Religious Interference Of Texas State Public Education

I find this ridiculous.

hosted.ap.org...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Texas schoolchildren will be required to learn that the words "separation of church and state" aren't in the Constitution and evaluate whether the United Nations undermines U.S. sovereignty under new social studies curriculum.

In final votes late Friday, conservatives on the State Board of Education strengthened requirements on teaching the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation's Founding Fathers and required that the U.S. government be referred to as a "constitutional republic" rather than "democratic."

The board approved the new standards with two 9-5 votes along party lines after months of ideological haggling and debate that drew attention beyond Texas.

The board attempted to make more than 200 amendments this week, reshaping draft standards that had been prepared over the last year and a half by expert groups of teachers and professors.

As new amendments were being presented just moments before the vote, Democrats bristled that the changes had not been vetted.

In one of the most significant curriculum changes, the board diluted the rationale for the separation of church and state in a high school government class, noting that the words were not in the Constitution and requiring students to compare and contrast the judicial language with the First Amendment's wording.

Students also will be required to study the decline in the U.S. dollar's value, including the abandonment of the gold standard.

The board rejected language to modernize the classification of historic periods to B.C.E. and C.E. from the traditional B.C. and A.D., and agreed to replace Thomas Jefferson as an example of an influential political philosopher in a world history class. They also required students to evaluate efforts by global organizations such as the United Nations to undermine U.S. sovereignty.

Educators have blasted the curriculum proposals for politicizing education. Teachers also have said the document is too long and will force students to memorize lists of names rather than learning to critically think.

The UN is trying to take control of America.
Keeping AD/BC instead of modernized CE/BCE

The nonsense when religious idiot politicians thrust their religious ideology on others.

Of course Church & State should be separate.

[edit on 22-5-2010 by acrux]

Originally posted by acrux
I find this ridiculous.

hosted.ap.org...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Texas schoolchildren will be required to learn that the words "separation of church and state" aren't in the Constitution and evaluate whether the United Nations undermines U.S. sovereignty under new social studies curriculum.

In final votes late Friday, conservatives on the State Board of Education strengthened requirements on teaching the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation's Founding Fathers and required that the U.S. government be referred to as a "constitutional republic" rather than "democratic."

The board approved the new standards with two 9-5 votes along party lines after months of ideological haggling and debate that drew attention beyond Texas.

The board attempted to make more than 200 amendments this week, reshaping draft standards that had been prepared over the last year and a half by expert groups of teachers and professors.

As new amendments were being presented just moments before the vote, Democrats bristled that the changes had not been vetted.

In one of the most significant curriculum changes, the board diluted the rationale for the separation of church and state in a high school government class, noting that the words were not in the Constitution and requiring students to compare and contrast the judicial language with the First Amendment's wording.

Students also will be required to study the decline in the U.S. dollar's value, including the abandonment of the gold standard.

The board rejected language to modernize the classification of historic periods to B.C.E. and C.E. from the traditional B.C. and A.D., and agreed to replace Thomas Jefferson as an example of an influential political philosopher in a world history class. They also required students to evaluate efforts by global organizations such as the United Nations to undermine U.S. sovereignty.

Educators have blasted the curriculum proposals for politicizing education. Teachers also have said the document is too long and will force students to memorize lists of names rather than learning to critically think.

The UN is trying to take control of America.
Keeping AD/BC instead of modernized CE/BCE

The nonsense when religious idiot politicians thrust their religious ideology on others.

Of course Church & State should be separate.

[edit on 22-5-2010 by acrux]

Whats the big deal?

The only thing i dont like is they are excluding thomas jefferson. Might surprise you leftys.......but seperation of church and state is not in the constitution or bill of rights...at all.

And even though we have 'seperation of church and state' its not for the GOV benifit....nope its for protecting THE CHURCH.

Whats wrong about them learning that the we should have never got off the gold standard?

Whats wrong with teaching them to be wary of the UN.....and there attempts to undermine our sovreignty(they have tried behind closed doors)?

Whats wrong with teaching that we are a 'constitutional republic'?THATS WHAT WE ARE.

Whats wrong with teaching that many of the founding fathers were religious or theists/deists?

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS?

have you all gone mad? what is the problem?

deny ignorance my arse.

reply to post by acrux


FINALLY,a voice of reasoning!!
I hope it spreads to other states.

This actually made the Aussie tv-news tonight

I was cooking, didn't hear it all

but liked what I did hear


Nice. Pendulum swinging back upwards, maybe

I'm in favour, anyway

And as the guy said at the conclusion of the news clip, ' God Save America'

Bloody redneck hillbillies

Texans may be rednecks but they are not hillbillies. Hillbillies are from the Appalachian area. en.wikipedia.org... Please try to get your stereotyping correct.
I approve of this. Indeed the pendulum is starting to swing the other way. My worry is that budgetary concerns may slow the process.

[edit on 22-5-2010 by xizd1]

reply to post by acrux


Tricky thing is that what they're teaching is factually correct. And I wouldn't have a problem with it if they taught what separation is and how important it is in a secular society, but they won't. Their purpose is to move away from a secular society and then... yeah.. Someone is going to have to save America. Hopefully the pendulum won't go off the deep end.

reply to post by xizd1

So sorry to get that wrong, ok then

!!!BLOODY REDNECKS!!!

Originally posted by acrux
Bloody redneck hillbillies

effin' ya'll don like whut eye post...
that is jess too bad.
Hey pa,jess pass ole' bessie ofer,Imma
thinkin wer in fer a revulootun.

I lef my home in wes virginny,ye haw!

[edit on 22-5-2010 by mamabeth]

[edit on 22-5-2010 by acrux]

what part of "freedom of religion" do these idiots in texas not understand.

it means...a citizen has the "freedom" to believe any, all, or no religion...thus...read carefully...government CANNOT SUPPORT any religion. i don't see how the constitution can be more clear.

that is what's called seperation of church and state. a "church" makes you believe and follow the dictates of that particular religious belief.

the government or "state" CANNOT.

[edit on 22-5-2010 by jimmyx]

Hahaha I almost feel sorry for them... except I don't because they brought it upon themselves. I actually just hired a guy from Texas about a month ago; I almost threw his resume in the trash after I he said in his cover letter that he grew up there since I hire engineers, not seminarians But I reluctantly read on to find that he got his degree in Vancouver. The hazing hasn't ended since he came into the office, good guy though lol.

Americans serious about their education and future need not worry, now there's just more jobs for you! McDonalds will be pleased with the new infusion of workers as well.

It is truly a sad day to be a Texan. If I ever have kids, they sure as hell won't be going to public schools. I believe history is a powerful tool and this idiots on the board members are just racist and bigoted POS. I agree with the democrats on board and say this is just trying to discriminate more against the minorities. Sadly, People in texas ARE IN FAVOR FOR THIS THING!!!

So many idiots I just want to .

My question is why wouldn't they let them add POTUS's full name? Are they ashamed that the first black president was named Hussein? If you read the Social Study books you see names like Martin Luther King "great civil rights leader, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Harry S Truman, Richard M Nixon, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, George W Bush. I just got to know why not use the name Barrack Hussein Obama?

reply to post by Loken68
I'd say the thing with Obama's middle name is the same as Sadam's last name. Just surprised they left in Obama because it rythmes so much with Osama.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

~First Amendment, The Bill of Rights; The Constitution for the United States of America~

The Establishment Clause was written to prevent a national religion imposed upon the People. The first time the phrase "separation of church and state" was ever used was in a letter from Thomas Jefferson in reply to a letter from the Danbury Baptists. Jefferson's concern in the letter he wrote was to make those Baptists understand that Congress had no authority to establish a religion, or even appear to be doing so. It is ludicrous to argue that an institution of learning shouldn't teach that "the wall of separation between church and state" was coined by Jefferson in this letter, and eventually became a form of shorthand to describe the Establishment Clause in The Bill of Rights. Even more ludicrous is the religiosity of belief that public schools are effective as an institution of learning.

If there were no public schools, this whole issue of "teaching Judeo/Christian influences would be moot, as all institutions of learning would be private and well within their rights to dictate curriculum. Public schools are political tools and for this reason dubious in their claim to be institutions of learning, and more correctly should be seen as instruments of indoctrination. It is far more outrageous that elected school board officials choose educational curriculum in general than any one specific school board in a single city of a single state.

Further, the United Nations has made it perfectly clear that that institution does not view the right to keep and bear arms as a right, and indeed, the U.N. has declared ownership of arms as one of the greatest threats to the world, and has made it their agenda to disarm the people. Not military's mind you, but people. The U.N. seems to have no problem with governments being heavily armed, but the people? Oh no, that just can't be allowed. Ironically, and returning to the problems of public schools, there are far more school shootings in public schools than in private schools, and it is demonstrable that children are safer in a private school than a public one.

But what about all those poor families that can't afford private schools you might ask? Eliminate the tax burden of public schools and the bloated bureaucracies that come with them, and suddenly funds are freed up to assist families in that regard. Eliminate public schools and the mandatory attendance laws that ensue, and families wouldn't have to fight prosecutors and judges for their basic and fundamental right to home school their children. But, of course, what I suggest are radical ideas, and the widespread belief is that public schools are necessary and it matters not that these public schools graduate students that believe "separation of church and state" is a phrase found in the Constitution, and that people don't have rights that weren't granted to them by government, in spite of a 9th Amendment that say's otherwise.

The outrage of the O.P. is not that education is being undermined, but that what is being educated in a public school, in a single city from a single state, goes against his own personal beliefs, and this is the real problem with public schools, that they become the battle fields for political ideology rather than institutions that endeavor to teach our children how to think.