Should I take Florida Off The List?
Posted by: Ken Salter in Education, Evolution, Religion, tags: florida, IDiocy, pastafarianFrom Tampa Bay Online:
Yet a few weeks later, the controversy is dying with a whimper. There’s no board support for a challenge to the proposed standards. Some of the five school board members blame the local newspaper for trying to start a fight.
“It’s not our agenda,” said Tim Harris, one of the board members. “My personal opinion and how I vote don’t always jibe.”
What happened? You can start with the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Apparently, a huge email campaign, led by the Pastafarians, has upset the apple cart. They demanded equal time for their “theory” of how life got here. After this and national attention, the Polk County School Board appears to have relaxed on their religious indoctrination campaign.
The pro-intelligent design board members say they now recognize that the new standards are a state issue and there’s nothing they can do about them, even if they’d like to.
Lofton, a former geometry teacher with a master’s degree in mathematics and one of the pro-intelligent design board members, said she has no interest in engaging with the Pastafarians or anyone else seeking to discredit intelligent design.
She describes herself as secure in her beliefs. “I’m a Christian. I personally believe that the Bible is inerrant truth and the word of God.”
How do people like Lofton manage to get elected to these boards? It’s scary.
I am hopeful that in Florida, the effort is building to make sure the new standards, which state that evolution will be taught and not pseudo-science, will survive.
There are still areas where one version of psuedo-science is being pushed. Pinellas County School Board has members which want to include Christian Creationism, but exclude other theories like Pastafarianism. Some choice quotes:
“The entire theory of evolution is not scientific fact. Intelligent design balances it out.” - Nancy Bostock, Chairperson
What a moron. This is the Chairperson? 
You can find more information, including contact information, here.
