Religious Right and Crab Grass

| 30 November 2009

A current article in the LA Times noted that students who participated in abstinence only sex-ed programs had significantly more unwanted pregnancies and were more likely to catch sexually transmitted diseases. It’s another example of the triumph of ideology over facts, the old “Who are ya gonna believe, me or your own two eyes?” The Religious Right’s agenda of Christianizing America may no longer be a reality but, through school boards, city, state, and federal legislators, it still impacts our country. Abstinence only is just one example of how dangerous fundamentalism can be to our religious freedoms and our health.

Prayer in school – and any official religious activity in school or school sponsored events– have been unconstitutional since 1962 when the Supreme Court in Engle v Vitale ruled that school sponsored prayer in classrooms violated the first amendment--although individual student prayer outside of class is quite legal.

Undaunted by court rulings, the Religious Right has mounted a continuous assault on the separation of church and state.
Here are a few current examples:
At the start of football games in Lakeview Fort Oglethorpe High School in Georgia, cheerleaders held a large banner for players to run through. The banner had Christian messages such as: “I press on toward the goal to win the prize of which God has called me in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14”. When challenged, school and town officials, (according to Americans United’s Rob Boston, “made it clear they had no problem with the cheerleaders promoting religion—as long as it was the ‘right’ religion.”

Down in Texas, the legislature passed a bill that mandated the teaching of the bible as literature. However, the law provided no funds for teacher training or curriculum development, leaving implementation up to local districts. As a result, the course ended up teaching the beliefs of the instructor. The Texas Freedom Network reports, “Some courses promoted a 6,000 year-old earth, that dinosaurs roamed the Earth with Adam and Eve, and that God ordained an inferior role for women.”

To slip creationism into Louisiana public schools, a law allowed public schools to use “supplemental” materials in science. And if this material is challenged, the Louisiana school board, that according to the Louisiana Coalition for science says “Is under the thumb of creationists,” would review the case, not the schools.

Teachers and staff in a Florida school have actively proselytized students by praying with students and inviting students to lead prayers during school activities. It includes reading from the bible and “discussed church attendance with students” (Church & State magazine) encouraging them to attend religious clubs and incorporate religion into their school work.

And a punk rock band in Minnesota misled public schools by claiming they offered an anti-drug program that turned out to be a group of Evangelical Christians, who used the venue to proselytize student audiences. Apparently many evangelical ministries use this tactic – offering a show on subjects like the dangers of drugs or suicide prevention but end up promoting their brand of Christianity and/or promoting a local revival meeting.
All of these violations have been stopped, usually through litigation, but like crabgrass more pop up every day.
For more on religion in schools, visit the Americans United at www.au.org.