can go … to organize a rally,” he said. “For us, it would be to study the impact.”

Many schools offer courses in the subject. Four public Texas universities offer bachelor’s degrees in gender studies or women’s studies, a discipline that gave rise to the more specialized field.

Read the rest by clicking here.

Phelps Follower Receives Life for Hate-Crime Murder

A Texas man convicted of killing a male flight attendant was given a life sentence and was also found guilty of a hate crime.

Terry Mark Mangum, 27, of Cypress, killed Kenneth Cummings, 46, because he “hated homosexuals” was the Wednesday verdict delivered by a jury.

Mangum had only been out of prison for three weeks, after serving a 5 year sentence for burglary, when he met Cummings at a Houston bar on June 4, 2007. 

Prosecutors proved on the night they met, Mangum slit Cummings’ throat and stabbed him in the back of the head, breaking 1.5 inches of a knife blade.  Mangum then cleaned up the house and drove Cummings’ body to a ranch about 30 miles south of San Antonio.

The partially burned body was found in a shallow grave in a dried-up stock pond on June 16 of last year. Investigators said Cummings’ credit card, which had been taken along with his wallet and car keys, was used to buy a flashlight, charcoal, gasoline and other items.

Mangum pleaded not guilty due to insanity. One psychologist said he was “a cauldron of hate.” Another said he wanted to “rid the world of a harvest of sin.”  Jeremy Warren, the prosecutor saidm “The sin he focused on was homosexuality.”  Mangum has been associated with the infamous church of Fred Phelps.

It only took the jury a little over an hour to return with a guilty verdict and only 30 minutes to return a life sentence.  They also imposed a $10,000 fine.

The prosecutor said Mangum will be eligible for parole in 30 years.  He also said capital murder charges, which carry the possibility of the death penalty or life without parole, weren’t filed in this case because prosecutors weren’t sure they could prove the killing was part of another crime.

Houston We Have a Problem: GOP Judges

Two of the 26 Republican state district judges who will be appearing on the Nov. 4 ballot in Harris County Texas sought the endorsement of Houston’s gay political caucus but failed to get it.

The Houston Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Political Caucus’ all-Democratic endorsements late Wednesday night leaves political observers waiting to see whether the unsuccessful move by the two Republican jurists makes a difference in the vote results three months from now.

Before the group made its endorsement decisions, longtime civil court Judges Sharolyn Wood and Mark Davidson told about 50 members that they treat all county residents equally in their courts and are dedicated to fairness.

Davidson said he did not expect to be endorsed, but “to refuse to come here would be to give in to hate and prejudice.”

The Texas Republican Party platform says homosexuality is unnatural and “tears at the fabric of society.” No Republican candidate had sought the caucus’ endorsement since 1994.

Texas State Ed Board OK’s Bible Study Courses

Today the State Board of Education approved a rule establishing an elective Bible course for high schools. The classes will be designed by the local school districts. Even though board members voted to approve the new class, which would be offered in high schools this fall, state officials are still waiting for the attorney general to comment on whether the state law authorizing the course requires all school districts to make it available to students. Again, the lines blur between the separation of church and state! Texas resident? Concerned Citizen? Tell the Texas State Board of Ed what you think here.