Writing for Huffington Post, Nathalie Baptiste looks at the many plans to turn public education into Christian education.
From displaying the Ten Commandments to demanding that teachers use the Bible in their classrooms, conservatives seem determined to blur the lines between church and state by infusing Christianity into public schools. And with Donald Trump headed back to the White House and a conservative majority in the U.S. Supreme Court, reshaping the country’s education system is looking increasingly feasible.
Late last month, the Texas State Board of Education approved a Bible-based curriculum for public school students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Texas schools will not be forced to use the curriculum, but those that do will be rewarded with extra funding, up to $60 per student.
The material uses the Bible in a variety of lessons, including directly quoting from it, as well as teaching about Creationism — the Christian belief that God created the Earth in one week — and the crucifixion of Jesus.
“[Conservatives] have globbed onto schools as a place to indoctrinate students,” Rachel Laser, the president and CEO of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, a nonprofit organization dedicated to keeping public institutions secular, told HuffPost. “They want to raise the next generation to learn false history, illegitimate science, and to favor Christianity over other faiths and nonreligion.”
Proponents of including the Bible in public classrooms argue that doing so doesn’t violate the Constitution because Christianity is central to understanding the history and founding of the United States.
Public school educators, however, were quick to blast the move.
“Texas American Federation of Teachers believes that not only do these materials violate the separation of church and state and the academic freedom of our classroom, but also the sanctity of the teaching profession,” the teachers union said in a statement. “These prescriptive materials cannot meet all learners in all contexts, and teachers must be empowered to adapt to the needs of their students.”
