Mississippi Atheists

MS Fares Poorly on Secular Coalition's Congressional Report Card

2012-01-27T08:14:00.001-06:00

The Secular Coalition for America recently released their 2011 Congressional Report Card based on how our representatives have voted on legislation of relevance to the secular community.

Not surprisingly, our elected representatives in Mississippi did not score particularly well. Of the four representatives scored, Rep. Thompson earned a B grade while Harper, Nunnelee, and Palazzo all earned Fs.

Is there anything we can do about this? I think it would be nice to thank Rep. Thompson. Sure, he could do better. But he's still far ahead of the others. By thanking him, we also let him know that we are paying attention.

As far as the others, Secular News Daily has some great ideas about how we can hold them accountable. To contact your representative, begin here.

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Mississippi Voters Reject 'Personhood' Amendment

2011-11-09T06:13:00.001-06:00

Zygotes will not be considered persons in the state of Mississippi after Initiative 26 was defeated yesterday. I do not have many opportunities to say this, but I am proud of the people of Mississippi today. Despite well-funded efforts by Christian extremists to use our state in their quest to overturn Roe v. Wade, common sense prevailed.

To all those involved with the no on 26 efforts, thank you!

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Initiative 26 Would Force Rape Victims to Keep the Rapist's Baby

2011-11-05T08:42:00.001-05:00

On November 8, I hope you will join me in voting no on Mississippi's Initiative 26. Victims of rape should be able to decide for themselves whether they want to give birth to their rapist's child.

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Initiative 26 is Bad for All Pregnant Women

2011-10-26T10:11:00.001-05:00

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Vote No on Initiative 26

2011-10-22T09:30:00.001-05:00

On November 8, Mississippi voters will decide whether to amend our state constitution by redefining personhood to include fertilized eggs. The stated goal of those promoting Initiative 26 is to provide the U.S. Supreme Court with the case they need to overturn Roe v. Wade, effectively ending reproductive freedom for American women. Mississippi was selected intentionally after similar efforts failed twice in Colorado. Proponents of Initiative 26 are counting on Mississippi voters to be less informed and more conservative than Colorado voters.

The Goal of Initiative 26

Initiative 26 would ban abortion in Mississippi, even in cases of rape, incest, or cases where the woman's life was endangered. But even this drastic step is of minimal importance to proponents of Initiative 26. Their stated goal is to ban abortion in Mississippi in an attempt to get the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. The court is far more conservative now than they were when Roe was decided, and there is a good chance that they would overturn it today if given the opportunity to do so.

Proponents of Initiative 26 are supported by the American Family Association and other Christian extremist groups. They have been using statewide robocalls, billboards, TV and radio ads, yard signs, and the like. They are very well funded and have been effective in persuading the Southern Baptist majority to join them.

Unintended Consequences

Besides banning abortion, Initiative 26 appears to have many other serious consequences. Some of these might be intended but are not being publicized; others may truly be unintended. They include banning certain forms of birth control (i.e., most birth control pills), making miscarriage a criminal offense, and costing the state of Mississippi a considerable amount by requiring a thorough re-write of the entire legal code.

Some pro-life groups in our state are coming out against Initiative 26 precisely because they are worried about these possible consequences. Even though they agree with banning abortion, they realize that this is not the way to do it. Unfortunately, they seem to be in the minority.

What You Can Do

Assuming that you want to keep abortion legal in the U.S., here are some things you can do:

Vote no on Initiative 26.
Encourage every registered voter you know to vote no on Initiative 26.
Volunteer to work with Mississippians for Healthy Families or donate to support their efforts.
Use whatever means are at your disposal to inform and educate Mississippians about the implications of Initiative 26.

There is some evidence that Mississippi voters may change their minds on Initiative 26 when they are informed about some of the possible consequences, especially the implications of banning birth control. It would be naive to suggest that everyone can be reached, but it is possible to change minds on this one.

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Does Christian Extremism Keep You Away From the Republican Party?

2011-09-17T08:05:00.001-05:00

This post was submitted by Doug from Ocean Springs, MS. I thank him for submitting it. It is great to hear from atheists across our state!

If there’s one simple reason I can call my default deterrent from any conservative politician these days, it’s that I pretty much expect them, at some point, to not only push a Christian fundamentalist agenda, but use it to fuel their politics altogether. Now, I do realize that not all conservatives are fundamentalists, or even Christian, for that matter, but this does bring up a few points that we can’t ignore in today’s politics.

First, there’s a sort of faux-concept in the general populace that every atheist is a liberal. And while I am sure that many are liberal-minded, there’s certainly plenty that would otherwise side with the conservatives on many issues. Rick Perry, Michelle Bachmann, etc., have had no problems publicly presenting their religious motivations. Perry has even gone on record as saying that if you don’t believe in Jesus, you’re going to Hell, plain and simple. Now what would make me believe that he had any concern for me or my interests if he believes that I am intrinsically wrong and am ultimately destined for eternal damnation? I realize that he is an extremist, but let’s not fool ourselves into thinking there’s not plenty more where he came from.

I mean, suppose I do have some conservative viewpoints, such as wanting everyone in the country to be a citizen, and believing that while abortion should not be illegal, it should certainly not be available as a form of contraception for irresponsible couples. These are negated, if not trumped entirely, by the fact that I don’t believe in God to many a politician.

As it so happens, like many Americans, I have different views on different issues. So much, in fact, that picking a political party to formally associate with makes no sense. Liberals (or Progressives, as some prefer, I suppose) do seem to be a more diverse group of folks. And by and large, they don’t reject me for my religious beliefs. Indeed, my beliefs, or lack thereof, have no impact on my political views whatsoever. Of course, this points to the misconception that atheists have no God to hold them accountable for their actions, so they cannot possibly have a true moral compass.

I’d love to see an atheist ask Perry in a public forum how he intended to serve as President to the non-religious community at large. Of course, such a question probably would never be allowed in a public forum. But part of me thinks he’d answer honestly, actually. There are just not enough people that would disagree with him to make a difference, I don’t think. And he knows it.

If I may, I’d be interested to hear what the politics of Mississippi’s atheists are. I’m sure they would be as diverse as the individuals. Do you see the same deterrence in conservative individuals? Has fundamentalism adulterated the Republican Party so much that it is irredeemable to a non-religious mind?

Thank you all for taking time to read.

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Rep. Palazzo Opposes Reproductive Rights for Mississippi Women

2011-05-14T10:47:00.000-05:00

As promised, here is Rep. Palazzo's (R-MS) response to Mims' letter about HR 3:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the rights of the unborn. As your Congressman, I am committed to putting the needs of Mississippi families first. Knowing your views and ideas on federal legislation is critical in order to best represent you in Congress. Your comments and ideas are always appreciated.

I have steadfastly supported the rights of the unborn and will continue to do so. This issue touches not only the issue of abortion but also stem cells, cloning, embryo research and partial birth abortion. I believe that the right to life is the most important right anyone has. Please be assured that I will support pro-life legislation when it comes to the floor of the House.

Again, thank you for contacting me and helping me better understand the concerns of Mississippians. If there is anything else I can do for you, please do not hesitate to contact me.

It does not appear that Rep. Palazzo can be counted on to support reproductive rights for women in Mississippi.

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Urging Our Representatives in Congress to Support Reproductive Rights

2011-05-11T06:50:00.001-05:00

What follows is a letter written by Mims Carter to Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS). Mims wrote the letter to urge Rep. Palazzo to vote against HR 3 and other anti-woman legislation. I will post Palazzo's disappointing response next, but I wanted you to see Mims' letter first.

Dear Congressman Palazzo,

If the right to life is the most important right we have, how do you feel about US forces taking the life of Osama bin Laden? Like many of us, I am sure you see it as a justifiable taking of life. So this idea of the right to life obviously has some nuance, or we would never take a human life. Given this, we often take in to account the quality of the life in question. Would you make exceptions for abortions in cases where the well-being of the mother, a woman of child-bearing age, with the aspirations and hopes of a human adult, over the life of an embryo or fetus, with no aspirations, no consciousness, no ability to feel pain? In other words, a pregnant woman and the embryo she carries may sometimes have an adversarial relationship. Should the embryo's rights always take precedence over the mother's? In which cases would they not? As to embryonic stem cell research, would you rather have frozen embryos stored until they are disposed of, or used to advance medical knowledge that can be used to decrease suffering to an unimaginable degree. I am a biologist, and I have heard all the arguments that we don't need embryonic stem cells to advance medical science. This is not true. We do.

In all, your views on these matters are based on a view that human life starts at conception. I would ask you to talk to a developmental biologist and find out what this term means in a scientific sense. If you do, I think you will find that the term is almost meaningless, and certainly not a logical place to define the start of a human. It is only such if you have some religious notion that the soul enters the noocyte at this time, which is an untestable claim. I would ask you to re-think these issues without the addition of religious dogmas which add nothing to the debate on how society should approach these important questions systematically and humanely, using evidence and reason to come to policies which advance the best possible outcomes for the most people.

Mims H. Carter

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Hattiesburg Mayor Uses Office to Promote Religion

2011-05-10T05:25:00.001-05:00

Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny Dupree is running for state governor as a Democrat. It seems that he is counting on Christian voters to make him competitive and does not mind alienating secular Mississippians in the process.

According to the Hattiesburg American, Dupree celebrated the National Day of Prayer this week with a prayer breakfast.

"This is about petitioning God and asking him for the things he can do for us," DuPree said. "This is a special day for Hattiesburg."

Really? Are you sure it isn't about getting elected and pandering to Christian voters?

Among Dupree's invited guests was Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Mike Espy. Espy, also a former U.S. representative from Mississippi, pushed the need to more prayer in Mississippi as an answer to the many problems we face.

"We have to stop and remind ourselves of our turmoil and troubles," Espy told the crowd. "We have to stop and say, 'No matter what, Lord, you're still in control.'

While neither Dupree nor Espy came right out and said that the recent tornados in our state were the result of our "sin," this does seem to have been implied. Instead of working with Mississippians who lost property and family members to help them access aid services, these men chose to exploit the vulnerable by pushing their religion.

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You Could Win a Trip to Netroots Nation in Minneapolis

2011-03-12T08:36:00.001-06:00

If you are a political progressive in Mississippi and have always wanted to attend Netroots Nation but haven't had the money to do so, you should know that Democracy for America is trying to encourage applications from Mississippians for the Netroots Nation Scholarship Competition. I've posted the announcement they sent me over at Red State Progressive if you are interested.

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These Mississippi Christians Are Absolutely Right on Immigration Law

2011-02-27T09:34:00.001-06:00

I don't get to highlight my agreement with Christians in Mississippi very often, so why not take advantage of one such opportunity? According to the Clarion-Ledger leaders from four Christian denominations in our state are asking legislators to reject the immigration bill (Senate Bill 2179) modeled after the "papers please" law in Arizona. I agree completely. The rest of the country already regards Mississippi as a hotbed of intolerance. This law is the last thing we need.

In an open letter to legislators and Gov. Haley Barbour, the bishops said the U.S. immigration system is "broken and outdated," but should be reformed by the federal government, not by states.

I couldn't help noticing that the Southern Baptists are not among the denominations opposing this bill. Since it seems like they run this state, that is not particularly encouraging. Still, it is nice to see an issue on which I can agree with some of my Christian neighbors.

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Does the Klan Have a Friend in Haley?

2011-02-17T05:45:00.001-06:00

In spite of mounting pressure, Gov. Haley Barbour has refused to denounce the proposal of a local group to get a state-issued license plate honoring Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest was an early Klan leader and already has a county named after him. Frankly, Barbour's position does not surprise me at all. It is exactly what I would expect from him.

Along with our state flag, this is the sort of thing that tells the rest of the nation that we still have a long way to go. Combined with the sorry state of our education system, is it any wonder that businesses are reluctant to locate in Mississippi?

Mississippi has a PR problem, but there are some easy fixes that would make a big difference. It would be nice to have leadership at the state level with the political will to improve our image for the good of all Mississippians.

It is too bad that Christianity in our state seems so heavily dominated by a particularly intolerant strain of evangelical fundamentalism. I suspect that this is an important part of why we remain so stuck.

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Recent Thoughts From PK Atheist

2010-12-04T13:53:00.002-06:00

FROM PK ATHEIST IN SOUTH MISSISSIPPI:

Oh, don't get me started on the election in Mississippi. Suffice it to say that one should never say a Mississippi politician is the worst one they can get. There's some kind of challenge that seems to bring in the minds of Mississippi voters & they outdo themselves. I'm still speechless just over having a tobacco lobbyist/Mexico lobbyist/Republican National Committee governor whose gall includes supposed national aspirations. I'd like to ridicule that as too Orwellian to be possible, but I have learned that the worse a Mississippi politician is the farther they seem likely to progress in power.

In some places in the U.S. actual liberals won; even in Mississippi Benny Thompson won. The conservative Blue Dog Democrats were the ones who lost, trying to be all things to all people, finger to the wind, but really Republicans-in-drag. The Blue Dogs lost the Democrats' their faux numbers. Since they served as place-holders for the Democratic Party to maintain the putative Congressional majority, losing them puts us in a more obvious right-wing tilt. Still, the Blue Dogs caused the Democrats to spiral downward toward a swirling vortex of all that was the worst of the right wing in this country. Every time you turned around some principle was being sold out to some Blue Dog in the usually forlorn hope that they might actually vote with the Democratic Party which they were technically members of. Therefore, Gene Taylor and Travis Childers were not much of a loss insofar as birth control and reproductive rights, church-state separation issues and so much else were concerned because they kow-towed to Republicans and, as I say, just tried to send the Democrats farther to the right. They were a loss ONLY in that they were placeholders for the Dems like the rest of the blue dogs.

I'm always surprised to remember that Mississippi actually fought against the Axis powers in World War II since now when the opportunity to vote fascist arises they vote overwhelmingly that way. While disgusting, the Mississippi votes in 2010 were not a surprise to me. The ONE positive note in Mississippi politics in my opinion was in North Mississippi where Congressman Benny Thompson won. From what I have seen and read, he seems to actually care about his constituents.

Ring Lardner, Jr. (in his 2000 autobiography) makes the point that those who believe this is the only world would be motivated to do more to protect its environment. The recent blog suggestion that the most religious states are the fattest ones would neatly fit into his thesis. Also, obesity can be an expression of unhappiness and trying to live as a religious fundamentalist is not a happiness recipe.

The reason the blogger wasn't pawed at Jackson's airport over our recent Thanksgiving holiday is (1) not all airports have the feature yet and (2) of those that do if you agree to the radiation you won't be pawed unless they have questions about, say, the wire in your bra as though they don't know that most modern bras have wire in them.

I posted that I was angered by someone at one of the soup kitchens in Jackson who wrote of encouraging the homeless to get an education as though that was their problem and as though education was appreciated in this state. Judging from one of the comments made to this blog, I did not make myself at all clear on this issue. I do think education is a most important part of life and should be ongoing and constant. Yes, formal education is very important. But formal education is NOT appreciated AT ALL in Mississippi especially not by Mississippi employers outside academia and burdening the recently homeless with student loans is not going to keep them from being homeless again. In an ideal world, they might need to take more classes and get a university degree (assuming they do not have at least one already), but my point was that they do NOT need to do it at the expense of ending up indebted to some of the villainous student loan companies that are out there these days. Some of the current student loans seem to be a form of indenturing them for life and if they aren't careful they also will be signed up to go to some proprietary "college" which teaches them nothing and gains them entrance nowhere. A disturbing number of jobs in this state are given only to those who are relatives of the oligarchs. Most of us have seen this happen time and again. It is a big fiction that the poor and homeless JUST need better educations or they wouldn't be poor and homeless. Pretending that this oft-spoken bromide that they just need education is true just comforts the consciences of the oligarchs and I want no part in comforting those who prey on the poor and downtrodden.

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What Will the Midterm Election Mean for Mississippi?

2010-11-09T05:49:00.001-06:00

I don't have a clear sense of how the mid-term election results will impact those of us in Mississippi. We lost Gene Taylor to a teabagger in the district where I live. He was so conservative that I'm not sure there will be much of a difference. I suppose the same could probably be said for the state as a whole: we were so conservative before the election that moving a bit more to the right may be tough to detect.

What do you think? Will we notice any difference?

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State Rep. John Mayo on Mental Health Services for Children

2010-10-27T06:43:00.002-05:00

Below is a message Mims received from State Rep. John Mayo (House District 25) on the subject of mental health services for children in our state. I wanted to give you a chance to read it before I post Mims' excellent response.

God, please help us, to help those, who cannot help themselves.

Imagine, you are welcoming into this world your very first child (or your last or middle). You count all the fingers, toes, eyes, ears, you get the required tests...How wonderful can it be? All is normal...you even think perfect.

At three, you begin noticing little things going wrong with your child's behavior, at four your child is actually rebellious, sometimes injuring himself. At five you seek help, at six you begin drug therapy, at seven you begin the long fight with the school system, doctors, psychologists. People think your perfect child from God has just stepped out of hell.

She's passed off from one teacher to another, one doctor after another tells you he'll grow out of it. A psychiatrist tells you to give the new prescription time to work. Meanwhile, your child has been suspended from fifth grade or had trips to the hospital for 53 days. You've taken off work because you can't find a sitter to be at home with her and he cannot be left alone at 15 because he might burn the house down.

You've now lost your job because your daughter has been shunned, passed over, kicked out of every store he's ever been in. You don't know what to do. You cry every night because your son has no social life, no sleepovers, no invitations to birthday parties, no friends; or, everyone is afraid of or bullying your daughter.

I've been a lot of places and heard a lot of things over the last 11 years, but I have not been impacted like I was this morning as six parents and a grandparent told a group of people looking to reform mental health services to children at a forum in Jackson.

Sen. Hob Bryan and Rep. Steve Holland, chairs of their respective chamber's health committees hosted the event along with the University of Mississippi Medical Center's Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, and the Interagency Coordinating Council for Children and Youth.

I spotted one other legislator in the audience, chair of House Education Committee Cecil Brown.

The parents and psychologists spoke of the lack of coordination between the delivers of mental health services, schools, and doctors. Parents were particularly hard on doctors who like to prescribe drugs, but have absolutely no knowledge of outreach organizations, support groups, or counseling treatment.

They were hard on the schools where they said teachers refuse to take certain students or shunt them off as soon as they walk into the classroom, and they had particular disdain for psychologists who have their formulas for treatment and do not hear what the parents want or need to help them cope with their children.

The bottom line purpose of the meeting was find ways to coordinate these services and disseminate information to caregivers and teachers in order to serve the nearly 80,000 Mississippi children who are in need of mental health services.

"I don't want my child to go to jail," said one Mother through her tears. "But, that is where he is headed. I need help. He needs help. He's a good boy. He is a loving boy. I don't want my boy to go to jail. I just do not know what to do."

Feel lucky if the only problem you have with your daughter is she can't find the right prom dress.

There are some people with some very heavy problems out there, people.

We need to find ways to do God's work and help them.

###

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Hard for Atheists to Get Excited About Politics in Mississippi

2010-10-16T10:50:00.001-05:00

It sounds like most of the action in Mississippi politics is happening in the Northern part of our state this election. Former President Clinton was in Oxford to encourage support for Rep. Travis Childers (D-MS). Meanwhile, I haven't heard much locally about Rep. Gene Taylor's (D-MS) race. I'm honestly not sure if that is because the Democratic Party thinks he will win easily or because they don't find his conservative politics worth supporting. Personally, I find it hard to get too excited about Taylor now that I have taken a look at his voting record.

I wonder if Mississippi's atheists will ever have the opportunity to vote for a candidate who doesn't broadcast his or her Christian beliefs? It doesn't seem too likely when even the candidates for judge seem to campaign by telling us which Baptist church they attend.

I wish we could play offense in the political arena once in awhile instead of always feeling like we have to have a defensive stance. We have to work so hard to preserve the shaky status quo of church-state separation that we never seem to have the chance to make progress on the issue.

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The Gulf Oil Spill: 100 Days Later

2010-07-28T06:18:00.001-05:00

It has been 100 days since the BP's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico began. 100 long, tense, and uncertain days. We still do not have a relief well, but the temporary cap seems to be helping to slow the rate at which additional oil is entering coastal waters. Nobody seems to know how much oil is already there, and if the reports I'm hearing are correct, we may never know.

Questions also remain about the long-term impact of introducing astounding volumes of a chemical dispersant into the waters. It seems to be concealing the surface oil fairly well, but I haven't heard anybody sounding particularly confident that this is a good thing. And then there is the fact that nobody seems to know what this stuff will do to the environment.

In addition to taking a hard look at how federal regulators could have contributed to this disaster, it sounds like the feds are planning to investigate BP, Transocean, and Haliburton. Call me skeptical if you will, but I have some trouble believing that we will see real accountability. Then again, I'm not even sure what it would look like at this point.

What is clear to me is that Mississippi and other Gulf coast states are going to feel the impact of this spill for quite some time. This presents the federal government with another opportunity, much like what we saw during and after Hurricane Katrina. Do our leaders put their money where their mouths are and demonstrate a real commitment to the Gulf coast states, or do they turn their backs yet again? Will we be treated like a valued part of the United States, or will it be business as usual?

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Gov. Barbour Failed Mississippi in Preparing for Oil Spill

2010-06-28T10:28:00.001-05:00

After he flew over the Mississippi Sound on Friday, Gov. Haley Barbour (R) complained about the lack of resources available to assist the cleanup effort.

It’s been clear before we got this intrusion of oil on us from watching the oil in other states, that we don’t have enough capacity.

Gov. Barbour has watched nearby states desperately trying to fight off the oil for a little more than two months, stubbornly insisting against all the evidence that Mississippi had nothing to worry about. Now that the oil is here, he has the nerve to complain about not having sufficient resources.

It is becoming clear that Gov. Barbour is playing politics with the oil spill. He has evidently made a strategic calculation that he can help himself politically by making sure that Mississippi would be hopelessly unprepared for the oil everyone knew was coming so that he could then turn around and blame the federal government for responding inadequately. This is a failure of leadership.

The problem for Barbour is that our memories are not that short. We have seen him repeatedly saying that Mississippi's coast would be unaffected and minimizing the danger of the spill. Any lack of preparation or resources is largely his fault. That he would attempt to escape responsibility to score political points is disgusting.

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Sorry BP (The Ballad of Joe Barton)

2010-06-22T10:48:00.001-05:00

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The Tea Party in Mississippi

2010-04-30T07:08:00.001-05:00

According to NEMS360.com, Tea Party groups are springing up across Mississippi, but it is difficult to get an accurate count of the membership. Given how conservative our state is, I don't imagine that it will come as much of a surprise to see Tea Party groups here. Frankly, I'm somewhat surprised that they haven't been more visible.

Those interviewed for the article made it sound like they have little interest in forming a political party or running candidates for office. Instead, they seem to be more interested in pressuring elected officials to do what they want.

It also sounds like they are upset at being portrayed as racist in the media (despite some disturbing reports of sponsorship). Since Mississippi has a sizable proportion of African Americans, I assume this will mean that their proportion will be reflected at the local Tea Party rallies.

From recent reports I've received via Twitter, at least one local group has devoted considerable time to pushing the Christian nation myth. I suppose this is going to need to be something we keep an eye on.

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Rep. Gene Taylor Has a Challenger

2010-02-17T05:43:00.001-06:00

According to a press release from State Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Biloxi), he plans to challenge Democratic incumbent Gene Taylor for his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. My favorite part of the press release was this quote from Palazzo:

After long discussions with family and friends over the issues facing our community and with a considerable amount of prayer, I made the decision to run for Congress.

(Sigh).

H/T to Y'all Politics

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More on the Personhood Amendment

2010-02-16T13:03:00.001-06:00

From what I've been able to gather, the purpose of the Personhood Mississippi group I mentioned yesterday is to amend our state constitution to ban abortion. The manner in which they are going about this involves at least a few steps. First, they need to get enough signatures to get their proposal on the ballot. It sounds like they have probably already done so. Second, there will likely involve a statewide vote in 2011. Assuming the measure passes, the goal would be to set up a challenge to overturn Roe v. Wade. So obviously, they are hoping that the effects of this will extend far beyond Mississippi.

Similar efforts are underway in Colorado. The difference appears to be that Christian extremists in Colorado tried this in 2008 only to see their proposal fail at the polls.

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Gary Chism: Hero of the Religious Right in Mississippi

2010-01-14T02:04:00.011-06:00

On January 5th, 2010, Mississippi State Representative Gary Chism introduced House Bill 46, which has a summary that reads "To provide that the sale of utilities to churches shall be exempt from sales taxation; and for related purposes". On January 12, Mr. Chism introduced House Bill 586, which will require biology teachers to "present scientifically sound arguments by protagonists and antagonists of the theory of evolution."

Mr. Chism is a social conservative and on more than one occasion he has introduced bills that blur the line between the Constitutional idea of state-church separation. Several of our readers here at Mississippi Atheists took an active role in spreading the word about House Bill 25, a bill introduced by Mr. Chism which threatened science education in Mississippi. That bill died in committee. Mr. Chism told a reporter at the website OneNewsNow that House Bill 25 was used to test the waters in preparation for a bill requiring that Mississippi schools teach "the strengths and weaknesses of evolution" some time in 2010. He wasn't kidding. It is time to spread the word once again.

The new rallying cry of the Creationist movement is to "teach the controversy". Without out a doubt, there is a controversy: the theory of evolution is in direct contrast to a literal interpretation of the Genesis account of the Bible, which many people still believe to be the inerrant in all factual detail. This is certainly a discussion for the social studies classroom, but not the biology laboratory. Within the scientific community, there is no controversy: the theory of evolution is currently our best explanation for describing the observed phenomena of natural selection, random mutation, and adaptation. If there is a "scientifically sound argument" that anything biologists have observed really wasn't observed, I want to know about it. Arguments against evolution should be coming from real scientists doing real laboratory work, not from lawmakers forcing their ideology into high school classrooms or traveling preachers who mislead people on science despite having a PhD in biology.

With House Bill 46, he continues this tradition of giving preferential treatment to religious organizations. This is the key portion of the bill:

Gross income from sales to chruches[sic] exempt from federal income taxation under USCS Section 501(c)(3) of electricity, current, power, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas or other fuel for heating, lighting or other use, and sales of potable water to such churches shall be excluded form taxable gross income of the business.

What Mr. Chism is proposing with this law is that business do not have to pay taxes associated with income received in the sales of utilities to churches, but he makes no mention of secular organizations which are also classified under Section 501(c)(3). If this bill were to go into effect, it would encourage utility companies to provide more support to religious organizations than to secular organizations. I would encourage the Mississippi State Legislature to amend this bill by striking the occurrences of "churches" and replacing those occurrences with "nonprofit organizations". Or just let the bill die in committee.

Mr. Chism has a history of introducing bills which support the religious right ideology, but most of these unconstitutional bills die in committee. We can write, call, and e-mail our legislators and local newspaper editors to restart the dialog about the importance of science education in Mississippi, or we can take our chances and do nothing. As with HB25, we will be posting our letters on this site and encourage you to write your own.

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Sen. Cochran Does Not Represent Most Mississippians

2009-12-28T09:10:00.002-06:00

Gulf South Free Press recently posted the scores assigned to Mississippi's Sen. Thad Cochran from 2003 to 2009 by the Center for Responsive Politics, and they are not encouraging. They note that Cochran's overall rating on middle class issues is as low as 40%, meaning that he has voted against virtually everything that would benefit the middle class in our state.

All in all, Mississippians need to pay attention...it would help if they would stay in school...but that is for another post...they keep re-electing these people that are doing NOTHING to help the middle class...

Yes, this certainly is frustrating. Why is it that we continue to elect representatives who do not represent us at all? I am reminded of Thomas Frank's excellent book, What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America. As Gulf South Free Press suggests, I expect that our abysmal education system has something to do with this. Our embarrassingly high religiosity also seems relevant, as we seem prone to elect whoever strikes as as the most thoroughly Christian without serious regard to adequate representation.

In a state like ours, we need to be far more pragmatic and measure progress in terms of economic and educational progress rather than focusing only on social issues. If we want to be competitive in the future, we need to start focusing less on candidates' socially conservative credentials and more on their plans to reshape our state in the image of success. We simply cannot afford to keep supporting candidates who provide no real benefit to our middle class.

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Thoughts on Health Care Reform

2009-12-22T11:08:00.001-06:00

The Senate health care reform bill is edging forward, and many are predicting that we may see a vote before Christmas. Media coverage has been dominated by debate over whether the Senate bill should pass, and this debate has largely been occurring within the Democratic Party. Unfortunately, Senate Republicans have made it quite clear that they want no part of fixing America's health care system.

Some on the left point out that the bill, while imperfect, is better than nothing and represents an important step toward reform. Others argue that a bad bill could actually make things worse than the status quo and are now working for the bill's defeat.

Personally, I don't feel like I have enough information to make a sound decision one way or the other. I share the skepticism recently expressed about the quality and completeness of much what we have been hearing.

Assuming the Senate bill passes (which seems likely at this point), lawmakers must still work out the differences between the Senate and House versions. I hope that means that our elected officials will have another opportunity to improve the quality of the final legislation.

As a resident of the state of Mississippi, it bothers me that our Republican senators are merely playing politics on something as important as health care. It bothers me even more than many conservative Democrats appear to be doing the same thing.