Sunday’s October 3rd Houston Chronicle printed a letter to the editor from Texas Board of Education member Don McLeroy who has been behind most of the ignorance, intolerance and bigotry endemic to this world class embarrassment to not only Texas, but to Christianity and humanity as well.
Keep in mind the three Evangelical Fundamentalist White Republicans behind this – Don McLeroy, Cynthia Dunbar and Randy Rives – have all been given the boot from the school board making this their last stand to instill their legacy of ignorant, intolerant bigotry into the children of Texas.
Also keep in mind these text books are out of print, have not been in Texas school rooms for 10 years and the facts presented about them are bogus. The books are WORLD HISTORY books that must give attention to the realilty of 1.5 billion Muslims in the world. And to the crux of the matter, contrary to Evangelical Christianity, the Crusades and the Inquisition were not examples of diplomatic church picnics.
Responding to critics
Regarding "Board: Tone down Islam in textbooks" (Page A1, Sept. 25), some of our world history textbooks are filled with inaccuracies and biases about our Judeo-Christian heritage. Since two of the greatest turning points in world history are the Jewish discovery of monotheism and the Christian Christmas story of the Incarnation, how accurate is a world history book that does not mention Judaism or Christianity in its table of contents, while Islam is cited 24 times?
And the role of Judeo-Christian ideas in the rise of the West is also presented with a biased viewpoint.
The radical Judeo-Christian idea that "all men are created in the image of God" is the moral foundation of the great achievements of Western civilization; it is also the source of our Declaration of Independence’s "all men are created equal." Yet this same world history book takes this key truth and twists it into being the source for European exploitation of nature, which — when combined with a Christian interest in bells – led to better metallurgy and thus better weapons and thus the triumph of the West. The book dismisses the idea’s moral power. Our children deserve better.
Don McLeroy, member, District 9 Texas State Board of Education, College Station