Kruse control? It's still theocratic bondage, so oppose Indiana SB 131.

The column's title is "Proposed Indiana Senate bill would force religion on schools."

It's from January of 2019, not 2020, but when it comes to chuckleheaded theocrat Dennis Kruse, every legislative session is the right time to meld church with state.

Another legislative cycle in Indiana, another brazen attempt at forcing Christianity into the public education system. No surprise there.

Indiana Senate Bill 373 was authored by state Sens. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, and Jeff Raatz, R-Richmond. Its provisions aim to bring a little more Christianity into Indiana’s public and charter schools.

The bill would allow school corporations to “require the teaching of various theories concerning the origin of life, including creation science.”

The use of the term “creation science” signifies something important. The bill does not simply aim to make students aware that different religions tell various stories about the creation of life. It aims to teach about creationism as if it is science.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation has issued an alert, because now it's a different year, with another legislative cycle ... and the very same repetitive shenanigans from Kruse, who I would refer to as a Tinpot Ayatollah if I thought he was capable of understanding either word.

Where does Hoosierland get these these bad actors, anyway?

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URGENT: Please resist “In God We Trust” in schools bill!

The Indiana Legislature is fast-tracking a bill that would require public schools in the state to display “In God We Trust” in every classroom and library. We need your help to ensure that young, impressionable students aren’t subject to religious proselytization.

SB 131 is part of the nationwide legislative push, Project Blitz. Project Blitz seeks to inject state legislatures with a whole host of religious bills, imposing the theocratic version of a powerful few on We The People. It is an unvarnished attack on American secularism and civil liberties — those things we cherish most about our democracy, and now must tirelessly defend.

While politicians claim that these laws are intended to showcase the national motto or inspire patriotism, it is clear that their true purpose is to peddle religiosity to a captive audience. These laws are about advancing the Big Lie that the United States was “founded on God” or Christianity, dismantling the wall of separation between religion and government. The motto “In God We Trust” is inaccurate, exclusionary and aimed at brainwashing American schoolchildren into believing that our nation is a theocracy.

Please use our automated system to contact members of the Senate Committee on Education and Career Development and ask that they stop this bill in its tracks.

TAKE ACTION

Yep, Kruse (mind) Kontrol again: "Creationism would be taught in Indiana public schools, indoctrinating students with biblical literalism, if Senate Bill 373 becomes law."

The giant anus to which Dan refers:

The sponsor of the bill, Dennis Kruse (R-District 14), has a long history of sponsoring anti-evolution legislation.

Ah, the joys of Hoosierness.

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INDIANA ANTI-EVOLUTION BILL WOULD INDOCTRINATE STUDENTS IN CREATIONISM (Center for Inquiry)

Creationism would be taught in Indiana public schools, indoctrinating students with biblical literalism, if Senate Bill 373 becomes law. The Center for Inquiry (CFI)—which advocates for reason, science, and secularism—has promised to take all necessary legal measures to oppose the bill’s passage or implementation.

Senate Bill 373 would permit Indiana public schools to teach “creation science” as an alternative to the scientific theory of evolution. Creation science is a purely religious teaching that is unsupported by actual science. In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Edwards v. Aguillard that the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause protects public school students from indoctrination in religious ideas such as creation science.

“The children of Indiana deserve a high-quality science education. It is their right to be properly taught the fundamentals of biology,” said Bertha Vazquez, director of CFI’s Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science. “How else will they be able to compete in an increasingly competitive college entrance process and the national job market? The parents of Indiana should be outraged that their own children will be subjected to the willful ignorance of a few legislators.”

SB 373 also requires public schools to display a poster stating “In God We Trust” in each classroom and library.

This is similar to model legislation promoted by the Christian nationalist Project Blitz, an effort by the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation to impose Christianity on Americans through operation of law. The Project Blitz manual encourages religious Right lobbyists to advocate for Christian nationalist legislation in their home states beginning with symbolic “In God We Trust” bills. Additional legislative initiatives would allow religious discrimination against women seeking reproductive health care, same-sex couples, transgender people, and other marginalized groups. CFI stands with our secular and interfaith partners who oppose the goals and methods of Project Blitz. We see it as a full-on assault on one of the nation’s founding principles: that religion and government shall be separate.

“Secular education promotes critical thinking and religious freedom,” said Robyn Blumner, CFI’s president and CEO. “Students deserve instruction in real science, without taxpayer money being used to proselytize a narrow version of Christianity that subscribes to unscientific notions of how the universe came to be. If parents want to give their children this type of religious instruction, they are certainly free to do so, but they need to do it on their own time and their own dime, not paid for from the public purse.”

The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is a nonprofit educational, advocacy, and research organization headquartered in Amherst, New York, with executive offices in Washington, D.C. It is also home to the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and the Council for Secular Humanism. The Center for Inquiry strives to foster a secular society based on reason, science, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values. Visit CFI on the web at centerforinquiry.org.

Orwell doing graveside hand stands as Sen. Kruse pursues "truth" in creationist indoctr ... er, education.

Last year Senator Dennis Kruse, an auctioneer by trade, pushed for overt creationism in the public schools, and presumably had the Florida-bound Tony Bennett spit shining his shoes just prior to seeing the effort ditched owing to pesky, minor problems like constitutionality.

Now Kruse is back, and Rick Howlett's coverage (below) at 89.3 FM simply doesn't do justice to the sheer grandeur of this session's Kruse class project, dubiously entitled "truth in education."

For added detail we turn to Dan Carden at NWI Politics.

Kruse said he's "working on a different approach to the subject" focused on "truth in education."

Specifically, Kruse wants to empower students to challenge their teachers "to make sure what is being taught is true."

"If a student thinks something isn't true then they could question the teacher, and the teacher would have to come up with some better research to support what they're teaching is true or not true," said Kruse, chairman of the Senate Education Committee.

Kruse said under his plan, each school corporation would be allowed to determine the topics of questions students could ask and the types of evidence considered truth.

"It's going to be written in a kind of a broad way," Kruse said.

Yes, this guy has a college degree and was once a licensed teacher.

No, you weren't drugged and transported to the Middle Ages via the Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator.

It's still 2012 ... in most of the state.

Indiana Lawmaker Proposes "Truth In Education" Measure

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By RICK HOWLETT AND ASSOCIATED PRESS

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The lead sponsor of last year's effort to allow the teaching of creationism in Indiana schools is altering his efforts this year in favor of a so-called "truth in education" measure.

Senate Education Committee chairman Dennis Kruse says the proposal would encourage students to question a broad range of topics in the classroom. Lawmakers approved such a measure over the governor's objections in Tennessee, where that has translated into questioning evolution.

Kruse led an effort during the 2012 session to allow teaching of creationism in Indiana's public schools.

The Ayatollah Kruse on creationism -- at Facebook.

At Facebook, there's a spirited discussion underway about State Senator Kruse's "my personal belief as school curriculum" approach to legislation. Come join the fun:

According to Dennis Kruse, the Indiana state senator sponsoring creationism in schools, "I believe in creation, and I believe it deserves to be taught in our public schools." Well, I believe in sado-masochism. Shall we teach it, too? But wait -- I'm in no position to force my beliefs on schoolchildren. Those "believing" like Sen. Kruse have turned Indiana into a Danielstock.