I recently sent an e-mail to members of the Kansas State Board of Education that included two articles, one being a column from the Washington Post by Charles Krauthammer and the other being an AP article about the Vatican objecting to the teaching of "intelligent design" in school science classes. L received the following reply from one of the Board members:

Thank you for your message and the two articles. We have been flooded with messages since the decision was made on November 8. Most of the response has been very negative including the responses from Kansas citizens. Below is the message I have sent to those folks.

Thank you for your message. November 8, 2005 the six member majority on the state board finally exercised their majority vote and adopted science standards that change the definition of science to include supernatural explanations of natural phenomena. I believe these adopted standards are seriously flawed and need to be rescinded. For the record the vote was six fundamentalist christians yes votes (Abrams, Bacon, Willard, Van Meter, Morris). Two moderate republicans (Gamble, Rupe) NO and two democrats (Waugh, Wagnon ) NO.

This has stopped being about science or education it is now about stopping a political movement that wants to turn our education system back to a time that we did not expect that all students could learn to high expectations. If we don't stop this movement now it will harm our economic viability both at the state level but also nationally because this is a national movement.

Kansas has a long history of very strong education. Currently Kansas is rated in the top 10% of about anything that is used to measure educational quality nationally. That is one of the things that the minority on the state board finds so troublesome. We feel the quality of our education system is jeopardized as a result of this action that weakens science standards.

In 1999 a previous state board adopted science standards that seriously de-valued evolution. In 2000 the Kansas electorate removed three of the four members who voted for the 1999 flawed standards. I hope they will do the same in 2006 because I am convinced that the action of the six member majority does not reflect the wishes of the majority of Kansans.

Four of the six member majority will be up for election in 2006: Bacon, Van Meter, Willard, Morris. I am compiling a list of folks from all over the world who want to help defeat these four. If you would like to help just let me know and I will add your name. Thanks for caring.

Sincerely,
Sue Gamble

PS: The standards as now approved by the six member majority do not include the words creationism or intelligent design but the definition of science tacitly includes the acknowledgment that there are other explanations for science than natural ones. The language is subtle but the concepts are there and I think they weaken the science standards and I won’t give up until they are rescinded.

I would encourage everyone here to contact the Kansas State Board of Education and let them know what an outrage their most recent decision is (remember that George Bush supports this same sort of crap). And then, let Ms. Gamble know you're willing to help get the zealots unelected. I certainly intend to.