Texas school leaders urged against adopting Bible-infused curriculum slammed as unconstitutional

A coalition of legal organizations on Thursday called on Texas school district leaders to reject the adoption of a recently approved state curriculum heavily infused with references to Christianity and biblical teachings.The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Center for Inquiry and the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent superintendents and their school boards a letter Thursday telling them that adopting the curriculum, called Bluebonnet Learning, would “unlawfully impose a set of religious beliefs upon your students and violate their constitutionally guaranteed right to be free from religious coercion.”The letter suggests a willingness by the groups to take legal action to stop Texas schools from adopting the materials.“Our organizations, which have long fought for religious freedom for all, will closely monitor any school district across the state that considers implementing the Bluebonnet curriculum and will take any action that is necessary and appropriate to protect the rights of Texas children and their parents,” the letter reads.In a statement to The Texas Tribune responding to the letter, a spokesperson for the Texas Education Agency said “public schools may not provide religious instruction, and there is no religious instruction in Bluebonnet Learning.”“Bluebonnet Learning is comprised of instructional materials that have a broad base of topics including history, literature, the arts and culture which, when contextually relevant, can include religious topics sampling from a wide range of faiths,” the statement said.“The materials include content from or about varied religious source materials for the literary and historical value of the content and its connection to creating a strong background of knowledge for students.”The State Board of Education narrowly approved the free-to-use elementary school curriculum in November, with a temporary Gov.

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