Last Tuesday, Bob was outraged (outraged!) about some part-time biology teacher in Oregon who was fired. Bob framed the story as this poor biology teacher who was fired for merely referring to the Bible during a lesson on evolution.
Like many things that Bob says, this is patently false. It is clear from this story that the teacher in question, Kris Helphinstine, was not fired for merely mentioning the Bible. Rather, Mr. Helphinstine was fired for a rather stark deviation from the approved curriculum by "teaching" some sort of linkage between evolution, Nazi Germany, abortion, eugenics, and Planned Parenthood. He even used some crazy, incoherent Powerpoint presentations, which you can view here and here (Internet Explorer required). Can any reasonably sane person, after viewing this material, argue that Mr. Helphinstine did not deserve to be fired after a mere eight (8) days on the job?!
Let's keep in mind what's going on here. The religious right is continually trying to discredit evolution and teach the so-called theory of intelligent design (ID) to public school students. They tried to put ID into Kansas' science curriculum, but they failed. They tried to put ID into a Pennsylvania school's science curriculum, but they failed. Finally, they tried to insert their own teacher to tell students that evolution and Nazi eugenics go hand-in-hand, but they have failed.
When will Bob and the rest of the religious right get the message that the vast majority of this country supports real science and does not want creationism taught in science class?
1 comment:
Jeff,
You assume that Bob and the Christian Right actually understand science.
Since these people believe that Noah's Ark is literally true, you can understand how they think that Darwin is responsible for the Nazis.
They'll dress up their claims with pretty language about "truth," but they'll never admit they don't understand.
It's ignorance driving an ideology.
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