The latest blow against religious freedom and diversity and in favor of theocracy was struck here in Texas, when the House voted by an overwhelming margin (of course — they want to get re-elected, after all) to add "under God" to the Texas pledge.
First off, it's news to me that there was a "Texas pledge". I don't recall reciting one when I was a student way back when, so this must be a new development in the last decade or so.
Mirroring the current trend among social conservatives to force unanimity of thought as regards religion upon schoolchildren everywhere, the House had precious view members with the integrity and character to speak up against this bill. Lon Burnam, a Fort Worth Democrat, floated the idea that this just might, you know, impinge on the individual religious freedoms of students.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, rejected that argument and said adding the words was simply "common sense."
So there you have it. Suck it up, rationalists. It's just "common sense" to go with the fundamentalist flow and shoehorn acknowledgment of an invisible magic being into a daily school activity. And now that that's out of the way, this intelligent design stuff looks pretty nice, too, don't it...
Here is Debbie Riddle's contact information. Let her know, in polite but unflinching terms, how you as a Texas atheist feel about her bill. Tell her how proud you are that the legislature has done such a fine job of solving all of the state's other pressing problems that they had sufficient free time to devote to Godding up the Texas pledge. And here is a choice quote, on another matter entirely, reflecting on Debbie's loving, Christian nature.
- "Where did this idea come from that everybody deserves free education, free medical care, free whatever? It comes from Moscow, from Russia. It comes straight out of the pit of hell. And it's cleverly disguised as having a tender heart, [but] it's ripping the heart out of this country." Source.
I really miss Molly Ivins when this type of thing happens.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... looks like she and Voldemort have more in common than just a last name. Evil lunacy at its best, huh?
ReplyDeleteHOLY COW! She has a problem with providing U.S. children education unless they can pay for it? Doesn't she grasp the benefit to the nation of having _minimally_ educated children? I mean, my goodness--it's only through high school! How basic can you get? And she objects to THAT?
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, she sounds like such an ignorant person--'common sense' to add an unnecessary, divisive statement to a state pledge? What on EARTH is she talking about?
It's nuts. When did divisiveness become "common sense"? And how is keeping the population in utter ignorance in this country a good idea?
The only thing scarier than this woman is the thought that some MAJORITY somewhere ELECTED HER!?
Riddle's supporters claim she was speaking off the cuff and was only referring to the children of illegal immigrants. Still, the whole "pit of hell" rhetoric is the kind of overblown thing you only hear from wingnut ideologues, and the claim she was only referring to illegals is dampened by the nagging detail that she reportedly voted against her own party's school funding plan for being, as she thought, too generous.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, applying the term "common sense" to anything having to do with belief in an invisible man in the sky is just goofy.