Vote “no” on Bill Wenmark

The Minnetonka school district is one of the best in Minnesota, with an exceptionally concerned and active set of parents and teachers who work hard to keep informed and support their schools. They established an organization, TonkaFocus, to oppose creationism in the schools and attempts to demolish their international baccalaureate program, a very smart move — pro-science parent activism is always something to encourage.

Minnetonka was also the home district of Dave Eaton, an ID sycophant who was a crony of the odious Cheri Yecke, and who was responsible for some of the shenanigans in our state’s last attempt to get some decent science education standards. He’s gone, fortunately, but one of his pals, Bill Wenmark, is still on the Minnetonka school board.

But, we hope, not for long. He’s up for re-election on 6 November.

School boards should be places for people who know something about education and who want to improve schools for our kids. Creationists who want to damage science education and make our kids more ignorant do not belong on them, and Bill Wenmark is one of those wackos who wants to inflict his religious vision on other people’s children — he needs to be replaced on the school board. Greg Laden has more on Wenmark, who doesn’t particularly like TonkFocus or the ACLU or legitimate science education. I have to second Greg’s suggestion:

Minnetonkans! Vote for The Other Guy!

D.B. Cooper: the Morris connection?

I knew of D.B. Cooper, the famous mystery man who jumped out of a plane with a few hundred thousand dollars ransom money, and was never seen again — I grew up in the Pacific Northwest in the 1970s, so of course I was familiar with the story. Now here’s a weird little twist: there’s a new suspect in the crime, and he’s the brother of a fellow here in Morris, Minnesota.

Not me, I didn’t do it. I was only 14 when D.B. Cooper made his jump.

(Hat tip to Jeffrey Shallit)

Come on down to Ridgedale

You’ve still got time — I’m in the Ridgedale public library, and Hector Avalos is getting ready to give his talk on “How archaeology killed biblical history”…come join the crowd if you’re somewhere in the Twin Cities area.

You’re too late now! I saw several familiar faces at the talk, and there was a huge crowd — Minnesota Atheists has to be growing, because every meeting I go to is larger than the last one. We got a good discussion of the increasingly evident failure of archaeology to back up any of the claims of the Bible. Whereas once upon a time, serious scholars argued that portions of the Bible actually echoed real historical events (and even today, many less informed evangelical/fundamentalist Christians still do), virtually all of it is considered ancient myth-making nowadays. No Exodus. No empire of Israel spanning a big chunk of the Middle East. No Solomonic fortress building. No Solomon. No David. Quite possibly no Jesus, and definitely no primary sources describing his existence. I thought the comparison of Solomon and David to King Arthur quite apt — they were inventions after the fact, legends built up to illustrate beliefs about a past golden age. It was subject matter that is quite different from my usual approach to debunking religion, so it was useful stuff … and I picked up copies of Fighting Words: The Origins Of Religious Violence(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll) and his latest, The End of Biblical Studies(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), so I can do a bit more digging into the details.

Hector Avalos gets up into the Twin Cities now and then (his drive from Iowa is about the same length as mine from Morris), and if you get an opportunity to hear him speak, I recommend it!

Northfield!

I have arrived in beautiful Northfield, MN (motto: “Cows, Colleges, and Contentment.” I expect a placid audience for my talk tonight). My first impression, right after passing St Olaf College, was an odd one: what is that strange chocolatey aroma I’m smelling everywhere? Shortly afterwards I came upon a gigantic Malt-O-Meal plant, and all was explained. I guess smelling like Malt-O-Meal isn’t the worst thing that could happen to a college town, although there is one better: the UO campus at Eugene used to occasionally smell intensely of fresh-baked cinnamon rolls, thanks to a bakery down the street from it.

I have to mention one of the unfortunate things about Morris. It used to occasionally reek like yeasty sour beer, from the ethanol plant on the edge of town. They seem to have cleaned up their act in the last few years, and we rarely get that odor anymore. There were a few days this summer, though, where the wind was just right and we got treated to the stink of the local pig farms, which is not at all pleasant.

I think I’ll take the scent of breakfast cereal any day.

A wild weekend of godlessness in Minneapolis!

It’s another weekend of travel for me. Tonight, I’m off to St Olaf, that fine Lutheran institute of higher learning, to rail against the corruption of science by religion. I’ll be speaking at 6 at the Lion’s Lair, Buntrock Commons, out there in Northfield, MN (wait…”lion’s lair”? Do they mean that literally?)

The really exciting news, though, is that the Minnesota Atheists are hosting a talk by Hector Avalos tomorrow afternoon. This is extremely convenient for me — drive in to give a talk, stay and get to listen to another — so yes, I’ll be there, too! It’s just fun, fun, fun for this lovely October weekend.

The Sunday, October 21 meeting of Minnesota Atheists will take place in a new location: Ridgedale Public Library, 12601 Ridgedale Dr., Minnetonka, MN 55305 (see attached map).

The meeting will be 1:00-3:30 p.m.
1:00 – 1:30 p.m. – Social time.
1:30 – 2:30 p.m. – Presentation.
2:30 – 2:50 p.m. – Book sales/signing.
3:00 – 3:30 p.m. – Business meeting.

It will be followed by dinner at 4:00 p.m. at Wanderer’s Garden, 13059 Ridgedale Dr., Minnetonka, MN 55305 (Menu or $10.50 Buffet)

Our special guest, Hector Avalos, will speak on “How Archaeology Killed Biblical History”

Hector Avalos is professor of religious studies at Iowa State University and the author or editor of six books on Biblical studies and religion, including his recently published work, The End of Biblical Studies. Join us for a fascinating presentation detailing how the more we discover about the ancient world, the less reliable we find the Bible.

From the dust jacket of The End of Biblical Studies: Hector Avalos calls for an end to biblical studies as we know them. He outlines two main arguments for this surprising conclusion.

First, academic biblical scholarship has clearly succeeded in showing that the ancient civilization that produced the Bible held beliefs about the origin, nature, and purpose of the world and humanity that are fundamentally opposed to the views of modern society. The Bible is thus largely irrelevant to the needs and concerns of contemporary human beings.

Second, Avalos criticizes his colleagues for applying a variety of flawed and specious techniques aimed at maintaining the illusion that the Bible is still relevant in today’s world. In effect, he accuses his profession of being more concerned about its self-preservation than about giving an honest account of its own findings to the general public and faith communities.

Copies of The End of Biblical Studies will be available for sale for $30 (price includes sales tax). After the presentation we will have book sales and signing. This will be followed by our business meeting. Finally, those who wish can join us for an early dinner at the Wanderer’s Garden, a Chinese restaurant.

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Bachmann: another Republican against poor children

I wouldn’t normally just publish a press release here, but in this case, 1) it’s an important issue, the Republican squashing of the SCHIP bill to reauthorize a health insurance program for poor children, 2) it’s about Michele Bachmann, a truly contemptible creature of the far right wing, and 3) my son Alaric has been working with Americans Against Escalation in Iraq on turning out the opposition to Bachmann — so it’s a good cause, a wretched villain, and a little family connection.

The story is that Cruella deVille Michele Bachmann was one of the conservative drones who voted to let poor children suffer; worse, she afterwards tried to claim that she was actually a supporter of SCHIP, that the bill would have benefitted the wealthy so she really wasn’t trying to hurt poor kids, and that her critics should “bring it on”. The Star Tribune editorialized against her position, and there have been vigils outside her office to try and persuade her to change her vote and override the president’s veto.

The argument that this bill would have advantaged the already rich means Michele Bachmann has joined the ranks of the repellent Republicans who gleefully attack children.

The press release is below the fold.

[Read more…]

Morris Area High Schools … for Christ

Speaking of bad teaching and schools that screw up under community pressure, it looks like we have an ugly story here in Morris. Last week, the student at the Morris Area High School were released from classes (you know, those sessions where they are supposed to learn something) to listen to some motivational speaker babbling about healthy lifestyles and abstinence, and apparently telling them that Madonna was a lesbian, among other tidbits. I’ve only heard third-hand about the event itself — Skatje‘s still in touch with friends at the high school, but she didn’t actually attend herself — but now there’s an article in the local paper on it.

[Read more…]

Anyone want to go to church with me on Sunday?

Well, lookee here … an announcement in the local Morris paper.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7

TOM DEROSA will be at Morris Evangelical Free Church at 6:30 p.m., to present a creationist’s perspective about evolution. DeRosa’s presentation is free and open to the public.

I don’t think I have any plans for Sunday night. Wouldn’t an evening with an old pal of D. James Kennedy and the founder of the Creation Studies Institute be buckets of fun?

You should listen to his testimonial. He claims to be an atheist who was teaching evolution in the public schools (he was teaching physics and chemistry, though — what was he doing teaching biology?), and got upset because they cut back the science curriculum from a year to half a year. So he’s talking to someone at D. James Kennedy’s private Christian school (why?), and offers to apply for a position opening up there (what?), and his wife organizes a prayer chain so that the interview will go well (what? what?), and at the interview he learns that salvation is not a consequence of works as he previously thought (what? what? what?) but faith, and takes the job and becomes a Christian. Why, He sounds just like a real atheist.

Oh, and they have a “museum”, too.

If you’d rather not come out to Morris, DeRosa is going to be scuttling about this part of the state for a whole week, so you might find him closer to home, poisoning your community’s children’s minds. Of course, the Morris event will have the advantage of a more interesting audience. Heh.

Girding my loins in Dinkytown

All right, homies, I hope some of you are planning to show for the big rumble at the Bell Museum tonight. I’ve arrived, and I’m flexing and stretching on the home turf, getting ready … in other words, I’m hanging out at the Espresso Royale stoking up on caffeine. Here’s the deal:

Speaking Science 2.0: New Directions in Science Communications
Friday, September 28, 2007
7:30 p.m.
Bell Museum Auditorium
$5 Suggested Donation

I just noticed the unfortunate typo up there in the announcement: they misspelled “wrong” as N-E-W.

We’ll hash that out this evening, I think.