Texas’ Christian-influenced curriculum spurs worries about bullying, church-state separation

Texas LegislatureAndy Wine thinks most children can understand the Golden Rule. Talking over your peers is rude. Insulting others is mean. Don't hurt people. In short, it’s common sense, Wine said.

“It's a question of inclusivity,” said Jackie Nirenberg, regional director of Anti-Defamation League Austin, an organization fighting antisemitism and bias against Jewish communities. “It's also a very slippery slope. Because once we open the door to that kind of content, it's much easier to get more and more religious content into the curriculum.”online.

TEA Commissioner Mike Morath told The Texas Tribune in May that the curriculum as a whole — which consists of lesson plans for K–12 students and spans other subjects that don’t include religious references like math and science — is based on extensive cognitive science research and will help improve student performance in reading and math.

Megan Benton, a strategic policy associate at Texas Values, an organization that describes itself as being dedicated to the Judeo-Christian faith, family and freedom, said her group supports “an objective reading of the Bible and other religious texts” in public schools. Religious liberty advocates and legal experts are also worried the TEA’s proposed curriculum might violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits states from endorsing or promoting an official religion.

“In a public school, you've got people from a variety of backgrounds,” said Paul Ziese, a Lutheran pastor who serves as treasurer of the San Antonio chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “And I think that's a concern — that no one feels that they're not equal to anyone else or that their position or their faith is less, including people who have no faith.”

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