During the Texas State Board of Education‘s debate over science curriculum standards in 2008, supporters of sound science education succeeded in killing a provision that would have required students to learn creationism-inspired arguments about the “weaknesses” of evolution. But nine Republicans in state board races apparently will insist that new biology textbooks include those bogus […]
Religious Freedom
The Texas Freedom Network supports the constitutional guarantee of the separation of church and state, which protects the right of all Americans to practice the faith of their choice, or none at all, free of government interference.
Unfortunately, efforts to knock down that wall are a constant in Texas. Politicians and extremists continually work to impose their views on others, especially around issues like abortion, access to contraception, and LGBTQIA+ equality. And in a distortion of the principle of religious freedom, far-right groups have supported legislative efforts to allow people to use religion as an excuse to ignore laws they might not like and even as a weapon to discriminate against others.
Resources
- Prayer in Public Schools: A Primer (2001 report)
- The Texas Faith-Based Initiative (2002 report)
- The National Day of Prayer Task Force: Turning a Day of Faith into a Rally for the Christian Right (2005 Report)
- A Report on The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools (2005 report)
- Reading, Writing & Religion: Teaching the Bible in Texas Public Schools (2006 report)
- Reading, Writing & Religion II (2013 report)
- Can This Class Be Saved? The ‘Hobby Lobby’ Public School Bible Curriculum (2014 report)
- Turning Texas Public Schools into Sunday Schools? A Review of the State’s Proposed K-5 Reading Curriculum (2024 report) | Executive Summary
To the People of Kountze, Texas
This column is cross-posted from Texas School Administrators Legal Digest Online. It is written by Texas attorney Jim Walsh, the managing editor of the Digest and co-author of The Educator’s Guide to Texas School Law. Your school superintendent did the right thing. When he ordered the Kountze ISD cheerleaders to cease putting scripture verses reflecting […]
Texas Church Posts Sign: ‘Vote for the Mormon, not the Muslim’
Americans United for Separation of Church and State has asked the Internal Revenue Service to determine whether a Texas church has violated federal tax law by posting a public sign urging people to “vote for the Mormon, not the Muslim.” According to AU, the pastor of the Church in the Valley in Leakey, Texas, posted […]
The Bible in the Public Square (and in Legos)
Last month, the Duke University Center for Jewish Studies convened a 2-day conference on The Bible in the Public Square, featuring an all-star lineup of experts addressing the role of the Bible in everything from public schools and American politics, to the Middle East and popular culture. Of course no forum on this particular topic […]
Remembering a Friend
Joe Brown and his wife Nina accept TFN’s 2007 Samantha Smoot Activist Award from TFN President Kathy Miller. The TFN family lost a dear friend yesterday with the passing of Joe Brown of Houston. Joe was one of the founders of Texans for Advancement of Medical Research (TAMR), which, under Joe’s leadership, grew to become […]
