Perry puts a 'sharp point' on marriage views
- Maggie Haberman - Politico
- Jul 30, 2011
The Texas governor gives a lengthy interview to the AP in South Carolina, completing his hat trick with interviews in early-voting states (Iowa and New Hampshire came earlier).
He underlines his support for a federal marriage amendment in a bid to sooth social conservatives bothered by his "fine" comment on New York's gay marriage law, and questions the theory of evolution:
"I am for the federal marriage amendment," he said. "And that's about as sharp a point as I could put on it."
Perry has used more than words to support tempering evolution taught in schools with creationism.
This month, he appointed a biology teacher who disputes evolution as chairwoman of the Texas State Board of Education. In 2009, that 15-member board put the national spotlight on Texas in a debate that led to adopting standards encouraging schools to look at "all sides" of scientific theory. It now is considering educational materials that promote intelligent design even though a federal court ruled against teaching the theory that life on Earth is so complex that it must have come from an intelligent higher power.
"There are clear indications from our people who have amazing intellectual capability that this didn't happen by accident and a creator put this in place," Perry said.
"Now, what was his time frame and how did he create the earth that we know? I'm not going to tell you that I've got the answers to that," Perry said. "I believe that we were created by this all-powerful supreme being and how we got to today versus what we look like thousands of years ago, I think there's enough holes in the theory of evolution to, you know, say there are some holes in that theory."
