The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a state/church watchdog, has sided with a middle school teacher in Katy, Texas, who has come under fire in the school district, community and media for a critical-thinking class exercise that appears to have offended many for its questioning of whether God is real.

As part of the West Memorial Junior High classroom exercise, the teacher had students respond to simple phrases, asking whether they were factual claims, opinions or commonplace assertions. One of the phrases was "There is a God."

A 12-year-old student was apparently so distraught that she went to the school board meeting and told the members that she had an "assignment that questions my faith and told me God was not real."

"It appears this young student expected the teacher to profess that God is a fact," FFRF Co-Presidents Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker wrote a letter to Katy ISD Superintendent Alton Frailey. "Yet famous passages from the bible as well as many denominational doctrines would agree with this teacher's categorization that God is not taken on fact or evidence. 'Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.' — Hebrews 11:1"

After discussing the situation with the teacher and 11 students who were in the class, the district confirmed that "the teacher did not ask students at any point to deny God. According to the teacher and students interviewed, she emphasized to the students that there are different cultures, religions and views."

However, on Thursday, Superintendent Frailey released a statement that said, in part, "No student should ever be forced or threatened with a failing grade for not denouncing his or her faith. I will not tolerate that at all."

Based on the report from the district FAQ page online, no mention of a failing grade was given to any to the students (because the exercise was not to be graded) and no one was forced to denounce their faith.

Gaylor and Barker defended the teacher and the classroom exercise in the letter to Frailey.
"It is a pity that confused thinking and thin skins by some believing students and their parents can rule the day at your junior high school," they write. "The exaggerated fallout from this exercise clearly demonstrates the great need for more, not less, instruction on critical thinking skills. It should not be verboten or controversial to ask students to assess whether a claim is factual. It is this kind of 'head in the sand' attitude that accounts for the deplorable state of science understanding in our nation—including the fact that about half of all adults reject evolution, which is a fact."

Frailey also stepped close to the church/state line when he proclaimed in his statement that he is "a life-long Christian."

"It is unfortunate ... that you as superintendent felt incumbent to disclose you are a 'life-long Christian,' which should be entirely irrelevant in overseeing the district's secular public schools," the FFRF letter states. "This veers perilously close to conceding that to have standing in your community, at least on this issue, you have to be a professed Christian."

FFRF has more than 23,000 members nationwide and 790 members in Texas.

Northern Illinois University quickly removed all bibles from the Holmes Student Center Hotel after receiving a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation stating that it was unconstitutional to have them there.

FFRF Legal Fellow Ryan D. Jayne sent the letter on Oct. 20 to Norm Jenkins, director of the Holmes Student Center, stating, in part: "Providing bibles to Holmes Student Center Hotel guests sends the message that NIU endorses the religious texts. Including bibles sends the message to non-Christian and non-religious guests that they should read the bible, and specifically the version of the bible provided: the Gideon Bible. Certainly, if guests want to read this religious text during their stay, they can bring their own copy or access any of the numerous churches or libraries near the university."

The next day, Oct. 21, Gregory A. Brady, deputy general counsel for Governance and Administration at NIU, responded to FFRF by stating that the university "will be removing any such bibles from their hotel guest rooms."

"We're grateful to NIU for so promptly making a decision to respect all of its hotel guests and stay above the religious fray," said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.

Gaylor and her husband, FFRF Co-President Dan Barker, were staying at the Holmes Student Center Hotel in DeKalb, Ill., while in town to speak to a chapter of the Secular Student Alliance when they discovered the bibles in the rooms.

"Nonreligious hotel guests should not have to pay to be proselytized in the privacy of their own bedrooms," Gaylor said. "The bible calls for killing nonbelievers, apostates, gays, 'stubborn sons,' and women who transgress biblical double standards. What's obnoxious in a private hotel, however, becomes inappropriate and unconstitutional in state-run lodgings."

Recently the University of Wisconsin and the University of Iowa also removed all bibles from hotel guest rooms after being contacted by FFRF.

FFRF, a national state/church watchdog group, is a nonprofit organization with more than 23,000 members nationwide, including more than 700 members in Illinois and a local chapter, FFRF Metropolitan Chicago.

You can purchase Bible Warning Labels from FFRF's online store here. 

The recent statewide voucher expansion in Wisconsin is starting to reveal its harm to public school districts and secular education, according to the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction released enrollment information on Oct. 27 for the expanded statewide voucher program. The number of students in the program went up by more than 250% compared to last year, with a total of 2,514 students receiving vouchers to attend private schools this year. The Wisconsin Legislature removed the 1,000-student cap on statewide vouchers that was in place in prior years.

DPI reports that school districts that are impacted by the voucher program will see an aid reduction that totals $11.9 million.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of funding religious education with public money," said FFRF Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott.

With the enrollment cap removed, public school districts will start to lose an increasing amount of funding that will go to private religious schools. Each of the 82 schools eligible to receive voucher money in the statewide program is a religious school.

Vouchers are subsidizing religious schools that otherwise would have stagnant or decreasing enrollment. In Madison, Rev. Tia Sierra who runs Lighthouse Christian School, told the Wisconsin State Journal, "Overall, the voucher program has been really great for our school." Half of the students attending the school now receive vouchers paid for by taxpayers.

FFRF has long called for an end to the voucher program in Wisconsin and has highlighted the lack of accountability. The Milwaukee voucher program, which is the longest running voucher program in the country, demonstrates the lack of accountability. Just nine days into the school year, a troubled voucher school closed down in September amid mismanagement of funds.

"Taxpayers have no means of holding these schools accountable. Where public money goes, public accountability must follow," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF Co-President.