For years Texas has had one of the highest rates of teen births in the country — and that rate is rising. At the same time, the state’s education officials have bowed to the demands of the religious right, with more than nine out of 10 school districts teaching abstinence-only-until-marriage instead of medically accurate sex […]
Religious Right Watch
The religious right strategically uses religion and religious language, combined with patriotic symbols, to push a political agenda that has little connection to the values of mainstream people of faith. It is, in short, a political rather than religious movement. The Texas Freedom Network has monitored the religious right in Texas since 1995.
Resources
- The Rise of the Religious Right in Texas (2006 Report)
- The Religious Right and the State Board of Education (2008 Report)
- The Religious Right and Sex Education
- The Bible and Public Schools
- How the Religious Right Hijacked the National Day of Prayer (2005 Report)
- The Texas Restoration Project
- David Barton Watch
Race and Social Studies in Texas
It has been increasingly difficult to ignore the racially charged statements that keep coming from far-right members of the State Board of Education and their appointees to panels helping revise social studies curriculum standards for Texas public schools. In fact, their statements are becoming increasingly incendiary, as if they are hoping to provoke a bitter and […]
‘Stealth’ Candidates and the Religious Right
One of the religious right’s most effective strategies in winning political power has been running “stealth” candidates for office. A Texas Freedom Network Education Fund report in 2006 explored this tactic, quoting a 1986 memo from religious-right leader Pat Robertson to supporters seeking control of the Republican Party in Iowa: “Give the impression you are […]
David Barton: Now a ‘Constitutional Expert’?
It’s bad enough that the State Board of Education claims David Barton is an “expert” who is qualified to help guide the revision of social studies curriculum standards for Texas public schools. But now we’re told Barton is a “constitutional expert,” too. Wow. Not bad considering that he earned only a bachelor’s degree in religious […]
That’s ‘Conservative’?
Texas Eagle Forum, a chapter of the national far-right organization founded by Phyllis Schlafly, has released its “Legislative Scorecards” for the recent legislative session in Austin. TEF’s scorecards rate the conservativism of state lawmakers based on their votes on selected issues. Most of the issue areas are standard right-wing stuff, such as allowing concealed handguns on college campuses […]
