Texas, next year, is going to be electing a new governor and a new lieutenant governor.
And this past week,
the lieutenant governor's on the Republican side -- there are four major candidates for lieutenant governor --
they all had their first televised debate.
And you guys all remember those Republican debates
for presidential primary
when Mitt Romney was running for office
in 2012.
Well, this is what that was. It was the first chance to see these guys, you know, upfront and confronting the big questions.
And for some reason,
the big-- one of the big questions they had to answer was:
Should we basically teach creationism in science class?
And this has been an issue, because the Texas State Board of Education
has been historically notorious
for trying to push creationism or intelligent design into their textbooks,
and force all the schools in the state to teach that as part of their science curriculums.
Now, if you were a good candidate,
you would say: "No, I think creationism-- I think what you believe happened, how we got created,
that should be left to church. That should be left to your home."
But when you're in science class,
you should stick to science, you should stick to what the experts in the field say is credible science.
But we're talking Texas Republicans here. We're not really talking the brightest of the bunch here.
So, all four of them said: "We ought to put creationism in science class."
That it's somehow
discriminatory against Christians
when you teach evolution the way it ought to be taught.
That somehow there needs to be that fair and balanced debate
between creationism and evolution,
even though no scientist worth their salt would ever say there's a fair and balanced argument--
evidence on both sides.
So, you know, it's just disappointing to see four people
who are-- One of them is going to win this election to become lieutenant governor.
One of them could be the next governor of Texas and
Texas has had enough governors who don't understand science.
We need someone up there. I don't even-- At least in this issue,
doesn't bother me if they're Republican or Democrat. We need a politician
who can get up there and at least promote some sound science.
And that didn't happen. And if you remember back in 2007,
when they had those Republican Primary
presidential debates for the next Republican candidate,
there was a debate where they asked point-blank to all -- I think eight of the candidates on stage --
"How many of you do not believe in evolution?"
And I don't like the way that question was worded but,
"How many of you don't believe in evolution?"
And three of the guys raised their hands,
including Mike Huckabee,
who may even be running in 2016 or at least he's thinking about that.
They raised their hands and said: "I don't accept science. I want to promote ignorance."
And they raised their hands high like they were proud of it.
There is something perversely wrong with our country
when you have educated politicians who have the
ability to guide and shape policy
coming out and proudly admitting
that they don't accept science.
That they're willing to go with a lie instead of the thing that could actually drive our economy.
That's a problem whether you're a Republican or Democrat.
And again, I don't -- at least for the sake of this argument -- I don't even care
if they were privately creationists.
But when they say our public schools ought to teach creationism as if it's legitimate science,
they're just wrong. They're flat-out wrong. The evidence goes against what they say,
and unfortunately,
you know, if you're a Republican in Texas who actually understands science,
you have to vote for one of those knuckleheads.
That's disappointing.
You know what? I don't even know what the Democratic candidates think. I would hope
that they would be on the right side of the issue here,
but it's one of those things that I hope Texas voters weigh
next year when they're making their decision between who to vote for, or even a third party candidate who to vote for,
remember that none of those Texas Republicans
was willing to stand on the side of science.
They wanted to dumb down the science curriculum
and make Texans,
who are applying to college,
less likely to get in, because they don't understand the facts of how science works.
It's hurting them
and that's what they want to promote. Remember that when you're in the voting booth next year.
My name is Hemant Mehta and I write at FriendlyAtheist.com
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