Texas Conservative Happy with Pro-Marriage Text Revisions
by Jim Brown
November 9, 2004
(AgapePress) - A Texas pro-family leader is hailing the state board of education's approval of new health textbooks for middle and high school students. On Friday, the board voted to approve the abstinence-based textbooks that clearly state marriage is between a man and a woman.Previous textbooks in Texas -- the second-largest buyer of textbooks in the country -- used phrases such as "individuals who marry" instead of the terms "husbands" and "wives." The state board of education, on a 10-4 vote, approved the amended texts. Cathie Adams, with the conservative group Texas Eagle Forum, says the vote was a big defeat for proponents of same-sex marriage and comprehensive sex education.
"Those who are trying to push a political agenda through the courts because the people don't want it, were absolutely losers in this decision," Adams says, adding that other losers include "those who say that we should tolerate every lifestyle are losers, as well as those who said 'children are going to do it anyway, so we better them with condoms.'"
And to the latter group, Adams delivers the following message about the successes of abstinence education. "We know, because of the policies in the state of Texas -- and because of federal grants -- that when children are taught directive abstinence, they take it to heart," she says. "They know the difference then between right and wrong, [and] they are encouraged to do the right thing -- so it does reduce the number of teenage pregnancies."
The new health textbooks will be in Texas classrooms next school year. Because of the state's prominence in the book-buying arena, Adams is hopeful other states will approve similar, if not the same abstinence-based health texts.
Stuck on a Sticker
Meanwhile, another textbook issue is at the center of a controversy in Georgia, where a federal trial is under way to decide whether a warning sticker in public school textbooks calling evolution "a theory, not a fact" violates separation of church and state.
The warning sticker reads: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."
According to an Associated Press story, schools in Cobb County, Georgia, put the disclaimers in biology texts after thousands of parents complained that the books presented evolution as truth without mentioning rival ideas about life's origin, such as intelligent design. Parent Marjorie Rogers testified that while she does not want the Bible taught in school, "there is a wealth of science" suggesting that life is too complex to have evolved accidentally.
