Thursday, July 16, 2009

Gail Lowe

Creationist named head of SBOE

Gov. Rick Perry has named Gail Lowe as chair of the State Board of Education (SBOE), replacing Don McLeroy, who couldn't win approval from the Texas Senate for reappointment. Like McLeroy, Lowe is a creationist. The Center for Inquiry (CFI) reports that, in 2009, Lowe voted for reintroducing the "strengths and weaknesses" clause in the Texas school science standards; in 2008, she Strongly Favored rejecting textbooks that do not teach weaknesses of the theory of evolution; and in 2002, she Strongly Favored treating intelligent design as a viable theory on the origin of life.

So what can William McKenzie, editorialist for The Dallas Morning News, be talking about when he says, "For the record, she voted against including creation teaching in science classes"? In a narrow, technical sense, that might or might not be true, but for the sake of journalistic clarity, McKenzie owes the readers more explanation about what vote he is talking about and what Lowe did vote for.

McKenzie does place Lowe in the camp of social conservatives. He also states that he would have preferred Perry pick someone from the moderate-conservative/Democratic minority side of the board, but didn't expect it. He got that right. Texas voters need to turn out of office all of the creationists on the SBOE, so Texas parents can rest assured that their children are learning science in school science classes and not religion dressed up in the pseudo-scientific jargon of intelligent design. The creationists on the SBOE include Gail Lowe, Don McLeroy (who retains his membership on the SBOE, if not his chairmanship), David Bradley, Barbara Cargill, Cynthia Dunbar, Terri Leo, and Ken Mercer. District 12 (Dallas) is represented by Geraldine "Tincy" Miller, who voted against reintroducing the "strengths and weaknesses" wording in the science standards, but she, too, should be voted out of office unless she takes a strong public stand in favor of science and against creationism in any of its guises.

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