Texas has such a large high school population and such (ahem) unusual requirements for its textbooks that most publishers cater to the Texas Board of Education and sell those books to the other 49 states. So it is with a bit of relief that the Fundie stranglehold seems to be loosening its grip. A requirement that science teachers discuss the "strengths and weaknesses" of evolution (that's the best they can do?) was defeated in favor of permission to teach "all sides" of scientific theories (whatever that means).
That got atheist Christopher Hitchens speculating. The Fundies want to "teach the argument." What better way to do that than to stage the play "Inherit the Wind" about the Scopes Monkey Trial in which Clarence Darrow mops the floor with Fundie William Jennings Bryan. Or maybe students could stage the debate between Thomas Huxley and Bishop Samuel Wilberforce that was held at Oxford University in 1860, just a few years after Darwin proposed his theory.
Insist on "strengths and weaknesses"? How about the strengths and weaknesses of the world views of Voltaire, David Hume (he built a philosophy around empiricism), Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson? Careful now, we may insist on teaching the strengths and weaknesses of Christianity.
Want to teach Creationism? Why not? There are many wonderful creation stories -- Hindu, Muslim, Australian Aboriginal, ancient Scandinavian, Native American, and surely a few Asian ones as well. Why cheat students out of such a rich tapestry by insisting that only one be taught?
Just don't do it during biology class.
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