In Kansas, Evolution’s Backers Are Mounting a Counterattack

[spindrifter]

By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
Published: August 1, 2006

KANSAS CITY, Kan., July 29 — God and Charles Darwin are not on the primary ballot in Kansas on Tuesday, but once again a contentious schools election has religion and science at odds in a state that has restaged a three-quarter-century battle over the teaching of evolution.

Less than a year after a conservative Republican majority on the State Board of Education adopted rules for teaching science containing one of the broadest challenges in the nation to Darwin’s theory of evolution, moderate Republicans and Democrats are mounting a fierce counterattack. They want to retake power and switch the standards back to what they call conventional science.

The Kansas election is being watched closely by both sides in the national debate over the teaching of evolution. In the past several years, pitched battles have been waged between the scientific establishment and proponents of what is called intelligent design, which holds that nature alone cannot explain life’s origin and complexity.

Last February, the Ohio Board of Education reversed its 2002 mandate requiring 10th-grade biology classes to critically analyze evolution. The action followed a federal judge’s ruling that teaching intelligent design in the public schools of Dover, Pa., was unconstitutional.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/01/us/01evolution.html?hp&ex=1154404800&en=32a33289a2da48c5&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[skipos]

1. How do Democrats even get elected in this state?

I know there are some progressive minded folks there but yikes, these wingnuts are oout of control.

[Telly Savalas]

Two ways

1. There are a couple of blue counties: Douglas and Wyandotte. They constitute a large part of the 3rd District, so conservative Democrat Dennis Moore has been able to hang onto his seat.

2. At a state-wide level, there are some extremist elements to the Kansas GOP (even by GOP standards.) So if a flat-earther Republican wins the nomination for an office like governor, a lot of the less extremist Republicans in the eastern part of the state will either not vote or hold their nose and vote Democratic. That's how the Democratic governor won her last election.

[spindrifter]

3. Thanks for the insights--

not being familiar with the lay of the land in Kansas, I was wondering, too.

[Telly Savalas]

6. You're welcome.

Of course, the situation is a lot more complicated and nuanced than I describe above, but it's still a rough sketch of the big picture.

[kevinbgoode]

2. I think the Fundies may be way surprised how much of a backlash

is building against their theocratic, dictatorial ways. If there is one thing people do NOT like, it's having religion shoved in their face - and these loons do it every day AND are arrogant enough to claim they alone are entitled to run our government. That just doesn't rest well with both real Christians and the rest of the American population. They have a terrible track record - between the Terri Schiavo crap, the demands they pre-approve every Supreme Court nominee, the intentional deception in their vicious anti-gay campaigns, their demands that our schools be turned into evangelical religious institutions, their claims that no one can "pray" unless they have an audience. . .and on. . .and on. . .and on.

[spindrifter]

5. They have a real talent for polarizing

just about everything they dabble with. Heh! Heh! The faster the backlash catches them, the better I will feel.

[nashville_brook]

4. so like, they're repealing the helmet laws......... ?

my favorite example of nature selecting for intelligence... even if there isn't a LAW, it's still a good idea. -- :)

[tinfoil tiaras]

7. The Fred Phelps bunch is from Kansas

so that might explain some things....:crazy:

[atommom]

8. Don't read too much into that. The rest of Kansas hates Phelps.

And there are some signs of a backlash here. People are getting fed up with the RW. I'm hoping that helps us take back the school board.

Incidentally, there's a so-called Dem running as a stealth creationist in KC -- Jesse Hall. If the backlash keeps building, we may see more candidates trying to pull shit like that...