Another face-palm moment from the Lone Star State.
The Texas Freedom Network Education Fund has just released a new report surveying the public school system curriculum of the Lone Star State and uncovered some disconcerting findings. Not only were there a troubling number of instances of public schools teaching the Bible as literal text, many institutions were espousing outright racism:
A Southern Methodist University religious studies professor Mark Chancey found instances of students learning a literal interpretation of the Bible, that the earth is approximately 6,000 years old and that Judaism is a “flawed and incomplete religion” with materials “designed to evangelize rather than provide an objective study of the Bible’s influence.”
TFN also found a lesson explaining “racial origins traced from Noah.” The claim that Africans are descendants of Ham, whom Noah curses in Genesis 9 after he “saw the nakedness of his father,” has long been used as a biblical justification for anti-black racism and slavery.
This is significant to New Yorkers, and all Americans for that matter, because of the considerable sway Texas public schools have on textbook publishers. As recently as 2009 the Texas Board of Education worked to approve a new science curriculum under a chair who believed "evolution is hooey." The Texas State Board of Education is selected in elections that are practically devoid of voters, and wealthy donors can chip in unlimited amounts of money to help their favorites win.
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