My name is Kristin Brumm and I am speaking as a private citizen, and as a graduate of the Religious Studies program at KU who wishes to promote religious tolerance.

There has been a lot of debate about the new science standards and whether or not they were motivated by Creationist politics. I feel that Jack Krebs answered that question definitively when he revealed last month that the wording for the majority of the new standards was lifted verbatim from Creationist literature.

Given that, I would like to read from the following religious texts:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Christian creation story)

At the beginning of time, all was chaos, and this chaos was shaped like a hen's egg. Inside the egg were Yin and Yang, the two opposing forces of which the universe is made. Yin and Yang are darkness and light, female and male, cold and hot, wet and dry. (Buddhist/Hindu creation story)

Long before the world was created there was an island, floating in the sky, upon which the Sky People lived. They lived quietly and happily. No one ever died or was born or experienced sadness. (Native American Iroquois creation story)

There was a time when everything was still. All the spirits of the earth were asleep - or almost all. The great Father of All Spirits was the only one awake. Gently he awoke the Sun Mother. As she opened her eyes a warm ray of light spread out towards the sleeping earth. The Father of All Spirits said to the Sun Mother, "Mother, I have work for you. Go down to the Earth and awake the sleeping spirits. Give them forms." (Australian Aborigine creation story)

In the fiery dawn of time, when the earth trembled in the throes of creation, a dense cloud of mist stood over the land as Mugai, the divider of the Universe, descended to earth, to his seat of mystery. (Gikuyu tribe, Africa, creation story)

Our public schools are for children of all races, all religions, all beliefs. Our country was founded on the principle of religious freedom.

America is not a Christian nation. It is a Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Native American, pagan, Muslim, tribal African, fill-in-the-blank nation.

And God-willing, it shall remain so.

Kristin Brumm

Lawrence, KS