FFRF is requesting that a Texas public school cease exposing children to religious propaganda through class assignments.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation learned through a district parent that earlier this school year a Champion High School teacher showed a religious propaganda film to her Principles of Education class. The video, entitled āAmericaās Godly Heritage,ā is a production of WallBuilders, an evangelical Christian organization led by David Barton. Now, FFRF is seeking an investigation and corrective action from the district.
The teacher reportedly instructed students to turn in a one-page āVideo Observationā sheet after watching the video. The sheet includes a number of misleading evangelical talking points, phrased as questions answered in the video, including: āWhat year did the Supreme Court rule that it was unconstitutional to pray silently in school?ā (an event that never happened); āWhat have been the effects seen in our society since religion has been taken out of our schools? (at least 4)ā (with desired answers including: more teen pregnancy, more STDs, lower SAT scores, lower academic performance, more violent crime, and higher divorce rates); and āWhat other religion, however, can be taught in our schools now?ā (a question designed to confuse religious neutralityāwhen no religion or ideology is endorsedāwith the promotion of atheism).
It is well-settled law that public schools may not endorse or advance religion. FFRF Associate Counsel Sam Grover sent a letter to the district, discrediting the organization that produced this video and requesting that administrators ensure students will not be exposed to this video or assignment in the future.
āWallBuilders is an organization committed to twisting history in order to sell a false narrative based on Christian exceptionalism,ā Grover writes in his letter to the district. āThe United States of America was the first nation to adopt a secular and godless constitution, where the only references to religion are exclusionary, such as the prohibition on religious tests for public office. Showing Boerne ISD students a WallBuilders propaganda video that suggests otherwise is not educational; it is both deceitful and illegal.ā
FFRF also notes that it is dangerous and misleading for public school teachers to peddle Bartonās myth that a decline in religiosity is linked with a laundry list of alleged societal woes, despite significant social science data proving otherwise.
āReligion is already a divisive force in public schools, with nonreligious students experiencing ostracization and even bullying for publicly identifying themselves as nonreligious,ā Grover comments. āDistrict employees should be particularly mindful of not demonizing their nonreligious students, given that fully 38% of young Americansāthose born after 1999, i.e., all of the districtās current studentsāare nonreligious, either identifying as atheists, agnostic, or otherwise not religious.ā
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with more than 31,000 members and several chapters across the country, including over 1,200 members and a chapter in Texas. FFRFās purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.