Even before the Texas State Board of Education took up its expected debate today over what students will learn about separation about church and state in their social studies classrooms, board member Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, made her position clear. She offered the board’s opening prayer this morning and removed any doubt about what she and […]
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)NDOP_Report_2005_Revised
- 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)
Poll: Texans Back Church-State Separation
We just released results of a statewide poll showing that a big majority of Texas likely voters believe separation of church and state is a key constitutional principle. In addition, an even larger majority believe teachers and scholars, not politicians, should make decisions about curriculum standards and textbooks in public schools. Both are key issues […]
‘Islamicize’ Our Schools?
One thing you can be sure of: when the religious right and its supporters talk about “religious freedom,” they’re not talking about freedom for people of all religions. They want government to pick and choose which people of faith will be more free than others. The far-right faction on the Texas State Board of Education […]
Did Sarah Palin Join the Texas SBOE?
The former half-term Alaska governor must make hearts flutter on the Texas State Board of Education: “Go back to what our founders and our founding documents meant, they’re quite clear that we would create law based on the God of the Bible and the Ten Commandments. . . . What in hell scares people about talking […]
Faith and Evolution: Redefining the Divide
Is the primary divide in the debate over teaching about evolution one between scientists and people of faith? No, writes the founder of the Clergy Letter Project, an organization that demonstrates that faith and science are not inherently at odds with each other. In his piece for Huffington Post, Michael Zimmerman writes that the real divide […]
