Thursday, August 14, 2008

Hee-Hee or Uh-Oh?

Edited to add missing link

John Cole points out this story:

A federal judge says the University of California can deny course credit to applicants from Christian high schools whose textbooks declare the Bible infallible and reject evolution.

It's such a howler you'll want to read the whole thing, but I did want to call special attention to this:

For example, in Friday's ruling, he [U.S. District Judge James Otero] upheld the university's rejection of a history course called Christianity's Influence on America. According to a UC professor on the course review committee, the primary text, published by Bob Jones University, "instructs that the Bible is the unerring source for analysis of historical events" and evaluates historical figures based on their religious motivations.

Even for a wingnut, the Bible for an American History text?

John points out that this judge was appointed by George W. Bush,* which initially improved my snickering. But then, in a clear sign of having lived in a country too long dominated by Karl Rove, I immediately thought, "The judge is doing this just to boost Republican turnout in November."


* (source | cached version if page is still not loading)

4 comments:

John Evo said...

But then, in a clear sign of having lived in a country too long dominated by Karl Rove, I immediately thought, "The judge is doing this just to boost Republican turnout in November."

It's disturbing that many of us who never thought of ourselves as conspiracy nuts are now forced, by the past 8 years, to consider conspiracy a viable hypothesis.

Still, I love the ruling - for now. Great find, Brendan.

Spanish Inquisitor said...

Well, Judge Jones of the Dover decision was a Bush appointee also, and he had the courage to rule the way he did, because the law said he should. He had no choice, in effect, or he couldn't call himself a Judge.

And it wasn't an election year.

PhillyChief said...

U.S. District Judge James Otero of Los Angeles said UC's review committees cited legitimate reasons for rejecting the texts - not because they contained religious viewpoints, but because they omitted important topics in science and history and failed to teach critical thinking.

BING!

John Evo said...

The name of the plaintiffs attorney?
Monk. What else? I assume the initials of the lawyer for UC was PHD.

ShareThis