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         March 15, 2010        

Republican candidate for governor Bill Brady
calls for teaching of God, Bible, prayer and
intelligent design in Illinois public schools

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State Senator Bill Brady (R-44, Bloomington) kicked off his campaign to be elected Illinois Governor, yesterday, at a banquet hall in suburban Chicago.  Mr. Brady spoke about such things as taxes, government corruption, taxes, economic development and taxes.  It seems, however, that the Republican (no surprise, there) candidate forgot to mention one of his other campaign planks:  Using government to cram Christianity down the throats of our children in the public schools.

On October 20, 2005, Bernard Schoenburg wrote a story about Illinois politics for the Springfield Journal-Register.  The first part of the story was about Senator Brady, who was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor in the 2006 Primary Election.  In the story, Schoenburg quoted Senator Brady from a radio interview, that week, with Jim Leach, news director and talk show host at WMAY-AM in Springfield, the capital of Illinois.  Schoenburg also did his own interview with Brady, and quoted Brady from that interview.

Here is an unedited transcript of the portion of Mr. Schoenburg's story that was about Senator Brady:

When state Sen. Bill Brady had a clergyman say a prayer to begin his announcement of candidacy for governor in Springfield in July, that was a hint that the Bloomington Republican is not shy about religion.

That was made even more crystal clear in a radio interview this week.

Jim Leach, WMAY-AM news director and a talk show host, asked Brady on the air if it would be OK for public schools to teach "intelligent design" as a theory in science class.

They talked about a definition of terms, and Brady said he saw intelligent design as "in other words, teaching the Bible."

"I think we should teach the Bible in our schools," Brady said. "One of the basic, fundamental voids we have in our school system is bringing God into the system."
 
Asked if he would teach intelligent design as an alternative to evolution, Brady said, "I think we should teach everything that educates our children, and I think bringing God and the Bible into that is critically important."

That ended the telephone interview with Leach, but I contacted Brady later to get more on what seemed a pretty strong view.

He said any teaching about the Bible "should be left up to local school board, but I don't think there should be a prohibition against them teaching the historical significance of the Bible or any religion. ..."

"I believe in school prayer. I believe in the Pledge of Allegiance. I believe there ought to be the freedom for local school boards to make those decisions."
 

Asked if the biblical story should be taught as an alternative to evolution in science, Brady said, "The Bible is the single largest-selling book in the history of the world. ... It's historical value or interpretation I think should be left up to local school boards. I mean, I certainly believe that local school boards should have the opportunity to teach kids about the Bible, just as they ought to be able to teach them about the Koran."

"I don't know if it's science," he added. "It's certainly history."

About evolution, he said, "I guess I'm not an expert on the difference between science and history, in terms of what that is. I just think that local school boards should have the flexibility to teach about religion."

"I believe in school prayer," he added. "I think that local school boards should be able to dictate that they start the day with prayer."

I asked if that might not isolate some kids of a different religious belief than the majority.
 

"Whatever the local school board wants to do," Brady said. "I think the school board should ... understand the delicacy of that."

He said it's just like saying the Pledge of Allegiance, with God's name included.

"The founding fathers of this country believed that God was the foundation of all freedom," Brady said. "That's the difference between this country and many. We get our power and freedom from God and give it to the government. Some places believe it's the government that gives it to us."

End of transcript.  Is Senator Brady the kind of guy whom you would want to be the next Illinois Governor?

Rob Sherman News thanks Bob Matter and ArchPundit for their assistance with this story.

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