By Adam Friedman
On Tuesday, The Texas State Board of Education voted 8-7 in favor of a new elementary school curriculum that draws on stories from the Christian Bible. This new curriculum would position a narrow understanding of Christianity as favored in the eyes of the state, and teach the Bible from a religious, rather than academic perspective. Reports on the curriculum note that students starting in Kindergarten would be introduced to stories from the Gospels and guided to extrapolate morals and values from the text.
A final vote is expected tomorrow (Friday, November 22).
All faiths, atheism, and agnosticism hold inherent value, and the formative morals introduced to young people in elementary school do not need to come from a single religious perspective to be valid. Furthermore, the state has no place interpreting religious texts, or asserting which religions should be favored by being taught in schools. By introducing this curriculum as a mode of teaching morals in schools, the Texas State Board of Education is stating plainly that their understanding of Christianity is not only right, but should take precedence over the religious and secular values of families who trust that the state will provide their children with an education.
“This is the latest example of an ongoing effort by Christian nationalists to coerce students in public schools to believe as they do,” said Interfaith Alliance President Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush. “Parents, and not the government, should be responsible for the religious education of their children. By forcing the Christian Bible and a narrow religious viewpoint into public classrooms, their agenda aims to force people of diverse faiths and beliefs to abide by their theology. The result is to tear down all healthy boundaries between religion and government and flouting our nation’s religious freedom protections guaranteed by the Constitution. The majority of people of faith in our country reject this harmful agenda. While the election of Donald Trump may have emboldened these efforts to trample on our Constitutional rights, people of diverse faiths and beliefs across the country are mobilizing to protect religious freedom and diverse, multi-faith democracy. Together we can and will do everything in our power to ensure that no one religious group is allowed to impose their viewpoint on all Americans.
Cantor Sheri Allen, a faith leader with Interfaith Alliance in Texas, shared this testimony with state leaders this week:
Dear State Board of Education Members,
My name is Cantor Sheri Allen. I am the spiritual leader of Makom Shelanu Congregation in Ft. Worth, a Board member of Justice Network Tarrant County, and a member of Interfaith Alliance, a national network of people of diverse faiths advocating religious freedom and civil rights for all.
I was unable to testify in person on September 10, and was hopeful that my testimony would still be read by another representative. I understand that this didn’t happen, and wanted to make sure that you heard my voice, albeit through email.
I urge you to support religious freedom by voting against adoption of the OER Curriculum. The curriculum’s overwhelming emphasis on Christianity at the expense of other religions is irresponsible and dangerous. There are literally no lessons that focus specifically on Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam or Sikhism. None. This inherent bias potentially puts children of other faiths or no faith at risk of being ostracized, bullied, or worse.
Christian Bible stories do not belong in public-school classrooms. Especially when they are presented as historical and literal truths. Kindergarten children should not be subjected to a lesson on the traditional creation story and then be tested on the order in which creation happened. That’s a lovely assignment for religious schools, not public schools. Not to mention the fact that Rabbinic Judaism teaches that there are actually two creation stories, and at least six genders mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. I would be happy to share this teaching with you if you are interested! So I wonder – would a child be penalized for drawing a picture of an androgynous Adam?
From a Jewish perspective, I can also tell you that stories from the book of Esther as presented in the curriculum are not only inaccurate, but they play into antisemitic tropes, such as Jews don’t respect authority figures, and don’t follow the laws of the land in which they live.
Finally, the curriculum has no known attribution of authorship. Do you as State Board of Education Members know, definitively, who wrote it? Are they even educators? Faith leaders?Politicians? What are their qualifications and credentials?
The Jewish New Year – Rosh HaShanah – begins a week from today. With antisemitism at an all-time high, I pray that we enter this sacred time without worrying that we, (as well as others of diverse faiths or no faith), will find our safety and well being in greater danger through the teaching of curriculum that is harmful, divisive, and completely inappropriate in a public-school setting.
Religious freedom is a sacred right – please preserve it by rejecting the OER Curriculum.
L’Shalom,
Sheri
Adam Friedman is the Organizing & Elections Strategist at Interfaith Alliance.