On the issue of religion in public schools, trust Thomas Jefferson, not Dan Patrick
President Thomas Jefferson’s 1802 letter declaring a “wall of separation between Church & State” was written in response to a group of Connecticut Baptists, a religious minority in their state seeking Jefferson’s support in their fight for religious freedom. At the time, Congregationalism was the established state religion in Connecticut, a distinction that was later abolished.
Now, there is a Texas Baptist, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, working overtime to tear down that wall, declaring in a recent political email blast: “It is time to set the record straight: there is no such thing as ‘separation of church and state’ in the Constitution.”
One thing about Patrick. He is always adamant, even when he is wrong.
Patrick, of course, wasn’t there at the birth of our nation, but Jefferson was one of the more prominent founders. And Jefferson would have disagreed with Texas’ lieutenant governor, noting in his letter to Patrick’s Baptist ancestors that the “wall of separation” was built by the First Amendment’s language providing that Congress shall “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
But Jefferson is gone, the “establishment clause” is being reinterpreted by some judges, Christian nationalism is on the rise and Patrick is very much alive and politically active. Aided and abetted by Gov. Greg Abbott, the state education commissioner, the majority of the State Board of Education and most Republicans in the Legislature, he continues promoting Christianity and increasingly stamping it on our public education system, which is supposed to equally serve children of all religions or no religion, not substitute for Sunday school.
Within the past few years, we have seen the Texas Education Agency develop and the State Board of Education adopt the Bluebonnet reading curriculum with Bible stories and passages scattered throughout it. The State Board of Education also has given preliminary approval to required reading lists for grades K-12 that include biblical material.
Then there is the new law pushed by Patrick requiring copies of the Ten Commandments, the Christian version, to be displayed in public school classrooms. A closely divided 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld this law as constitutional with a majority opinion that the San Antonio Express-News, in an editorial, described as “tortured and oppressive.”
And, sad to say, many Christian schools, including some Baptist institutions, will soon begin receiving millions of dollars a year in tax funds distributed among students participating in Texas’ new private school voucher program. The schools will be allowed to continue discriminating in admissions policies, including giving preference to members of their own faiths or refusing to accept LGBTQ applicants.
Initially, the state refused to allow Islamic schools to participate in the voucher program, under an unproven, Republican claim that some of the schools could be linked to terrorists. The state relented and admitted a handful of Islamic schools only after being sued.
This is what you can call a selective view of the “religious freedom” that Patrick and his Christian nationalist allies allegedly are promoting.
“We have faith voters will one day feel moved to check a state government that has gone too far,” the Express-News wrote. “Perhaps that day will come in November.”
The problem is which November. This November would be great. Abbott, Patrick, about half the state Senate and all the Texas House will be on the ballot.
So far, teachers and other educators are more affected by these laws than most people, except for concerned parents. Educators can lead the way to change if they all make public education their top voting issue this year.
If they don’t, there is no telling what Patrick, Abbott and their allies will come up with next.
Mandatory chapel attendance in the school cafeteria? Anyone want to bet?
Appellate court: Thou shalt violate the separation of church and state, Texas
