Kennedy’s fight to get his job became a cultural touchstone, pitting the religious liberties of government employees against longstanding principles protecting students from religious coercion.
The proposal comes after Texas lawmakers approved a similar measure over the objections of civil rights groups, academics, and even some chaplains themselves.
Texas school districts have until March 1 of next year to decide whether to hire school chaplains.
This issue of A Public Witness looks at the dustup over St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School – a proposed sectarian public school – and the new lawsuit joined by some Baptist and United Church of Christ ministers.
A Missouri bill could encourage more public schools to teach the Bible. But designing a course that respects students’ First Amendment rights can be tricky.
Schools across Louisiana will also receive free LGBTQ+ Pride-themed posters to hang in their classrooms, though the designs might not be what some state lawmakers had in mind when they passed the new mandate Tuesday.
‘I worry that this bill will lead to Christian nationalists infiltrating our public schools and indoctrinating our students,’ said Texas state Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat and Presbyterian seminarian.
This issue of A Public Witness conjures up the righteous indignation of Charlton Heston as Moses to look at the dangerous push for the Ten Commandments in public schools.
Cantor Sheri Allen, co-founder of the Jewish congregation Makom Shelanu, called the bills a “blatant violation of the separation of church and state.”
Wendell Griffen connects attacks on public schools in Arkansas, Florida, and other states to similar efforts in the past and argues that the current situation demands we unite against an effort to replace democracy with authoritarianism and fascism.