Good grief.
Last weekend there was a lengthy dual-focused piece in the New York Times Magazine about the founders’ religious views and how members of the Texas Board of Education are trying to re-write curricula with a focus on the Bible. Just days later, we have a new poll on the type of citizens said school system turns out. Spoiler: a huge chunk of them thinks humans lived with dinosaurs.
Nearly a third of Texans believe humans and dinosaurs roamed the earth at the same time, and more than half disagree with the theory that humans developed from earlier species of animals, according to the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.
38 percent said human beings developed over millions of years with God guiding the process and another 12 percent said that development happened without God having any part of the process. Another 38 percent agreed with the statement “God created human beings pretty much in their present form about 10,000 years ago.”
So let’s add that up (Since we didn’t go to school in Texas, we’re actually able to). Just 50 percent of Texans believe in science. Nearly 40 percent not only believe in a man in the sky, but believes he created the Earth and everything on it. They believe this in spite of overwhelming scientific evidence. They think God is testing their faith with fossils. These are the same people who are trumpeting charges of socialism and constitutional violations, and they can’t understand simple science.
Other findings:
• Most of the Texans in the survey — 51 percent — disagree with the statement, “human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals.” Thirty-five percent agreed with that statement, and 15 percent said they don’t know.
• Did humans live at the same time as the dinosaurs? Three in ten Texas voters agree with that statement; 41 percent disagree, and 30 percent don’t know.
Troubling? Yes, of course. But even more troubling is the fact that more states are actively moving toward this type of education. In Kentucky on Thursday a senate committee unanimously approved a bill to offer a Bible elective in public schools.
The Bible is the most widely read book, and it’s also the most best-selling book of all time,” [said Sen. David Boswell, who introduced the bill]. “There are so many aspects of the Scriptures relevant to the subjects we are already teaching.”
He said the course would be constitutional “as long as we teach it and not preach it.”
Sen. Elizabeth Tori, R-Radcliff, told co-sponsors Boswell and Sen. Julian Carroll, D-Frankfort, that “an angel was sent down on your shoulders” prompting “you to put this bill together.”
“I‘ve said for many years that until we put God back into our households, things in society will not change for the better,” Tori said. “Your bill is the first step to that change.”
Got that? An angel on his shoulders prompted him to put the bill together, and society won’t change for the better without God in the schools, but remember, they have no intention of preaching the Bible.
Kentucky’s SAT scores are better than Texas’ right now — much better, in fact. Enjoy it while it lasts, Bluegrass State.
no one understands Texas. The real problem here is that, hello, science is BORING. It’s much more fun to shoot things, have unprotected sex and get elected President. Telling kids that humans partied with dinosaurs, angels wrote the Constitution and Ronald Reagan helped defend the Alamo from evil Mexicans is just our way of combating our 35% drop out rate, ok?
You guys do so much adorable stuff that we may need to hire you as a full-time Texas correspondent. It’s just too much to keep track of from afar.
How did I miss this? I should be a Texas correspondent, Happy Birthday.
hey, and don’t forget the part where they make their kids take a vow of celibacy before having that unprotected sex …
[...] is for lovers, and Texas is for the batshit crazy (with a few notable exceptions, of [...]