Americans United Urges Texas School Board To Reject Religious Indoctrination In Science Classes

The Texas Board of Education should remove language from proposed
science standards that opens the door to teaching religious concepts in
public schools, says Americans United for Separation of Church and
State.

"Texas can either have world-class science standards or allow
fundamentalists to sneak religion into classrooms through the back
door," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans
United. "It can't do both."

The board has been deliberating the science curriculum for months.
At issue is a set of standards known as Texas Essential Knowledge and
Skills (TEKS). The science standards are under review, and a faction on
the board insists on using them to promote religion.

In December, a curriculum-writing team proposed standards that
emphasize sound science. The following month, the board adopted the
standards but added language that scientific, educational and civil
liberties organizations say would compromise the teaching of evolution.

The board will meet March 26 to discuss the issue with a final vote scheduled for March 27.

In a letter
to the board today, Americans United urged members to uphold sound
science and reject any schemes intended to advance religion in the
classroom.

Noting that religious instruction belongs in the home, not public
schools, AU State Legislative Counsel Dena S. Sher argues that the
language in the standards could lead to litigation.

"Americans United recommends that the Board proceed with caution in
adopting the standards approved at the January Board meeting because
courts have determined that undermining evolution like the January
amendments do is unconstitutional," wrote Sher. "Americans United
remains vigilant of students' and parents' rights to have sound
science, rather than religious belief, taught in public-school science
classrooms and will not hesitate to challenge any introduction of
religion into Texas's public schools."

The federal courts have repeatedly struck down Religious Right
attempts to push religion in public school science classes. In 1987,
the U.S. Supreme Court in Edwards v. Aguillard invalidated a
Louisiana statute requiring science educators to "balance" teaching
evolution concepts with "creation science" concepts.

In 2004, Americans United and the ACLU challenged the promotion of
"intelligent design" creationism in Dover, Pa., public schools. A year
later a federal district court ruled in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District that such governmental advocacy of religion is unconstitutional.