Religious-righters are upset that President Trump and congressional Republicans failed to repeal the so-called “Johnson Amendment” in last year’s big tax bill. Last week David Barton, the prominent religious-right huckster and phony historian from Texas, tried again to make the case for getting churches and other houses of worship even more involved in partisan politics. Not surprisingly, he did so by mischaracterizing […]
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
New Trump Religious-Refusal Policy Makes a Mockery of Religious Freedom, Endangers Vulnerable People
The Trump administration today announced a new policy favoring health care workers who refuse to do their jobs because they have religious or moral objections to certain services or to the individuals receiving them. We just sent out the following press release: […]
Texas Clergy Sign on to Supreme Court Brief Supporting Equality in Key LGBT Discrimination Case
Clergy who are part of Texas Believes, a project of the Texas Freedom Network and Equality Texas, are among nearly 1,300 faith leaders from across the country who have signed on to a brief calling on the U.S. Supreme Court not to turn religious freedom into a license to discriminate. Read the press release. […]
Texas Freedom Network Statement on Gov. Abbott Signing Discriminatory Adoption/Foster Care Bill
Today Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a deeply divisive and discriminatory bill allowing the use of religion to discriminate against LGBT Texans and others in adoption and foster care services. We just sent out the following statement. […]
Texas SB 522 Allows County Clerks to Discriminate Against Virtually Anyone
The Texas Senate State Affairs Committee today heard testimony on yet another of the 17 proposed bills that would allow the use of religion to discriminate against LGBT Texans. But the bill is so broad that it would allow public officials to discriminate against virtually anyone. We just sent out the following press release: […]
