Why would religious-right groups like Texas Values, the Texas lobby arm of Plano-based Liberty Institute, want to help hate groups disrupt funerals for military servicemembers and the victims of tragedies like last week’s fertilizer plant explosion in West? Those groups are demanding that state lawmakers pass a constitutional amendment — HJR 110/SJR 4 — that […]
Religious Freedom
Another Anti-Sharia Measure Pops Up in House
Another anti-Sharia measure received a surprise hearing in the House State Affairs Committee on Wednesday, even though there was no advance notice for the hearing. HJR 43 is a constitutional amendment by Dan Flynn, R-Van, stating that a “court of this state may not enforce, consider, or apply any religious or cultural law.” Strangely, the […]
Texas House Committee to Consider Bill Protecting Discrimination in Colleges and Universities
On Wednesday the Texas House Higher Education Committee will consider legislation that could force Texas colleges and universities to allow student organizations to discriminate. House Bill 360 by state Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, would withhold state funding from a public or private institution of higher education that requires religious and other student organizations to […]
A Baptist Minister Speaks Out for Separation of Church and State and Against Private School Vouchers
At a time when the Southern Baptist Convention has fallen completely under the control of religious fundamentalists who seek to use government to promote their own ideological views, it might be hard to remember the long tradition of Baptist support for separation of church and state. Many Baptists still support it. Take, for example, the […]
2013 #TXLege Archive: Sharia Ban Advances in Texas Senate
Note to readers: This is a blog from April 2013 commenting on the Senate committee passage of Senate Bill 1639, which later failed. Claims of Sharia law posing a threat to Texas and the nation are unfounded and Islamophobic. “The United States and Texas Constitutions are the law of the land, and no religious tradition […]
