We have seen a series of stories in the last few days about the coming debate at the State Board of Education this week on proposed new social studies curriculum standards in Texas public schools. The Austin American-Statesman yesterday looked at efforts by conservative evangelicals to require that students learn that the United States was […]
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
The Year in Quotes: Social Studies
We’ll finish out our series on the craziness we heard from the far right in 2009 with quotes on the revision of social studies curriculum standards for Texas public schools. The State Board of Education will hold a public hearing on the proposed new standards on January 13 in Austin. TFN Insider will be live-blogging […]
The Year in Quotes: Religious Freedom
So what do religious-righters think about religious tolerance and keeping government separate from religion? More memorable quotes from 2009: “There is no dialogue, no common ground, no reaching across the aisle in this battle. We are not called to build bridges to Islam. We are called to storm the gates of hell — to defeat […]
Top Religious Liberty Stories of 2009
The Baptist Joint Committee, which advocates out of traditional Baptist principles for separation of church state, has listed its top stories from 2009 dealing with religious liberty. Curriculum battles over science and social studies in Texas public schools missed the Top 10 but got an “honorable mention.” Because of the BJC’s work as a legal […]
Talking Points
From today’s TFN News Clips: “This is a seed sowing ministry. God does the harvesting Himself.” — Bill Spencer, a teacher and football coach in Tennessee’s Hamilton County public school district, discussing his district’s privately funded Bible education program. Spencer, who also coaches football, said he believes God called him to teach Bible history. Stay informed […]
