Thought this might interest a few of you -
AUSTIN — Critics who engineered the recent ouster of State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy, in part because of his strong religious beliefs, could end up with someone even more outspoken in her faith.
Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, who advocated more Christianity in the public square last year with the publication of her book, One Nation Under God, is among those that Gov. Rick Perry is considering to lead the State Board of Education, some of her colleagues say.
Critics are gasping and allies are cheering over speculation that Dunbar, a lawyer, could win a promotion to the leadership spot.
“It would certainly cause angst among the same members of the pagan left that rejected Don McLeroy because he was a man of faith,” said David Bradley, R-Beaumont, one of the seven socially conservative members on the 15-person board.
Perry’s office declined to comment until “a final decision is made.”
“I have heard that Cynthia Dunbar is the one that the governor seems to be considering,” board member Patricia Hardy, R-Fort Worth, said. “Cynthia is very bright, and she is very articulate. She is a quick study. … I find her with a good sense of humor. I like her.”
But Hardy fears that Dunbar’s appointment would heighten tension and draw more negative attention for the board. “She has been so outspoken that she will draw the ire of a great number of people and will give the board just the kind of publicity that we don’t need,” Hardy said.
Christian government
In a book published last year, Dunbar argued the country’s founding fathers created “an emphatically Christian government” and that government should be guided by a “biblical litmus test.” She endorses a belief system that requires “any person desiring to govern have a sincere knowledge and appreciation for the Word of God in order to rightly govern.”
Also in the book, she calls public education a “subtly deceptive tool of perversion.”
The establishment of public schools is unconstitutional and even “tyrannical,” she wrote, because it threatens the authority of families, granted by God through Scripture, to direct the instruction of their children.
Dunbar home-schooled her own children.
Dunbar, whose district runs from outside Houston to Austin, said she expresses her views so constituents know exactly where she stands.
“I believe constituents deserve to know our thoughts, which is why I have always been boldly transparent,” she said.
But if she is chosen to chair the board, Dunbar said, she would “play a different role” by focusing on leadership. She is confident she could bring the various board factions together.
“I would strive to be just, merciful and humble in my service,” Dunbar said of a potential promotion to board chair.
Read the rest here:
Conservative may be in running to lead schools board | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com – Houston Ch.
July 12th, 2009 10:37 pm
Yep. I’d sure want someone who thinks public education is immoral running the public schools.
My father, a Christian who teaches 8th grade history in a public school, has remarked that anyone who thinks that public schools are just there to brainwash kids probably hasn’t set foot in one since dropping out.
There are stories that make big news all the time, of course, but for the most part public schools are religiously neutral. They don’t push Christianity, but they also don’t push secularism (unless you believe that by not pushing Christianity, you’re pushing secularism). They leave religious education and choices to the parents.