Friday, July 28, 2006
Connie Morris: A Controversial Woman
In recent weeks, right-wing school board members who are running for re-election have toned down their rhetoric considerably in an effort to make themselves more acceptable to Kansas voters.
These days we hear less about having to decide between the Bible and evolution, and much more about critical thinking, teaching the controversy -- all of the code words that the religious right translates effortlessly into "We're going to teach Genesis in science classes."
That was, until Connie Morris' campaign manager, Harold Orosco, sent this letter to The Garden City Telegram.
Connie is Harold's heroine because, she defended "what you and I and what our children believe about God" from wait for it... a drawing of the Flying Spaghetti Monster pinned to a classroom door.
"What the Darwinists have done is to substitute a joke [the FSM] for God," writes Orosco. "It portrays Him as nothing more credible than Santa Claus or the tooth fairy."
Connie, he says, "could have walked away and said nothing. This courageous, brave woman stood alone and then was persecuted in a streamline of fire in every possible way you can think of and then labeled as a controversial woman because of her belief."
Orosco's letter is funny enough, but it also reveals -- in its "what you and I and what our children believe about God" statement -- the intolerance of the radical religious right.
In Connie and Harold's insular little world there are no different beliefs -- beliefs that have rights, beliefs that must be accommodated -- there is only "what you and I and what our children believe about God."
These days we hear less about having to decide between the Bible and evolution, and much more about critical thinking, teaching the controversy -- all of the code words that the religious right translates effortlessly into "We're going to teach Genesis in science classes."
That was, until Connie Morris' campaign manager, Harold Orosco, sent this letter to The Garden City Telegram.
Connie is Harold's heroine because, she defended "what you and I and what our children believe about God" from wait for it... a drawing of the Flying Spaghetti Monster pinned to a classroom door.
"What the Darwinists have done is to substitute a joke [the FSM] for God," writes Orosco. "It portrays Him as nothing more credible than Santa Claus or the tooth fairy."
Connie, he says, "could have walked away and said nothing. This courageous, brave woman stood alone and then was persecuted in a streamline of fire in every possible way you can think of and then labeled as a controversial woman because of her belief."
Orosco's letter is funny enough, but it also reveals -- in its "what you and I and what our children believe about God" statement -- the intolerance of the radical religious right.
In Connie and Harold's insular little world there are no different beliefs -- beliefs that have rights, beliefs that must be accommodated -- there is only "what you and I and what our children believe about God."
