(813)   Sat 16 Nov 96 18:15
By: DAN CEPPA
Re: indiana fundies

 * Originally By: Lenny Flank
 * Originally To: All
 * Originally Re: indiana fundies
 * Original Area: Evolutionary Discussion
 * Forwarded by : Blue Wave v2.12

Got an interesting e-mail from a biology prof in Indiana who visited
my "Creation Science Debunked" web page:


Dear Mr. Flank:

I'd like to say hello and thanks for your well researched and well
written creationism debunking web site.

I am an evolutionary biologist, and like others, I've had a share of
interesting contacts with creationists and their efforts.  I thought
you might like to know about the latest event here in Bloomington, IN.

We are part of a county-wide school district.  In this past election,
school board candidates ran as usual.  In a town like this, lots of
people put signs for various candidates out on their lawns.  One such
ad that started drawing puzzled attention was a dark blue sign that
listed four names and told us they were sponsored by the committee for
better schools.  Looked a little stealthy.  But, it wasn't stealthy
enough.  One of the four revealed at a meet the candidates event that
he was opposed to teaching evolution in school, because it teaches our
kids that they are "dumb animals."  He felt if they were taught that
they would "behave like dumb animals."

Some further investigation by several concerned people discovered that
these four candidates were backed by the Christian Coalition, and
funded by a wealthy ultra-conservative retired physician.  From there
on it was low comedy all the way.  One of the stealth candidates
offered a $20,000 reward to anyone who could prove his CC connection.
He got to decide what constituted proof.  Another, who claimed a Ph.D.
from Central Michigan U. was found to have gotten his degree from
Freedom University in Florida. A call from Bloomington revealed that
this is a mail order Christian College operating out of a motel room.
All of this got quite a bit of attention in the local paper.  His wife
finally felt the need to protest the criticism in a letter to the
editor.  She claimed it didn't matter where her husband's degree was
from, and that he sort of forgot where he had gotten it.

Happily, because of the attention, the results on election day were
disasterous for the "slate." Since so few people vote for school board
(ca 10% on average), I think that if the stealth slate had stayed
quieter they might well have won. Sobering.

I know that the Christian Coalition spent a fortune to try and turn
out "christian" voters this election, and lost bigtime.  If we are
lucky, the fundie fanatics are finally running out of steam . . . . .

Lenny Flank