Over at my blog, I recently wrote up the moral case against faith-based government programs.

I have found that the case is typically expressed in vague terms having something to do with 'separation of church and state' and 'discriminatory hiring'.

I thought it would be useful to have something that explicitly addresses the issue.

DarkSyde, a front page writer at The Daily Kos, has a new installment in his series of profiles on leading creation science and intelligent design advocates.

Well, good news is slim in Ohio these days, what with just about all levels of state government being in the hands of the most reactionary right-wingers this side of  Pat Robertson.  However, those of us who believe in good science and good education got a shot in the arm today, when the Ohio school board rejected a curriculum including Intellegent design:

The Ohio school board voted Tuesday to eliminate a passage in the state's science standards that critics said opened the door to the teaching of intelligent design.
The Ohio Board of Education decided 11-4 to delete material encouraging students to seek evidence for and against evolution.
The 2002 science standards say students should be able to ``describe how scientists continue to investigate and critically analyze aspects of evolutionary theory.'' It includes a disclaimer that the standards do not require the teaching of intelligent design.

More below the flip...

Leaders of major Christian right interest groups used to read R.J. Rushdoony, but it's not fashionable to do so anymore. That's what I was told last year by a conservative evangelical college professor who attended meetings of the Values Action Team, an off-the-record caucus of Washington-based Christian right groups and right-wing members of congress. I confirmed for myself just how uncomfortable a subject Rushdoony is for the mainstream Christian right when I approached Richard Land last December and asked if he agreed with Rushdoony's ideology. Land cringed, then collected himself enough to utter a boilerplate denunciation of his work.

The Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA hosts an annual student conference on reproductive rights. They have just posted the details of the 2006 conference.

One of the features of the conference is always a panel about the Right, and it's various elements. This year will be no exception. The organizers of the conference believe that it is necessary to have a clear grasp of the opposition in order to better defend and advance reproductive rights and other concerns.

I will be on this year's panel.

Just in: the Ohio Board of Education just voted 11-4 to strip pro-intelligent design language from the state's science standards.

The Times Union newspaper of Albany, New York on Sunday, February 12, 2006, ran a huge front page article, byline, Marc Parry, regarding questionable use of diocesan funds by the Bishop of Albany, Daniel Herzog.

According to the article, internal debate has revolved for months around outgoing Bishop Daniel Herzog, who is accused by some in his flock of concealing church finances, short-circuiting the election of his successor and sidelining those who clash with his theological beliefs.

Michael Lerner may well have put his finger on the cause of one of the most baffling and frightening phenomenon of our society: The draw of the Religious Right. Lerner argues that there are real problems in American culture that are causing people pain. While the Left abdicates any interest in that pain, the Religious Right claims to have the answer.

In light of all of the recent discussion about Theocracy, I have been reflecting on some things. This issue goes to the core of our identity as a nation, and harsh lines are drawn on each side. At stake is our freedom... the freedom to think, vote and worship as we please, as well as the freedom to be free of established religion or religious coercion. Traditional religionists accuse the secular left of bigotry and narrow-mindedness, while the secular left thinks that the traditional religionists are out to overthrow the republic and erect a government by clergy.

A 24-year-old Bush appointee attempts to shape an internationally renowned government agency's public positions on important scientific issues. He is fired after the discovery that he lied about his educational qualifications on his resume. He then claims that his firing is a result of the "culture war" within the agency to which he received his political appointment.

Claude Allen, President Bush's top domestic policy advisor has resigned. The former Jesse Helms staffer famous for slamming one of his boss's political opponents for his ties with "queers," served throughout Bush's first term as the No. 2 guy in the Department of Health and Human Services, where he served, according to one beltway AIDS advocate, as "the eyes and ears of the conservative shadow government at HHS". He became a favorite in the Bush White House as the African American face of the adminstration's abstinence-only agenda. Bush first tried to give him a spot on the federal bench, but when Allen faced too much opposition, the president instead picked him for the plumb spot in the White House.

The Southern Poverty Law Center--one of a growing number of anti-hate and anti-racism groups that are taking an increased interest in dominionism--have put out several new articles in the latest "Intelligence Report" put out by the organisation.