Evangelical takeover of Texas public schools could backfire on MAGA

Donald Trump with Pastor Paula White at the National Faith Advisory Summit in Powder Springs, Georgia, U.S., October 28, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

In Texas, MAGA Republicans and evangelical Christian fundamentalists have been pushing for Bible study to be mandatory in public schools — a move that, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), violates the separation of church and state outlined in the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. The GOP-controlled Texas State School Board, on June 26, added Bible stories to mandatory public school reading lists. But according to Salon's Amanda Marcotte, using public schools to promote evangelical fundamentalism will "likely backfire" for Texas Republicans.

Texas State School Board member Brandon Hall, at a news conference, told reporters, "Our nation was founded as a Christian nation." But that claim, Marcotte stresses, is a blatant "falsehood" — as the Founders "clearly forbade" an "establishment of religion" in the U.S. Constitution.

"The school board hired David Barton, a discredited writer who falsely claims to be a historian, as an adviser," Marcotte explains in her early July article for Salon. "Barton has no training and less than zero credibility, having been caught repeatedly peddling easily disproved lies. But because Republicans are pleased by his intellectually dishonest interpretation of America's past, they continue to choose his nonsense over actual history developed by real scholars. This is Christian nationalism in a nutshell."

Marcotte continues, "The use of Barton by the GOP and the Texas State School Board is not about faith or belief; it's about power. Specifically, it's about pushing their belief that certain people — white right-wing Christians — are the 'real' Americans. In practice, it means that everyone else deserves second-class status. Forcing kids to read Bible passages signals to anyone outside the white evangelical tribe that they don't belong, which is a grotesque violation of American values of equality and freedom."

The Establishment Clause in the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

Marcotte emphasizes that the First Amendment "violation" in Texas Public Schools is "likely to backfire on the Religious Right."

"They better hope that the kids skip the assigned reading, much less actual discussion and debate about it in class," Marcotte argues. "As many an ex-evangelical can tell you, direct exposure to what the Bible actually says is often the first step to walking away from Christian fundamentalism altogether. There's a reason conservative Christians prefer quoting solitary Bible verses out of context: Not only does this allow them to twist the meaning for their own personal or political ends, but it also makes it much easier to avoid the critical thinking that engaging with longer passages can provoke…. It's also worth remembering that many students — and even some teachers — aren't Christian, which means that classroom discussions will not always been favorable to an evangelical interpretation of scripture."

Marcotte adds, "In short, Texas Republicans have likely created opportunities to expose Christian kids to other people’s points of view, which may not have happened otherwise."

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