You just knew it was going to happen. Anti-semitism and hostility to science are two pillars of rightwing Christian fundamentalism. Eventually, somewhere, the Bush/DeLay party was going to find a way to blame their relatively new enemy--evolution--against their old enemy and scapegoat--the Jew.
The horror show unfolds below the fold.
To be fair, the Texas Republic party did not figure out this ancient plot.
Rather, they borrowed from a fellow Republic party member in Georgia's legislature.
The Dallas Morning News reports:
AUSTIN – The second most powerful member of the Texas House has circulated a Georgia lawmaker's call for a broad assault on teaching of evolution.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, used House operations Tuesday to deliver a memo from Georgia state Rep. Ben Bridges.
Mr. Bridges' memo claims that teaching evolution amounts to indoctrinating students in an ancient Jewish sect's beliefs.
"Indisputable evidence – long hidden but now available to everyone – demonstrates conclusively that so-called 'secular evolution science' is the Big Bang, 15-billion-year, alternate 'creation scenario' of the Pharisee Religion," writes Mr. Bridges, a Republican from Cleveland, Ga. He has argued against teaching of evolution in Georgia schools for several years.
Yep. Pharisees. Jews. Hebes. Kikes.
Kabbalists.
Mr. Bridges also supplies a link to a document that describes scientists Carl Sagan and Albert Einstein as "Kabbalists" and laments "Hollywood's unrelenting role in flooding the movie theaters with explicit or implicit endorsement of evolutionism."
Madonna was unavailable for comment.
Does this chap have other prejudices?
"That is a courtesy to a member of the Georgia legislature, is all that is," said Mr. Chisum, a social conservative who opposes abortion rights and wants the state to prefer heterosexuals over gays and lesbians in recruiting foster parents. He authored the 2005 constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
Quelle shocke!
But, this guy is NOT anti-science, nor does he believe in teaching religion in our schools.
Mr. Chisum was asked if Mr. Bridges' memo reflects his own views.
"No, absolutely, although I'm a Christian, and I believe in creation," he said. Creation science is the idea that the Earth was created in six days some 6,000 years ago.
"You ought to teach creation as well as the fact of evolution," Mr. Chisum said, though he said "all of those kinds of sciences have holes in them. ... But I'm not about teaching religion in schools
Well, at least it wasn't a gay Jewish plot.
Somedays I think the Rapturists are right--the world is coming to an end.
Of course, ala Isiah Washington, Mel Gibson, and others, he's pretending to offer an apology.
House Appropriations Chairman Warren Chisum said Wednesday that he's "willing to apologize" for giving colleagues a document that contains what the Anti-Defamation League called "outrageous anti-Semitic material."
"The stuff that causes conflicts between religious beliefs, you know, I'd never be a party to that," Mr. Chisum said. "I'm willing to apologize if I've offended anyone."
Mr. Chisum said he hadn't looked at the Web site and didn't realize that he was distributing that type of material. He expressed chagrin that he didn't vet the material more carefully.
He said he believes creation and evolution should both be taught in schools, and he separated himself from what he called "goofy stuff" on the Web site.
"I did not go to the Web site, which I understood maybe I should've done," he said.
OMG. Look! John Edwards hired a couple of bloggerz!!!!!!!