John Oliver Looks At New College

You may recall Governor Ron DeSantis's attempt to turn a tiny Very Liberal Arts college into the Hillsdale of the South, a project that was going to be a proof-of-concept for red state governors across the country. He even enlisted that great culture panic soldier, Chris Rufo, whose whole thesis is that back in the sixties, lefties took over higher education as a start to taking over the entire culture.

I've checked in on the story from time to time, but this week, New College got the John Oliver treatment. As always, there is language Not Suitable For Work, but it's a pretty sharp take on the whole fiasco, and provides lots of screen time for our old buddy Christopher. Well worth a watch to see how badly this was botched. As Oliver correctly points out, it's not impossible to have a Very Conservative college-- but dear Lord, not like this--

Federal Anti-LGBTQ Students Bills

I wish it were more complicated than this, but it isn't.

For cultural right-wingers, the idea is that the dominant culture in this nation should be white (European), male, (a certain type of) Christian, and unfailingly straight.

Add "with wealth and poverty flowing towards those who deserve them" and you get right wing free marketeer.

Add "because God says so" and you get Christian nationalist.

And to get MAGA, you add anger and vengefulness aimed at anyone who ever dared to contradict any of the above.

We've seen the varieties of anti-LGBTQ bills championed on the state level, from censoring books that dare to mention that such persons exist to requiring schools to force all students to perform straight identities, regardless of how true those may be.

Unfortunately, we're seeing more of the same baloney on the federal level, especially in the House.

Back in May, the House passed a bill entitled "The Stopping Indoctrination and Protecting Kids Act" (so..um.. SIPKA?). It's short and simple. 

For one, it would forbid any ESEA funds being used to teach "gender ideology," and if you're wondering what exactly that is, the bill refers you to Donald Trump's executive order Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, which defines "gender ideology" in part as "the idea that there is a vast spectrum of genders that are disconnected from one's sex." That's part of a long rant that boils down to "biology and science say there are just two sexes and so your gender is determined by your genitals period the end shut up" which ignores the actual science of sex. But opposition to "gender ideology" is a particular type of marker, indicating someone who doesn't want to argue that LGBTQ people do not actually exist, and that anyone who claims otherwise is delusional or stupid or evil.

The other part of the bill requires schools to obtain parent permission before making any accommodations for "gender markers, pronouns, or preferred name on any school form" for a student in elementary or middle grades. Works fine except for all those students whose parents do not support or accept them. 

House Education and Workforce Committee also reported out HR 8705-- "Civics and History Advancement to Restore Learning, Integrity and Education Act" (CHARLIE Act, because they are determined they really think they've got something with that guy).  Rep. Burgess Owens of Utah tossed this one out there, and it's more of the same--                          

The bill says "no funds may be used for discriminatory equity ideology or gender ideology." You may have missed the part where Dear Leader tossed out "Discriminatory Equity Ideology" as an alternative meaning for DEI, but it's once again the notion that anything that tries to push straight white male Christians out of the spotlight on center stage is Very Bad and is, in fact, discrimination. 

But by censoring any piece of history education that doesn't center straight white Christian men, these guys hope to restore balance and fairness. They are so sure that they lost that center stage spot because evil lefties took over education and started indoctrinating children-- so the obvious solution is to get in there and start indoctrinating children to the right way of thinking. 

"We just want neutral instruction," say the supporters, believing in their hearts that a truly neutral view of American history and society would present straight white Christian men in a central spot.\

Well, none of this is new, but it's worth noticing that these kinds of attempts to enforce the culture right's ideology on students is now getting pushed at the federal level (you know-- the level where MAGA says they want to send control of schools back to the states). Now is no time to stop contacting your elected representatives, no matter who they are. 

Government Picks "Real" Religions

I have argued a gazillion times that allowing when a government makes noise about protecting religious liberty and putting God back in assorted government places, they are really talking about exerting government control over religion. And now we've got one more example to add to the list.

The list already includes some classics. Like the time that Florida thought they would be clever by authorizing pseudo-chaplains (with the all the title and none of the training) to get into public schools. As they are wont to do, the Satanic Temple immediately announced their intention to get their own chaplains in the field, and Governor DeSantis declared that they were not a real religion and wouldn't be allowed (despite the law clearly saying that even people with no religion at all could be pseudo-chaplains). 

Even the bill's sponsor was smart enough to see the problem here (and it's not Satan). Senator Erin Grall told Soule:

I think that as soon as we get in the middle of defining what is religion and what is not, and whether or not someone can be available and be on a list, we start to run (into) constitutional problems.

We have multiple examples of states opening up a voucher program to fund private religious schools and then having a fit because it turns out that there is such a thing as a non-Christian religious school, and they would really like to not have that.  

And there are those states, like Texas and Florida and Louisiana, that would like to require the posting of the Ten Commandments in every classroom. Only there are multiple versions of the decalogue in the Bible, and more variations to be found among the different religious traditions, even if we're just talking Jewish and Catholic and Protestant traditions. The states were only too happy to dictate their own version of the sacred text, which not only quietly settled centuries of religious debate, but at the same time reduced the sacred text to a secular political offering on par with the Declaration of Independence. Louisiana even helpfully offered some poster ideas that equated Moses with House Speaker Mike Johnson. Really. 

Having chipped away at the wall between church and state, some folks are still doggedly pursuing the idea of making charter schools eligible to collect taxpayer dollars to teach religion to children. People of faith ought to be opposed to this idea (and to their credit, some on the right are very much so) because such a system will inevitably lead to the government deciding which religions are "real" and belong on the list.

For a demonstration, look no further than the Department of Defense, where a list of over 200 recognized religions has been reduced to 31. “This decrease in religious affiliation codes is not designed to make any claims on the legitimacy of any faith or religious belief, nor is it intended to provide a list of ‘officially approved’ religions,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement issued to the press so that they could not see him roll his eyes in person. 

The Unitarians didn't make the list. The Mormons are upset because the list says they aren't actually Christians, which has been a debated issue since Joseph Smith first talked to angels, but I guess the matter is now settled by the DOD. 

For the gazillionth time-- the First Amendment is not just to protect the government from religion, but to protect religion from the government. Any government Office of Religious Freedom and Awesomeness will inevitably be used to push government control over religion. This goes double for all the attempts to funnel taxpayer dollars to private religious schools and funnel religion to public schools. Sooner or later, there will be a list.