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Merged Evolution battle brews in Texas / Victory for Evolution in Texas
- Thread starter summand
- Start date
AdMan
Penultimate Amazing
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Complexity
Philosopher
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I will gladly check it out.
I know that there are pockets of sanity scattered throughout Texas, but there most be something in the water...
AdMan
Penultimate Amazing
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As a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, I can attest to that.
I do wish they weren't so small pockets, though.
Complexity
Philosopher
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As a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, I can attest to that.
I do wish they weren't so small pockets, though.
U of T at Austin was one place that I considered doing my graduate work at. I didn't follow through with an application there, but it was on my shorter list. Austin has the reputation of being one of the most liveable (expecially intellectually) places in Texas.
Craig4
Penultimate Amazing
I'd like to think this is enlightenment. I think it's more likely that the board of education looked at the cost of the Dover trial and decided not to go out like that.
This is good news, but I also think it is a little bit sad that something like this is seen as a victory. A school board choosing a science textbook that is based on science, not religion should be a normal occurrence, not reason for celebration.
The fact that people are celebrating this decision only indicates how rare this kind of thing is. I think that is a pity.
The fact that people are celebrating this decision only indicates how rare this kind of thing is. I think that is a pity.
FramerDave
Muse
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It is a lovely city. Pity it's located in Texas.
Complexity
Philosopher
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ParrotPirate
Graduate Poster
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Got that right!
Vortigern99
Sorcerer Supreme
There are far more "rays of light" in terms of intelligence, atheism, skepticism and compassion in Texas than people who are not from here and who do not live here are willing or able to acknowledge or understand.
The OP is good news but not surprising to me in the least. All Texan educators I know and have spoken with on the subject are pro-science and accept evolution, even if they are also religious.
The OP is good news but not surprising to me in the least. All Texan educators I know and have spoken with on the subject are pro-science and accept evolution, even if they are also religious.
Elizabeth I
Philosopher
Ah, but you live in Austin, the only ray of light in this black hole that is a 268,580-square-mile state with a population of 24,782,302 people, all of whom are of course (with the exception of Matt Dillahunty and his meager crew of four or five enlightened beings) exactly the same kind of people, sharing exactly the same beliefs and spending all their spare time listening to country music, getting drunk on Lone Star, shooting "evil-lutionists," and looking for queers to stomp.
The thing is that the same people who say this kind of thing about Texas would, I think, be - quite correctly - offended if someone were to say that all black people are shiftless or all Mexicans are thieves or all Jews are moneygrubbers or all gays are pedophiles. Stereotypes are wrong, unless of course you are talking about Texas.
Vortigern99
Sorcerer Supreme
You said a mouthful there, Elizabeth! Every time a thread pops up about an event or social phenomenon in Texas -- anywhere on the 'Net, not just here at the JREF -- people who don't live here, and/or have never spent a day in their life here, decide to chime in about how deplorable the culture in Texas is, how stupid its residents are, how backwards its ways.
These are the same people who will argue with you if you talk about the Texas coastline ("Texas does not have beaches or islands!") and who think Texas is a desert full of cacti and tumbleweeds. To them, it seems, our cultural heritage is as barren as they imagine our landscape to be.
I say: Fine. Good. Stay out. Keep to your delusions. The traffic is getting too thick around here anyway.
More on-topic, yes -- this state is full of Christians. Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, Methodists. I invite one and all to point to a state in the US that is not. Meanwhile, as evinced in the OP, we also have masses of free-thinkers, intellectuals, scientists, skeptics, agnostics, atheists, educators, artists -- in short, people who defy the absurd stereotype forced on us by the rest of the country.
These are the same people who will argue with you if you talk about the Texas coastline ("Texas does not have beaches or islands!") and who think Texas is a desert full of cacti and tumbleweeds. To them, it seems, our cultural heritage is as barren as they imagine our landscape to be.
I say: Fine. Good. Stay out. Keep to your delusions. The traffic is getting too thick around here anyway.
More on-topic, yes -- this state is full of Christians. Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, Methodists. I invite one and all to point to a state in the US that is not. Meanwhile, as evinced in the OP, we also have masses of free-thinkers, intellectuals, scientists, skeptics, agnostics, atheists, educators, artists -- in short, people who defy the absurd stereotype forced on us by the rest of the country.
RandFan
Mormon Atheist
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Some very fair points about stereotypes. It is wrong to judge an entire group of people by just a segment of that group. Even in rural areas there are a lot of decent people. Some are misinformed or rely too heavily and religious authority and indoctrination but that doesn't make them evil.
We can't recommend The Atheist Experience (part of the Atheist Community of Austin) too much. I watch it every week. I love it and have great admiration for the people there. Click on the picture to watch their most recent episode or peruse the archive.
http://www.atheist-experience.com/
We can't recommend The Atheist Experience (part of the Atheist Community of Austin) too much. I watch it every week. I love it and have great admiration for the people there. Click on the picture to watch their most recent episode or peruse the archive.
http://www.atheist-experience.com/
Edited by Locknar:
Edited, breach of rule 5.
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Toontown
Philosopher
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Look at it this way: If you need heart surgury, would you want a surgeon who was taught creationist garbage in school to be digging around in your chest cavity?
Exactly. The average Texan's IQ may be 4 points lower than that of the despised Okies to the north. The average Texan may cling stubbornly to an ancient and outmoded religious ideology. But that doesn't mean they want poorly educated people digging around in their chests.
There are only moderate creationists in operating rooms.
Exactly. The average Texan's IQ may be 4 points lower than that of the despised Okies to the north. The average Texan may cling stubbornly to an ancient and outmoded religious ideology. But that doesn't mean they want poorly educated people digging around in their chests.
There are only moderate creationists in operating rooms.
Vortigern99
Sorcerer Supreme
Are you aware that Houston is one of the premiere medical communities in the world? Your post doesn't make a lick of sense.