Are your state's tax dollars funding the teaching of religious supremacism and bigotry?  What about Creationism?  The answer is undoubtedly yes, if you live in a state with a voucher or corporate tax credit program funding "school choice."
 
Religious schools across the nation are receiving public funds through voucher and corporate tax credit programs. Many hundreds, if not thousands, of these schools use Protestant fundamentalist textbooks that teach not only Creationism, but also a religious supremacist worldview, with a shocking spin on politics, history, and human rights.

[note: I'm re-posting this story because the Ugandan Parliament may this week be fast-tracking the so-called "kill the gays" bill for a vote. Since 2010, Pastor Fred Hartley of the Lilburn Alliance Church has been fund-raising for the ministry of Julius Oyet, one of the professed co-authors of the bill, which would make homosexuality punishable (for various reasons) by death, as well as force health professionals and Ugandan citizens generally to turn in to authorities all Ugandans suspected of committing homosexual acts.]

"Lord, teach us to pray," begins COP International President Hartley... Next, we see an African infant on a blanket, blankly staring, belly distended. Then a plaintive little girl's voice peeps, "We children are suffering here in Africa. Heal us from the AIDS epidemic." So your church's cash dollars will save the children? Well, no...

Does it amount to a money pitch for attempted genocide? Some might say yes. But let's start here:

Standing in his book-lined office Fred Hartley III, the spiffy can-do pastor of the Atlanta-area Lilburn Alliance Church whose chiseled features and peppery close cropped hair could win him a Hollywood role playing a drill Sargent, enthuses, "Today, I want to welcome you to the world of the College of Prayer and introduce you to some of God's most dynamic leaders around the globe."

Up first is COP's cheerful Ugandan star, born-again potentate Julius Oyet--who openly advocates the execution of homosexuals and has helped to launch a bill that appears designed to categorically legislate Uganda's gay citizens out of existence, but the fund raising pitch doesn't mention those aspects. Rather, Oyet needs more money so he can teach other Ugandans to pray: properly, that is. [update: on April 1-2, 2011, two colleagues of Oyet's, Pat Francis and Os Hillman, will be speaking at a conference at Harvard University.]

[College of Prayer fund raising video, below: the bogus "save the children!" theme comes in at ~1:00. Then Fred Hartley III introduces Julius Oyet, professed "kill the gays" bill co-author, who shows up at ~1:36. The fund raising pitch comes later in the video.]

"I went down there and joined this church. We were taught to vomit demons into bags. It was a very, very weird situation." -- Rolling Stone writer Matt Taibbi, on his experiences at John Hagee's San Antonio Cornerstone Church

"Last night at Cornerstone Church we were privileged to have, as our speaker, Newt Gingrich. He gave a wonderful delivery of the theme, 'Rediscovering God in America.' " -- John Hagee

Does Newt Gingrich know that pastor John Hagee, whose San Antonio Cornerstone Church Gingrich recently gave a speech at, claims cops across America are conspiring with satanists who ritually slaughter their own babies as sacrifices to the devil? Does he know Hagee is an avowed exorcist who claims to have cast out a demon from a woman whom Hagee says had the face of a cat? Does Gingrich know Hagee has promoted a variant of Hitler's favorite anti-Jewish conspiracy theory, that Rothschild bankers control the world economy and are scheming against the common folk?

Lisa Graybill, of the Texas ACLU, spoke in Houston to the local chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
     Lisa is the legal director of the organization.  She directed her audience to understand that the biggest complaint she had about the mingling of church and state is in the arena of public education.  

We are delighted to welcome Dan Quinn, Communications Director of the Texas Freedom Network, as a guest front pager. His post is a reminder that the culture war remains hot as a wildfire and is being waged on many fronts. -- FC

In March the Texas State Board of Education succeeded in opening public school science classrooms to creationist attacks on evolution. Having done what it could to muck up the science curriculum, the board's far-right bloc is now moving to politicize the state's social studies classrooms. How? By stacking an important "expert" curriculum panel with religious extremists like David Barton and the Rev. Peter Marshall -- two prominent names in the movement to destroy church-state separation and convince Americans that the country should be run on conservative Christian biblical principles.

Each of the past few springs I have helped man a period display at the Sam Houston Museum.  About thirty miles from my home is what is billed as the largest statue of its kind...a huge statue of Houston.  When Sam Houston was baptized in a tributary of the Barzos River, the Baptist pastor asked the  leader how it felt to have his sins washed away? Houston was supposed to have responded, "Lord help the fish down stream."  The famous Texan was known as the general who defeated Spanish troops. His largest legacy, for which he lost friends and influence in the state, was to call for Texas to stay in the union after the Civil War.  Houston, like Lee, wanted to keep the country united as one.  Such a vision would make it the most powerful nation in the world in the future.

From time to time I have made note of the actions of the Slavic Evangelical immigrants here in Sacramento. A couple of days ago a group of Slavic Evangelical students were able to pull off a coup which is unprecedented in California community colleges or university history as they sit on the Student Council of the American River Community College, Sacramento, and passed a resolution to support Proposition 8, a ballot initiative which would overturn the recent California Supreme Court ruling allowing same sex marriage in California.

(In light of the recent decision of the Louisiana House to allow the teaching of creationism in the state's public schools, and Governor Bobby Jindal's recent notoriety, Barbara Forrest's guest front page post last Fall is as timely now as it was then.) We are honored to welcome Barbara Forrest back as a guest front pager. She was a key expert witness in the landmark federal case Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District. Her testimony proved that "intelligent design" was nothing more than hastily dressed-up creationism -- the teaching of which had already been found to be unconstitutional. She is a member of the board of the National Center for Science Education -- FC

There are times when “neutrality” isn’t neutral, when a desire to appear unbiased betrays a bias. The Texas Education Agency’s reluctance to appear biased in favor of evolution and against intelligent design (ID) creationism is one of those times.

Proponents of the intelligent design theory of the universe have apparently forced out the science curriculum director of the Texas Education Agency. What precipitated the resignation  the Austin-American Statesman reports, was that Chris Comer forwarded an email from her office computer promoting a public talk by Barbara Forrest, a prominent academic critic of ID. Comer is accused of being biased over the matter, which is still a matter of considerable contention in Texas education politics.

The 2006 federal court decision in Kitzmiller vs. Dover, which thorougly debunked ID as legitimate science, was based in considerable part on Forrest's testimony.

We are honored to welcome Barbara Forrest as a guest front pager. She was a key expert witness in the landmark federal case Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District. Her testimony proved that "intelligent design" was nothing more than hastily dressed-up creationism -- the teaching of which had already been found to be unconstitutional. She is a member of the board of the National Center for Science Education -- FC

When Bobby Jindal ran for governor of Louisiana in 2003, his support for teaching creationism surfaced during the campaign. Since his defeat in that race and subsequent election to the U.S. House of Representatives, he has continued to tour the state, often speaking at churches. Last fall, he toured north Louisiana churches with Republican Religious Right operative David Barton, who promotes the myth that the United States was founded politically as a Christian nation. During his 2007 campaign for governor, Jindal has largely avoided public forums in which he might be asked unexpected questions, and the media either are unaware of or have avoided covering Jindal's activities with Barton. The Louisiana Democratic Party launched a series of ads regarding Jindal's religious views that have obscured the true issue: his alliance with the Religious Right. What follows is a letter I wrote to a local Louisiana newspaper in order to accurately inform the public about Jindal's creationism and alliance with Barton.

Aired last Wednesday and scheduled again for the 10PM to Midnight slot this evening, a segment entitled "God, Faith, and Hard Science" on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees show featured Robert Boston of Americans United For The Separation of Church and State and Charmaine Yoest of the Family Research Council sparring over what should be included in the science curriculum of American public schools [ here's a transcript ] The segment has gotten fair play in the blogosphere, on PZ Meyers' Pharyngula and elsewhere, and I would like to highlight an aspect of what Dr. Yoest said that intrigues me. Now, I want to preface this by saying that I haven't been able to reach the Family Research Council to verify that Dr. Yoest was actually speaking as an official representative for the FRC... [ note : don't miss the Blogswarm Against Theocracy this April 6-9 ]

Last March 31, 2006, I covered the Christian right's war on public education and a Department of Education commissioned study that revealed public schools, if anything, outperform their private school counterparts. But, does Amway fortune heir Dick Devos care, or does he view institutions of public education, that Jefferson saw as integral to American Democracy, as obstacles in the way of a long range scheme to undermine democracy ? In a 2002 Heritage Institute address Devos, a leader in the war on public education who wants Intelligent Design in schools, is associated with Christian Reconstructionist views, and has been a significant funder of the "Council On National Policy" and served as the CNP's president in the late 1980's, outlined a "stealth strategy" for eliminating public schools. If DeVos succeeds in his jihad against public schools and American Democracy, maybe his brother-in-law Erik Prince, who owns Blackwater USA, the subject of a new expose by Jeremy Scahill and possibly the most powerful private mercenary army in the world, could help out with the ensuing anarchy... for a price, of course. (See Nation article on Blackwater, or full story for video with Jeremy Scahill )

'Christian Nation' Mythos Enters America's Public Schools, As 'Bible Curriculum' Reportedly in 382 School Districts [ note: see full story for Norris video ]

Martial arts maven Chuck Norris, legend has it, can defeat packs of savage wild animals, hordes of vicious, armed goons, and even onrushing Mack trucks with nothing more than his hands and feet. Now, Norris wants to kick secularism's ass - he wants the Bible back in public schools. But roundhouse kicks or even the "claw of death" are not especially useful for slipping a sectarian Bible course curriculum touting fake history into public schools. Stealthy, social tactics are needed. Will Chuck Norris become a Liar For Jesus ? We don't yet know but Norris has touted the work of the National Council On Bible Curriculum In Public Schools as it sneaks, in a slick wrapper of dubious and flat-out fraudulent takes on American history, its Christian nationalist Bible course curriculum into public schools, cities, and towns across America. Meet the The National Council On Bible Curriculum In Public Schools (NCBCPS), a stealth effort associated with the far right Council On National Policy and led by a woman who has said God has commanded her to bring the Bible back into public education.

Those who still doubt there are links between Southern Baptists and theocratic Christian Reconstructionists should look inside the front cover of the December 2004 issue of the Chalcedon Report. There the chief publishing house for Reconstructionist thought, Chalcedon, announces that it has published Bruce Shortt's book, The Harsh Truth About Public Schools. Bruce Shortt, along with T.C. Pinckney, leads the movement against public schools within the Southern Baptist Convention.