Board member Staci Childs asked her pastor to pray for her as the Texas State Board of Education got ready to vote last month on whether to let public school districts choose to implement a new primary school curriculum that includes Bible-based lessons.
It’s not necessary terrible, in my opinion, to acquire some facts about the Bible from historical accounts. What sort of Christian am I, though, if I’m saying less Christianity? Childs stated last week. For me, this was contradictory.
A Republican-led 8-7 majority narrowly approved the material, but Childs and three other Republicans joined the board’s four Democrats in opposing it.
The legal system clearly distinguishes between religion and state. Childs, a lawyer on the board representing the Houston region, spoke of her choice.
A wave of new laws and mandates in states, especially in the South, is igniting debate and pushing the boundaries of what may be legally permissible, even though the constitutionality of combining religious doctrine with public school education had appeared to be largely decided due to U.S. Supreme Court rulings in the 1960s and 1980s that limited how religious activity and teachings can be enforced.
At a time when many conservative Christians have been emboldened by President-elect Donald Trump and have embraced the ideology of Christian nationalism, which views the Bible as a crucial aspect of America’s history and tradition, officials, educators, and parents in those states are now faced with the question of how much religiously infused education they want their children to have access to.
In Texas, the Bible triumphs! Following the school board’s curriculum approval, Jonathan Saenz, head of the conservative and religious research tank Texas Values, posted on X. Liberal attempts to deny, target, and outlaw the Bible’s impact on English literature and history are unsuccessful!
Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of Texas responded on X, saying that approving the curriculum, called Bluebonnet Learning, which was created by the state, will guarantee that all kids receive education that is appropriate for their grade level and is a crucial step in improving student results throughout the state.
Although they won’t have to, school districts will receive a financial incentive of $60 per child starting the following year if they decide to implement the curriculum in their kindergarten through fifth-grade classrooms.
“The Bible-related lessons and Christianity are more prominent, even though the material itself mentions other religions like Judaism and Islam,” said Mark Chancey, a professor of religious studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He went on to say that was troublesome.
According to Chancey on NBC News Now, “all of our religious freedom is violated when a public school plays religious favorites by emphasizing Christianity more than any other tradition and by teaching about Christianity in a way that is likely to promote encouragement of Christianity’s religious claims.”
Childs thinks the content might still be contested in court even though it is optional.
Other states that have recently enacted Bible-based school regulations are already seeing litigation.
A law in Louisiana that would have required all public K–12 schools and institutions to display posters with the Ten Commandments was temporarily banned after a group of parents filed a lawsuit in federal court. The measure was scheduled to take effect on January 1. Arguments are anticipated in January, and the state is appealing.
Oklahoma stop education officials started requiring public schools to include the Bible in their curriculum curricula this year for students in grades five through twelve. Republican Ryan Walters, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, has already bought 500 Bibles and requested $3 million from the state to acquire copies for every classroom.
In October, a group of parents sued the state, claiming the compulsion was unconstitutional in Oklahoma.
Plaintiff Erika Wright, a mother of three children and the creator of the Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition, stated that the state, which routinely ranks last in the country for educational quality, should focus on the fundamentals and let families talk about religion at home.
According to Wright, public school is not Sunday school.
According to Walters, educators who refuse to cooperate risk having their licenses revoked.
The former high school history teacher stated in a recent interview with NBC News that he thinks the standards would stand up in court if the case made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority of 6-3.
Walters added, “You can be offended by Christianity, you can disagree with Christianity, but that doesn’t give you the right to take Christianity out of American history.” We want our children to understand American exceptionalism and what made America great. And the left has done just that.
Walters and other state officials have depended on national Republican leaders to endorse their programs. Following his prayer on the House floor last year, House Speaker Mike Johnson criticized people’s understanding of the separation of church and state as a misnomer, saying on CNBC that the founders did not want the government to encroach on the church, but rather that they did not want religious principles to have an impact on our public life. Trump also praised Louisiana’s Ten Commandments law on social media as the first significant step in the revival of religion. The precise opposite is true.
Although the term “separation of church and state” is not stated in the Constitution specifically, legal experts believe it alludes to the First Amendment’s establishment clause, which forbids the government from endorsing one religion over another or recognizing it as an official one.
Public schools that clearly teach that Christianity or any other religion is the only genuine faith will violate the Constitution, according to Joshua Blackman, a professor of constitutional law at the South Texas College of Law Houston. However, he argued that if you don’t have to do anything with it, you might argue that passive activities, like having a Bible in the classroom or the Ten Commandments on the wall, could be considered permissible.
Teaching about the Bible or religion has a place in the right setting, according to Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a nonprofit advocacy group that is behind the lawsuits in Louisiana and Oklahoma. “Younger students are more impressionable, but older students can question and discern what they are taught,” she said.
Teaching a comparative religion class is perfectly acceptable, according to Laser. Teaching one religion as the only one or giving preference—including favoring one religion over another—are problematic.
Legislators and school administrators in other states are examining suggestions pertaining to religion that might not be as drastic as mandating Bibles in schools, but they are nevertheless being closely examined.
Abill, which is being discussed in Ohio, may require all school districts to create rules permitting the release of pupils for religious instruction during the school day.
Following the passage of a law this year, school boards in Florida are debating whether to permit volunteers to act as chaplains or religious representatives for children who are willing.
As diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts at businesses and organizations are being scaled back, Childs, a member of the Texas State Board of Education, finds the present drive for greater religious involvement in public schools to be alarming.
Ironically, she continued, “we’re fine with one group, but you don’t want your kids exposed to others.” What’s the lesson there?
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