Wednesday, July 14, 2004

Texas as Taliban   For anyone who has seen the movie Osama which is about the brutality of the Taliban who enforce their religious fanaticism no matter what the cost to individual lives, news from Texas has to be chilling.   We have our own religious fanatics, who believe that they are empowered to enforce their religious views on the entire population, no matter what the cost in lives.   The latest example was on NPR this morning.  Texas has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the nation and one of the highest rates of new HIV infection, yet Texas health textbooks cannot mention contraception or condoms.  They can only discuss abstinence. This is because religious fundamentalists want to prevent any mention of sex before marriage in schools.   When a major institution, in this case the Texas board that approves text books,  acts in a racist of anti-Semitic manner, there is a public outcry.  But when Taliban thinking becomes commonplace in Texas, there is silence.   We must fight Taliban thinking everywhere, including in Texas.  9:44:58 PM   comment []

© Copyright 2004 Toby Sackton. Last update: 8/2/2004; 2:46:03 PM.