"While the impact on the actual writing of textbooks may not be that dire the Texas Board of Education is clearly rewriting history to fit a conservative agenda and a Christian dominant worldview." (Religion Dispatches, 4/27/10)
For those who are following this story about the Texas BOE rulings on reconfiguring curricula that cater to a conservative-evangelical Christian perspective, there is a new article written by Lauri Lebo of Religion Dispatches that comments on the issues at stake here. The Texas BOE has went through with major rewriting and editing of critieria for Texas educational textbooks without even a hint of understanding of the 1st Amendment and the fact of prominent religious plurality and diversity in the U.S.
Check out Lebo's essay here.
Showing posts with label religious rights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religious rights. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Sarah Palin and the National Day of Prayer
Rev. Welton Gaddy, host of the nationally syndicated radio program State of Belief and president of the Interfaith Alliance, has written a very inspiring and instructive essay about Sarah Palin and the National Day of Prayer that he read on last weekend's show and which appears in Religion Dispatches e-magazine.
Rev. Gaddy essentially denounces Palin's empassioned comments concerning a federal judge's ruling on the National Day of Prayer and that the U.S. is a Christian nation that "needs to get back to its Christian roots." He critiques her recent statements as uninformed and a-historical, since the fact that America is not nor has it ever been an officially Christian nation is quite well documented through sources such as statements or treatises formed by presidents Washington and J. Adams, not to mention the 1st Amendment's no establishment clause. Palin's statements were flippant, ignorant of the history of American culture and law, and simply pandering to a significant conservative (and largely evangelical-fundamentalist Christian) audience.
Here's a brief excerpt from Rev. Gaddy's commentary:
"Palin has thrown what we used to call in West Tennessee “a conniption fit” over the federal judge’s decision that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. While many of us applauded a judge who seems to understand the First Amendment’s religion clauses, some political pontificators and bandwagon religionists rushed to microphones to decry the further moral ruination of the nation. . .
"Palin did get one thing right in her Louisville speech. She said the Founding Fathers were believers. That is a true statement. Many of them were deists, but few of them were Christians by Palin’s narrow evangelical definition. However, the larger truth is that these were people, regardless of their religious identity, who had witnessed the abuse and violence that emerge when institutions of religion and government became entangled. . .
"The American people do not need the President of the United States to tell them when to pray or what to pray for. By definition prayer is personal and volitional. But neither do the American people need Sarah Palin stirring a revolt to get rid of the very principles that have assured efforts to guarantee civil rights to everybody and made our nation great." (Religion Dispatches, 4/22/10)
Read Rev. Gaddy's entire essay here.
Listen to State of Belief where Rev. Gaddy read this on air.
Rev. Gaddy essentially denounces Palin's empassioned comments concerning a federal judge's ruling on the National Day of Prayer and that the U.S. is a Christian nation that "needs to get back to its Christian roots." He critiques her recent statements as uninformed and a-historical, since the fact that America is not nor has it ever been an officially Christian nation is quite well documented through sources such as statements or treatises formed by presidents Washington and J. Adams, not to mention the 1st Amendment's no establishment clause. Palin's statements were flippant, ignorant of the history of American culture and law, and simply pandering to a significant conservative (and largely evangelical-fundamentalist Christian) audience.
Here's a brief excerpt from Rev. Gaddy's commentary:
"Palin has thrown what we used to call in West Tennessee “a conniption fit” over the federal judge’s decision that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. While many of us applauded a judge who seems to understand the First Amendment’s religion clauses, some political pontificators and bandwagon religionists rushed to microphones to decry the further moral ruination of the nation. . .
"Palin did get one thing right in her Louisville speech. She said the Founding Fathers were believers. That is a true statement. Many of them were deists, but few of them were Christians by Palin’s narrow evangelical definition. However, the larger truth is that these were people, regardless of their religious identity, who had witnessed the abuse and violence that emerge when institutions of religion and government became entangled. . .
"The American people do not need the President of the United States to tell them when to pray or what to pray for. By definition prayer is personal and volitional. But neither do the American people need Sarah Palin stirring a revolt to get rid of the very principles that have assured efforts to guarantee civil rights to everybody and made our nation great." (Religion Dispatches, 4/22/10)
Read Rev. Gaddy's entire essay here.
Listen to State of Belief where Rev. Gaddy read this on air.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
1st Amendment Rights and Texas SBOE
As many know by now, this month the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) has voted on a variety of amendments to the state social studies educational curriculum. These amendments will severely mitigate the information Texas students will receive concerning the 1st Amendment rights and and the boundary between religion and government in the U.S.
Furthermore, since Texas is the one of the largest consumers of textbooks in the country, most publishers tend to shape the content in textbooks based on the curriculum standards set by Texas government. Thus, this misguided change in curriculum could potentially affect our children across the nation, not just in Texas. Urgent action is very much needed on this front.
Among the proposed changes to be made in the Texas curriculum, the SBOE voted to: 1) Remove Thomas Jefferson from the world history curriculum of Enlightenment thinkers and replace him with Christian thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin; 2) Require that students explore the right to bear arms as part of the 1st Amendment rights of free expression (but which is already covered in the 2nd Amendment); and 3) Eliminate an amendment that would require students to "examine the reasons the Founding Fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring government from promoting or disfavoring any particulary religion over all others. The amendment didn't pass because many on the SBOE thought it "historically inaccurate." (Source: Interfaith Alliance)
If you are concerned about 1st Amendment rights for the freedom of religion and the separation of religion and government, please take action by sending a letter to 3 major textbook publishers urging them to reject the Texas SBOE's curriculum changes. Let's act to make sure our children's educational curricula are based on historically backed evidence and not on any ideology.
Furthermore, since Texas is the one of the largest consumers of textbooks in the country, most publishers tend to shape the content in textbooks based on the curriculum standards set by Texas government. Thus, this misguided change in curriculum could potentially affect our children across the nation, not just in Texas. Urgent action is very much needed on this front.
Among the proposed changes to be made in the Texas curriculum, the SBOE voted to: 1) Remove Thomas Jefferson from the world history curriculum of Enlightenment thinkers and replace him with Christian thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin; 2) Require that students explore the right to bear arms as part of the 1st Amendment rights of free expression (but which is already covered in the 2nd Amendment); and 3) Eliminate an amendment that would require students to "examine the reasons the Founding Fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring government from promoting or disfavoring any particulary religion over all others. The amendment didn't pass because many on the SBOE thought it "historically inaccurate." (Source: Interfaith Alliance)
If you are concerned about 1st Amendment rights for the freedom of religion and the separation of religion and government, please take action by sending a letter to 3 major textbook publishers urging them to reject the Texas SBOE's curriculum changes. Let's act to make sure our children's educational curricula are based on historically backed evidence and not on any ideology.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Obama Praised for Pushing for Religious Freedom
"WASHINGTON -- President Obama urged Islamic nations to recognize the importance of religious freedom and democratic values in his Cairo speech on Thursday (June 4), but he failed to take a hard line on repressive laws, according to the chairwoman of a religious freedom watchdog panel." (RNS)
Lindsay Perna of the Religion News Service writes the story.
Lindsay Perna of the Religion News Service writes the story.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Sikhs Fight U.S. Army Over Bans on Turbans and Uncut Hair
Two recruits of the Sikh faith set to report for duty in U.S. Army in July, but the Army says they must remove their turbans, cut their hair and beards, which are essential and important parts of the Sikh religious practice and aren't to be removed. The civil rights group, the Sikh Coalition, along with the two soldiers have filed appeals to the inspector general of the Army and the Pentagon requesting that the Army accommodate the Sikh religious articles of faith. However, the Army declares there to be a problem when religious practices interfere with military gear. Joe Sterling of CNN reports the story.
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