The Freedom From Religion Foundation strongly opposes a Texas House resolution that would designate for the next 10 years April as “Promise Month” — referring to God’s faithfulness in keeping his promises.
Texas House Concurrent Resolution 59 makes no attempt to acknowledge the diversity of belief and nonbelief among Texas citizens. Based exclusively on numerous bible verses and false declarations such as “America was founded upon Biblical principles and Christian values,” the Texas Legislature is effectively endorsing Christianity as the state-sanctioned religion.
The resolution claims, “The promise of God is His word, which is revelation from Him, showing the way of Salvation, through His Son, Jesus Christ, the Truth and Life.” It mischaracterizes the Declaration of Independence — which explicitly states that governments are instituted among people “deriving their just power from the consent of the governed,” not by divine authority — as founded on biblical principles.
Texas legislators are determined to implement their Christian nationalist agenda, even if a little bit at a time. During the 2023 legislative session, Texas lawmakers passed House Concurrent Resolution 29, which declared the last week of April to be “Christian Heritage Week” in Texas until 2033. Not satisfied with merely a week recognizing their privilege, they now want to expand their theocratic reach by claiming the entire month of April as one of Christian celebration. This is not only out of touch with the secular founding principles of the United States, but also at odds with the pluralistic views of their fellow Texans.
According to a recent Pew Research Study, 26 percent of Texans identify as nonreligious, and many others practice faiths other than Christianity. This resolution sends a clear message to millions of Texans that they are second-class citizens in the eyes of their state government.
FFRF urges Texas lawmakers to remember they swore an oath of office to serve all constituents, regardless of their religious beliefs or lack thereof. Using their positions of power to create government observances based on specific religious doctrines not only disrespects the religious freedoms of citizens but also contradicts the Texas Constitution.
Christian virtue-signaling gestures have recently appeared in some other state legislatures, including Oklahoma’s controversial “Christ is King” resolution, and similar resolutions in North Dakota, Montana and Indiana reveal a concerning pattern that suggests a coordinated copycat campaign being spread by Christian nationalist groups to chip away at state/church separation.
“These government endorsements of Christianity serve a broader purpose,” explains Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. “They normalize the false narrative perpetuated by extremists that Texas is a Christian state. This is then used to justify passing actual laws rooted in Christian nationalism that take away rights, violate religious freedoms, and cause real harm to those who don’t conform to certain religious beliefs.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 42,000 members and several chapters across the country, including more than 1,700 members and a chapter in Texas. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
Photo by Dale Honeycutt on Unsplash
