The Wall of Separation Blog https://www.au.org/ en The School Privatization Brigade’s Latest Scheme: Vouchers To Escape ‘Critical Race Theory’ https://www.au.org/blogs/voucher-critical-race-theory <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">The School Privatization Brigade’s Latest Scheme: Vouchers To Escape ‘Critical Race Theory’</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <a title="View user profile." href="/user/69587" lang="" about="/user/69587" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username">LHayes</a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Mon Feb 14, 2022 - 09:45</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x links--node.html.twig x links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/content/links--node.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/content/links--node.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-authored-by--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-authored-by.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-authored-by.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-authored-by field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Authored by</label> <div class="item"><a href="/about/people/nik-nartowicz" hreflang="en">Nik Nartowicz</a></div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-image--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-image.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-image field--type-image"> <label>Image</label> <div class="item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img src="/sites/default/files/styles/banner/public/images/blog_post/Black%20student%20in%20classroom.jpg?h=3f6c77fc&amp;itok=x2AR9iR3" width="1700" height="525" alt="Classroom of students" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-banner" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary items"><p>Pro-voucher advocates are always looking for new excuses to push private school vouchers. Their newest excuse is a manufactured controversy over the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in K-12 schools.</p> <p>But this isn’t the first time race has been explicitly used to justify vouchers. In fact, private school vouchers were first created in the 1950s as a way to preserve and exacerbate <a href="https://www.ineteconomics.org/uploads/papers/WP_161-MacLean.pdf">segregation</a>. Many states adopted voucher programs after the Supreme Court’s ruling in <em>Brown v. Board of Education</em> to avoid court-ordered integration and enable white parents to send their children to private schools now known as “segregation academies.”</p> <p>It’s helpful to start by understanding what CRT is: it’s an <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/what-critical-race-theory-means-why-its-igniting-debate-2021-09-21/">academic framework</a> that acknowledges systemic racism is part of American society. CRT recognizes that racism is more than the result of individual bias and prejudice; it is embedded in laws, policies, and institutions that uphold and reproduce racial inequalities. It is most often taught in law schools—not in K-12 schools. Nonetheless, over the past year, there have been efforts across the country to ban what some have called “CRT” in K-12 schools. What these bills really do is ban lessons on race and gender discrimination, white privilege, and racial equity. At least <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/22525983/map-critical-race-theory-legislation-teaching-racism">36 states</a> have adopted or introduced laws or policies that restrict teaching about race, racism, and even accurate discussion of U.S. history.</p> <p>The people behind these anti-CRT bills have admitted that they are part of a larger strategy to undermine our confidence in public education and advocate for privatizing education. For example, Christopher Rufo, the architect of the right-wing crusade against CRT, is “preparing a strategy of <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-op-1110-goldberg-schools-democratis-20211109-hnrffh75vrcz3dpin5zfel4lxi-story.html">laying siege</a> to the institutions” that will lead to parents having “a fundamental right to exit” public schools. In practice, this means using CRT to promote private school vouchers.</p> <p>Nicole Russell, a contributor at the <em>Washington Examiner</em>, <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/with-school-choice-critical-race-theory-wouldnt-be-a-problem">wrote</a> that “implementing school choice solutions in every state would naturally resolve, and even possibly eradicate, issues such as critical race theory curriculum showing up in every state nationwide.” Kyle Wingfield, president and CEO of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, a Libertarian-leaning think tank, <a href="https://www.savannahnow.com/story/opinion/2021/08/05/mask-mandates-critical-race-theory-new-reasons-explore-school-choice-covid-georgia-legislature/5481109001/">claimed</a> that “controversies” over mask mandates and critical race theory” can be solved with vouchers. And just last week, the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, released a <a href="https://www.heritage.org/education/report/time-the-school-choice-movement-embrace-the-culture-war">report</a> arguing that pro-voucher advocates should “emphasize cultural problems” like CRT and offer vouchers as a solution.</p> <p>Unfortunately, lawmakers have adopted this strategy. State Sen. Rob Standridge (R) of Oklahoma has introduced <a href="http://www.oklegislature.gov/BillInfo.aspx?Bill=sb1172&amp;Session=2200">SB 1172</a>, which creates a “Freedom from Racial Discrimination” voucher. The name is a misnomer – it would actually give a voucher to students who oppose learning about “gender or race diversity concepts.” Lawmakers in <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/01/30/kansas-lawmakers-rebrand-complaints-with-public-schools-in-push-for-school-choice/">Kansas</a> have similarly tried to connect anti-CRT efforts to vouchers. A committee hearing on diversity and inclusion initiatives in schools began with the introduction of a school voucher bill. And on the federal level, U.S. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) introduced <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-resolution/493">S. Res. 493</a> earlier this month. It’s a resolution that claims school vouchers can “combat destructive ideologies like Critical Race Theory.” These legislators are following Rufo’s playbook and exploiting the false controversy over CRT to push private school vouchers. </p> <p>Anti-CRT vouchers would not only pressure public schools into omitting the difficult parts of our history and not teaching students that racism is wrong but would also undermine the benefits of diverse schools. Public schools bring together students from all backgrounds, races and ethnicities. <a href="https://tcf.org/content/report/how-racially-diverse-schools-and-classrooms-can-benefit-all-students/?session=1&amp;session=1">Diverse schools</a> can increase greater cultural understanding that builds empathy, increase civic participation, and actually improve academic performance. But CRT vouchers, which are targeted at white families who are upset about the possibility of their kids learning about racism, will invite white families to flee the public schools for private institutions.</p> <p>Furthermore, vouchers created in response to false notions about CRT suffer from the same flaws as all voucher programs – they <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/school-vouchers-are-not-a-proven-strategy-for-improving-student-achievement/">don’t improve student achievement</a>, <a href="https://www.pennbpc.org/still-no-accountability">lack accountability</a>, <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/danger-private-school-voucher-programs-pose-civil-rights/">fund discrimination</a>, and can <a href="https://www.ncpecoalition.org/studies#Civil-Rights">exacerbate racial segregation</a>. They also harm religious freedom because they funnel public funds primarily to private religious schools.</p> <p>Instead of finding new excuses to pass voucher bills, legislators should focus on promoting diversity and fully funding and supporting our public schools, which serve 90% of our students.</p></div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-issues--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-issues.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-issues.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-issues field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Issues</label> <div class="items"> <div class="item"><a href="/issues/schools" hreflang="en">Schools</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/issues/private-school-vouchers" hreflang="en">Private School Vouchers</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-tags--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-tags.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-tags.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-tags field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Tags</label> <div class="items"> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/racism" hreflang="en">Racism</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/christian-nationalism" hreflang="en">Christian nationalism</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> Mon, 14 Feb 2022 14:45:17 +0000 LHayes 17231 at https://www.au.org This Tenn. ‘Bible History’ Course Is Straight Out Of An Antisemitic Sunday School https://www.au.org/blogs/Chattanooga-Bible-course <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">This Tenn. ‘Bible History’ Course Is Straight Out Of An Antisemitic Sunday School</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <a title="View user profile." href="/user/95" lang="" about="/user/95" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username">boston</a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Thu Feb 10, 2022 - 08:09</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x links--node.html.twig x links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/content/links--node.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/content/links--node.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-authored-by--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-authored-by.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-authored-by.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-authored-by field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Authored by</label> <div class="item"><a href="/about/people/rob-boston" hreflang="und">Rob Boston</a></div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-image--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-image.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-image field--type-image"> <label>Image</label> <div class="item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img src="/sites/default/files/styles/banner/public/images/blog_post/bible%20on%20desk%20.jpg?h=623f249a&amp;itok=HBU8I2e-" width="1700" height="525" alt="Bible on desk" title="Bible on desk" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-banner" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary items"><p>The story Juniper Russo related was<a href="https://au.org/media/press-releases/Tennessee-Bible-Class-Anti-Semitism"> </a><a href="https://au.org/media/press-releases/Tennessee-Bible-Class-Anti-Semitism">downright shocking</a>: Her  daughter’s public school teacher had instructed a classroom full of students how to “torture a Jew.”</p> <p>Juniper’s daughter, a middle-school student in Chattanooga, Tenn., had signed up for an elective course called “Bible History.” Although the Russos are Jewish, they assumed the class taught by a public school would be objective and balanced.</p> <p>It wasn’t.</p> <p>“Despite being supposedly taught from a non-sectarian point of view, the entire class has been nothing but blatant Christian proselytizing,” Russo wrote<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/complaint-teacher-made-antisemitic-comments-proselytizing-82710560"> </a><a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/complaint-teacher-made-antisemitic-comments-proselytizing-82710560">on Facebook</a>. She noted that the teacher told students a story about an atheist student who took a Bible class elsewhere to “‘prove it wrong” and later ended up “realizing it was true.” This is not the kind of tale you tell during an objective course.</p> <p>Continued Russo, “My daughter showed me a copy of a test question where she was asked to mark the statement, ‘It is important to read the Bible even if you are not Christian or Jewish, as true or false, with her answer of ‘false’ marked as incorrect. Any competent educator knows that an opinion statement cannot be categorized ‘true or false,’ and that grading students on whether their opinion matches the teacher’s is unethical.</p> <p>Russo reported to AU that her daughter’s class watched videos by The Bible Project, an organization that proselytizes for fundamentalist Christianity. One animated video showed a forked road, “with Christianity represented by light, sunshine, and color on one side, and all other global religions represented by storms, darkness, and shadows on the other.”</p> <p>Things came to a head, Russo wrote, after the teacher wrote an English transliteration of the Hebrew name of God, which many Jews do not speak out loud, on a white board and told the students, “If you want to know how to torture a Jew, make them say this out loud.”</p> <p>The good news is that Americans United is<a href="https://au.org/media/press-releases/Tennessee-Bible-Class-Anti-Semitism"> </a><a href="https://au.org/media/press-releases/Tennessee-Bible-Class-Anti-Semitism">on the case</a>. Yesterday, AU’s legal team sent a detailed letter to officials in the Hamilton County public school system, warning them that class, as currently taught, is blatantly unconstitutional.</p> <p>“Simply put, this class is not academic study of the Bible; it is a Sunday-school class,” AU Staff Attorney Ian Smith wrote to school officials. “There is no academic discussion of any of the material, instead it is bare recitation of devotional Biblical stories and memorization of proselytizing passages. Christianity is endorsed and other religions are mocked and denigrated. All of this is a flagrant violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”</p> <p>AU President and CEO Rachel Laser put it bluntly in a<a href="https://www.au.org/media/press-releases/Tennessee-Bible-Class-Anti-Semitism"> </a><a href="https://www.au.org/media/press-releases/Tennessee-Bible-Class-Anti-Semitism">media statement</a>: “Our country’s foundational promise of church-state separation means that all children should be treated equally and feel included in our public schools. What happened to Juniper Russo’s daughter and her classmates was unconscionable – no child should be taught that their faith is wrong or that people should be ‘tortured’ because of their religious beliefs.”</p> <p>Here’s the kicker: Hamilton County school officials should be all too familiar with the constitutional requirements for teaching a Bible class because a federal court struck down a previous version they offered in 1980.</p> <p>School officials say they’re looking into the matter, but the abuses here are so extensive that nothing less than a complete overhaul of this class – or, preferably, getting rid of it entirely – will do. While they’re at it, the district should peruse the<a href="https://au.org/knowyourrights"> </a><a href="https://au.org/knowyourrights">“Know Your Rights” guides</a> that AU produced for students, families and parents about their religious-freedom rights and responsibilities in public schools. It sounds like they need a refresher on how to teach – not preach – about religion in public schools.</p> <p>P.S. AU’s attorneys are available to review concerns about potential religious-freedom violations in your community. You can report them to us<a href="https://au.org/violation"> </a><a href="https://au.org/violation">here</a>.</p></div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-issues--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-issues.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-issues.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-issues field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Issues</label> <div class="items"> <div class="item"><a href="/issues/religious-minorities-rights" hreflang="en">Religious Minorities&#039; Rights</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/issues/school-sponsored-prayer" hreflang="en">School-Sponsored Prayer</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/issues/government-support-of-religion" hreflang="en">Government Support Of Religion</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/issues/schools" hreflang="en">Schools</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-tags--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-tags.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-tags.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-tags field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Tags</label> <div class="items"> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/tennessee" hreflang="en">Tennessee</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/bibles" hreflang="en">Bibles</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/teacher-proselytizing" hreflang="en">teacher proselytizing</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> Thu, 10 Feb 2022 13:09:17 +0000 boston 17230 at https://www.au.org Reclaiming Religious Liberty In The Movement For Reproductive Rights: Reflections On January’s SACReD Convening https://www.au.org/blogs/sacred-conference-report <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Reclaiming Religious Liberty In The Movement For Reproductive Rights: Reflections On January’s SACReD Convening</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <a title="View user profile." href="/user/95" lang="" about="/user/95" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username">boston</a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Wed Feb 09, 2022 - 08:15</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x links--node.html.twig x links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/content/links--node.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/content/links--node.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-image--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-image.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-image field--type-image"> <label>Image</label> <div class="item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img src="/sites/default/files/styles/banner/public/images/blog_post/repro%20freedom%2C%2011.17.21_0.jpg?h=199d8c1f&amp;itok=m63qYQYx" width="1700" height="525" alt="repro rights" title="reproductive rights rally " typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-banner" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary items"><p>By Hannah Santos and Charlotte Waldman</p> <p>Last month, the Spiritual Alliance of Communities for Reproductive Dignity (SACReD) held a convening for justice-oriented people of faith, abortion access activists and leaders from the reproductive rights community. As Youth Organizing Fellows, we attended to represent Americans United and to learn about the fight against religion-based restrictions on reproductive autonomy at the national and state levels.</p> <p>Featuring the voices of diverse faith leaders, medical professionals and legal experts, the convening underscored the importance of reclaiming reproductive justice as a religious freedom issue.</p> <p>One of the most striking parts of the convening was the question of <em>why </em>religion is an important part of the abortion access movement. For years, the Religious Right has dominated the conversation on abortion in the United States. As in other areas of discrimination, opposition to reproductive rights has often been justified in the name of religion – and now, being a religious American is firmly associated with anti-abortion beliefs.</p> <p>However, the Religious Right does not represent all religious Americans. Denouncing these religious anti-choice arguments, the faith leaders at this convening encouraged people of faith to embrace the coexistence of religion and reproductive autonomy. There’s been a capture of “religious liberty” by Christian nationalists to refer to protections of conservative beliefs around sex, sexuality and reproduction. By highlighting the internal diversity of religious Americans, abortion advocates dilute the force of “religious freedom” discourse as a long-established rallying point for the conservative right.</p> <p>Reclaiming religion leads to a central foundation of the SACReD movement for abortion access: <strong>Reproductive dignity is a critical right for all people <em>because </em>of the tenets of faith, not in spite of it. </strong></p> <p>There are historic roots for this fight. The Clergy Consultation Service, founded 1967 by pro-choice clergy and rabbis, was the largest abortion service in the United States before <em>Roe v. Wade</em>, operating in 35 states and helping thousands of women secure safe abortions. Though often putting themselves at risk, the clergy framed their work as a matter of moral responsibility, arguing that their moral obligation as clergy transcended unfair abortion restrictions in legal codes.</p> <p>With <em>Roe</em> currently at risk, this work is once again critical. Faith leaders such as <a href="https://www.dallasuu.org/staff/daniel-kanter/">the Rev. Daniel Kanter</a>, for example, help people in Texas cross state lines for abortion access. He partners with <a href="https://nmrcrc.org/">New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice</a>, and exemplifies their theology with their fundraising motto, “Who is my neighbor?”</p> <p>On the policy side, <a href="https://www.73forward.org/">73 Forward</a>, powered by the National Council for Jewish Women (NCJW), is the Jewish movement for abortion justice. At the convening, Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg of the NCJW used classic Jewish sources to explain the central tenet of 73 Forward’s work: Abortion access is a Jewish value.</p> <p>The conference also explored the interconnected nature of reproductive justice and racial justice. Charity Woods Banes, executive director of the <a href="https://www.iv4rj.org/">Interfaith Voices for Reproductive Justice</a> (IVRJ), explores theologies of reproductive justice within Black religious communities “<a href="https://www.iv4rj.org/">to create transformative theological narratives that center Black women and girls</a>.” IVRJ works toward amplifying the voices of Black women within the reproductive justice movement – a movement founded by Black women to address the unique struggles of women of color in achieving healthy and holistic reproductive freedom.  </p> <p>As such, the framework of “Reproductive Justice” extends far beyond abortion access. Reproductive justice cannot be achieved without civil rights, workers’ rights, environmental rights, criminal justice reform, and all the other elements required to sustain true autonomy for healthy families. As we learned at the convening, reproductive justice can only occur when all people have the economic, social and political power and resources to make healthy decisions about their bodies. Separation of church and state in all realms is a crucial part of this interconnected and intersectional struggle for full reproductive freedom. </p> <p>Along the lines of other examples of faith-based abortion access work, the Reproductive Justice framework unites concrete abortion access work with the revolutionary discourse of liberal theologies. With roots in Black feminist theory and womanist theory, reproductive justice encourages people to push back on interpretations of faith that support oppression. As Dr. Toni Bond, one of the founders of the reproductive justice movement and part of the IVRJ team, announced at the conference, there is an urgent need for religious people to argue publicly that new abortion restrictions, although justified on the basis of religion, in fact go <em>against </em>the Christian tradition of liberation.</p> <p>As threats to reproductive freedom grow, we must reclaim the religious narrative about abortion. From the Clergy Consultation Service, to Jewish scriptures, to radical Black Womanist theology, the religious voices for reproductive justice are far more diverse than the Religious Right want you to believe.</p> <p>AU, as the leading advocate for separation of religion and government, is part of the movement to embrace religious freedom as not only <em>compatible</em> with church-state separation, but <em>synonymous</em> with it. A country that does so, by protecting reproductive access and other civil protections from religious opponents, would be better off for it.</p> <p><em>Hannah Santos and Charlotte Waldman are members of Americans United’s Youth Organizing Fellowship. Hannah is a current Master of Theological Studies candidate at Harvard Divinity School and holds a B.A. in religious studies and history from Brown University. Charlotte holds a B.A. in history from Vassar College and looks forward to learning more church-state separation at Columbia Law School. </em></p></div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-issues--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-issues.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-issues.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-issues field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Issues</label> <div class="items"> <div class="item"><a href="/issues/reproductive-rights" hreflang="en">Reproductive Rights</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-tags--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-tags.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-tags.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-tags field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Tags</label> <div class="items"> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/abortion" hreflang="en">Abortion</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/reproductive-freedom" hreflang="en">Reproductive Freedom</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> Wed, 09 Feb 2022 13:15:47 +0000 boston 17228 at https://www.au.org Miss. Mayor Says His Religious Beliefs Give Him The Right To Purge Library’s LGBTQ-Themed Books https://www.au.org/blogs/Miss-library-ban <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Miss. Mayor Says His Religious Beliefs Give Him The Right To Purge Library’s LGBTQ-Themed Books</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <a title="View user profile." href="/user/95" lang="" about="/user/95" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username">boston</a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue Feb 08, 2022 - 08:02</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x links--node.html.twig x links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/content/links--node.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/content/links--node.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-authored-by--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-authored-by.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-authored-by.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-authored-by field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Authored by</label> <div class="item"><a href="/about/people/rob-boston" hreflang="und">Rob Boston</a></div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-image--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-image.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-image field--type-image"> <label>Image</label> <div class="item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img src="/sites/default/files/styles/banner/public/images/blog_post/empty%20book%20shelves.jpg?h=d8c1b511&amp;itok=l3lG-P0x" width="1700" height="525" alt="book shelf" title="book shelf emptied" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-banner" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary items"><p>Books are increasingly under fire in the United States – literally in some cases.</p> <p>Tennessee Pastor Greg Locke of Global Vision Bible Church <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pastor-holds-bonfire-burn-witchcraft-books-twilight-rcna14931">held a mass book burning</a> last week, targeting volumes he considers to be “demonic.” NBC News reported that during the event, which was livestreamed on Facebook, “churchgoers hurl books and other items deemed associated with ‘witchcraft’ into a massive bonfire on the church’s parking lot in Mount Juliet, Tennessee.”</p> <p>In the same state, a school board in McMinn County captured national headlines after <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/26/tennessee-school-board-bans-holocaust-comic-maus-by-art-spiegelman.html">it voted last month</a> to remove the graphic novel <em>Maus</em>, a retelling of the Holocaust, from the eighth-grade language arts curriculum.</p> <p>Not to be cut out of the action, the mayor of a small city in Mississippi has apparently decided that his religious beliefs give him the right to decide what everyone else in town can read at the public library.</p> <p>Mayor Gene McGee of Ridgeland, a community of about 24,000 residents in Madison County, is holding back $110,000 in funding for the county library system, <a href="https://www.mississippifreepress.org/20068/ridgeland-mayor-demands-lgbtq-book-purge-threatens-library-funding/">reported Mississippi Free Press</a>, an online news site.</p> <p>Tonja Johnson, executive director of the county libraries, told the Free Press she reached out to McGee after she failed to receive a quarterly payment from the city. What he told her was surprising.</p> <p>“He explained his opposition to what he called ‘homosexual materials’ in the library, that it went against his Christian beliefs, and that he would not release the money as the long as the materials were there,” Johnson said.</p> <p>Johnson, who seems to have the patience of Job, told the Free Press that she carefully explained to McGee that the library is not a religious institution and that it must serve the entire community – but the mayor was unmoved.</p> <p>McGee is behaving like a Christian nationalist tyrant, but he probably doesn’t even have the power to withhold the funds, which the city’s board of aldermen has already approved. However, it doesn’t appear that the board is in any hurry to rein him in.</p> <p>McGee said he acted because members of the community complained about some of the books in the library.</p> <p>“We’re holding [the money] right now because we found a large number of citizens who have complained about displays of sexual, whatever you want to call it, content,” McGee said. “We’re just responding to those citizens’ complaints, and that’s the position we’re in.”</p> <p>Not surprisingly, the books under fire are LGBTQ-themed. One of them, <a href="https://www.queerbible.com/queerbible/2021/2/17/9kuf3ve7hwitgjxumqxmomwmbeku7l"><em>The Queer Bible</em></a>, is a collection of essays by and about notable LGBTQ people. Another book, <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Grandads-Camper/Harry-Woodgate/9781499811933"><em>Grandad’s Camper</em></a>, is a children’s book. Johnson said the library has a formal process that residents can use to challenge books. While verbal complaints were lodged about both volumes, no formal challenges were filed, she said.  </p> <p>Friends of the Ridgeland Library set up a fundraising campaign to make up for some of the lost funds. The group had hoped to raise a few thousand dollars but within a matter of days had <a href="https://www.losangelesblade.com/2022/02/03/mississippi-library-defies-anti-lgbtq-mayor-holds-fundraising-campaign/">pulled in $75,000</a>.</p> <p>It’s great that folks want to help, but Ridgeland’s library can’t always rely on the kindness of strangers. Someone must confront McGee and inform him that, while he may be mayor, that doesn’t mean he’s a supreme dictator with the power to cast any books that displease him into metaphorical (or literal) fires.</p></div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-issues--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-issues.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-issues.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-issues field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Issues</label> <div class="items"> <div class="item"><a href="/issues/lgbtq-rights" hreflang="en">LGBTQ Rights</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-tags--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-tags.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-tags.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-tags field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Tags</label> <div class="items"> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/censorship" hreflang="en">censorship</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/public-libraries" hreflang="en">public libraries</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/mississippi" hreflang="en">Mississippi</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/tennessee" hreflang="en">Tennessee</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> Tue, 08 Feb 2022 13:02:19 +0000 boston 17227 at https://www.au.org Americans United Tells Missouri Governor That You Don’t Gotta Believe https://www.au.org/blogs/MO-gov-religious-test <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Americans United Tells Missouri Governor That You Don’t Gotta Believe</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <a title="View user profile." href="/user/95" lang="" about="/user/95" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username">boston</a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Mon Feb 07, 2022 - 09:02</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x links--node.html.twig x links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/content/links--node.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/content/links--node.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-authored-by--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-authored-by.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-authored-by.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-authored-by field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Authored by</label> <div class="item"><a href="/about/people/rob-boston" hreflang="und">Rob Boston</a></div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-image--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-image.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-image field--type-image"> <label>Image</label> <div class="item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img src="/sites/default/files/styles/banner/public/images/blog_post/Mo.%20sign.jpg?h=b1a91ebe&amp;itok=mmsqpcsp" width="1700" height="525" alt="Missouri" title="Missouri sign" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-banner" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary items"><p>Americans United is reminding Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) that in the United States, there can be no religious test for public office.</p> <p>The issue arose in the Show Me State recently after the state senate rejected Donald Kauerauf, Parson’s nominee to be director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.</p> <p>Some far-right senators apparently had concerns about Kauerauf’s conservative bona fides. This led Parson to reply, “Don is a public health expert that is on record opposing masking requirements and COVID-19 vaccine mandates. He is outspokenly pro-life and morally opposed to abortion. Missourians know that I share these beliefs and would not have nominated someone who does not share the same Christian values.”</p> <p>Was the governor admitting that he imposes a religious litmus test on nominees? Do they have to be conservative Christians?</p> <p>A member of Parson’s own party, state Rep. Adam Schwadron (R-St. Charles), was among the first to raise the issue, tweeting, “I’m curious Governor, is this a standard you traditionally use? Article VI of the US Constitution strictly prohibits a religious test as a qualification to any office or public trust. Considering that, I then must ask the question. Would someone who is Jewish, such as myself, be considered for nomination?”</p> <p>Schwadron could have pointed out that Missouri’s Constitution contains a similar provision. Article I, Section 5 states that “no person shall, on account of his or her religious persuasion or belief, be rendered ineligible to any public office or trust or profit in this state.”</p> <p>Parson insists he has done nothing wrong, but Americans United disagrees. AU President and CEO Rachel Laser <a href="https://www.kxxv.com/news/missouri-governors-christian-values-statement-questioned">told the Associated Press</a>, “The governor’s remarks are offensive and undermine our nation’s promise of religious freedom, which is the fundamental right to believe or not, as we choose, and to know that our government will treat us equally.”</p> <p>Brian Kaylor, a Baptist minister, the editor of <em>Word&amp;Way</em> in Jefferson City and a board member of AU’s St. Louis Chapter, told the <em>St. Louis Post-Dispatch</em> that Parson’s comments were “inappropriate but also not surprising.”</p> <p><a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/only-christians-need-apply-missouri-governor-s-christian-values-statement-prompts-legal-concerns/article_c021c395-7645-5d63-982f-56d01002a7a0.html">Added Kaylor</a>, “This is a state where this director is going to be serving people of many faiths and no faith, and so I think that’s very concerning that a governor would send a message that only Christians need to apply to this type of position, which not only impacts any applicants, or people who might be chosen, but also sends a message to the rest of the state that maybe you’re a second-class citizen.”</p> <p>It doesn’t help that Parson has a history of this sort of thing. In a <a href="https://wordandway.org/2017/05/11/q-a-interview-with-mo-lt-gov-mike-parson/">2017 interview</a> with <em>Word&amp;Way</em>, he brazenly stated that nonreligious people aren’t fit to hold public office.</p> <p>“First of all, I can’t even begin to imagine to do these jobs if you don’t have faith,” Parson said. “I mean, if you’re not a believer, there’s no way, I believe, you can be a truly effective leader because when you are in this arena you are a leader. And to make decisions without faith, to me, would be impossible. I don’t know how you make the decision and how you’re going to affect the future if you don’t have belief and faith.”</p> <p>In pre-Revolution America, some colonies limited public office to Christians or even “Trinitarian Protestants.” Several states <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/april-2020-church-state-magazine/featured/prejudiced-provisions-what-eight-state">explicitly banned atheists</a> from holding office and/or serving on juries.</p> <p>These provisions are examples of less enlightened, more bigoted time. They were done away with at the federal level by <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/april-2020-church-state-magazine/cover-story/believe-it-or-not-in-the-us-no-one-can-be">language in Article VI</a> of the U.S. Constitution, which bans religious test for public office, and at the state level by a 1961 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case <em>Torcaso v. Watkins</em>, in which the high court held that a Maryland man could not be required to <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/june-2011-church-state/featured/more-than-a-minor-hero">profess belief in God</a> as a condition of becoming a notary public.</p> <p>Religious tests for public office were killed and buried long ago. We are a better, freer and fairer nation because of that. Parson should not try to resurrect them.</p></div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-issues--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-issues.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-issues.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-issues field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Issues</label> <div class="items"> <div class="item"><a href="/issues/religious-freedom" hreflang="en">Religious Freedom</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/issues/history-and-origins-of-church-state-separation" hreflang="en">History and Origins of Church-State Separation</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-tags--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-tags.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-tags.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-tags field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Tags</label> <div class="items"> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/missouri" hreflang="en">Missouri</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/article-vi" hreflang="en">Article VI</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> Mon, 07 Feb 2022 14:02:16 +0000 boston 17226 at https://www.au.org In The Future, Let’s Skip This Breakfast https://www.au.org/blogs/Natl-Prayer-Bfast22 <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">In The Future, Let’s Skip This Breakfast</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <a title="View user profile." href="/user/95" lang="" about="/user/95" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username">boston</a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Thu Feb 03, 2022 - 11:35</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x links--node.html.twig x links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/content/links--node.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/content/links--node.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-authored-by--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-authored-by.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-authored-by.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-authored-by field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Authored by</label> <div class="item"><a href="/about/people/rob-boston" hreflang="und">Rob Boston</a></div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-image--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-image.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-image field--type-image"> <label>Image</label> <div class="item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img src="/sites/default/files/styles/banner/public/images/blog_post/npb%20biden%2022.png?h=84bc774f&amp;itok=HvNd8B5G" width="1700" height="525" alt="NPB 22" title="NPB 2022" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-banner" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary items"><p>The National Prayer Breakfast was held this morning. Last year,<a href="https://www.au.org/blogs/national-prayer-breakfast21"> </a><a href="https://www.au.org/blogs/national-prayer-breakfast21">I noted</a> that this annual event was less alarming than it had been under President Donald Trump but still annoying. My opinion hasn’t changed.</p> <p>U.S. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), one of the organizers for the breakfast,<a href="https://religionnews.com/2022/02/02/sen-chris-coons-this-years-national-prayer-breakfast-is-a-reset/"> </a><a href="https://religionnews.com/2022/02/02/sen-chris-coons-this-years-national-prayer-breakfast-is-a-reset/">told Religion News Service</a>, “I think this year is a positive reset that allows us to focus on the original mission of the prayer breakfast, which was a much narrower engagement between Congress, the president, and some inspirational singers and speakers.”</p> <p>Coons is undoubtedly sincere, but I’m afraid the National Prayer Breakfast is beyond rehabilitation. It’s sponsored by a shadowy Christian nationalist group called the Fellowship Foundation (AKA<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Family-Secret-Fundamentalism-Heart-American/dp/0060560053/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1248192951&amp;sr=1-1"> </a><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Family-Secret-Fundamentalism-Heart-American/dp/0060560053/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1248192951&amp;sr=1-1">The Family</a>), which came up with it during the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration as a way to minister to the powerful. These days, it’s mainly a hollow show of piety during which politicians in D.C. pretend to be united in prayer before they return to partisan sniping.</p> <p>The event, which featured remarks by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, is privately sponsored and normally takes place in a hotel. This year, due to concerns over COVID, the breakfast was smaller in size and was held in the visitor’s center of the U.S. Capitol. That only makes things worse. The people’s house shouldn’t be used for what is essentially a Christian worship service.</p> <p>The National Prayer Breakfast is an empty exercise in “civil religion,” which many truly devout people would say isn’t meaningful religion at all. It sends a message of exclusion to the millions of Americans who are not Christian or not religious. Rather than try to rebuild it, we should just discard it.</p> <p>(<em>Photo: Screenshot of President Joe Biden speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast, via C-SPAN 2</em>)</p></div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-issues--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-issues.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-issues.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-issues field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Issues</label> <div class="items"> <div class="item"><a href="/issues/government-support-of-religion" hreflang="en">Government Support Of Religion</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-tags--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-tags.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-tags.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-tags field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Tags</label> <div class="items"> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/family" hreflang="en">The Family</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/ceremonial-deism" hreflang="en">Ceremonial Deism</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/joe-biden" hreflang="en">Joe Biden</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/kamala-harris" hreflang="en">Kamala Harris</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/donald-trump" hreflang="en">Donald Trump</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/national-prayer-breakfast" hreflang="en">National Prayer Breakfast</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> Thu, 03 Feb 2022 16:35:40 +0000 boston 17224 at https://www.au.org Christian Nationalists To America: ‘Don’t Look Up!’ https://www.au.org/blogs/dont-look-up <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Christian Nationalists To America: ‘Don’t Look Up!’</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <a title="View user profile." href="/user/95" lang="" about="/user/95" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username">boston</a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Wed Feb 02, 2022 - 08:47</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x links--node.html.twig x links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/content/links--node.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/content/links--node.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-authored-by--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-authored-by.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-authored-by.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-authored-by field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Authored by</label> <div class="item"><a href="/about/people/rachel-laser" hreflang="en">Rachel Laser</a></div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-image--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-image.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-image field--type-image"> <label>Image</label> <div class="item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img src="/sites/default/files/styles/banner/public/images/blog_post/comet%20.jpg?h=abb6286e&amp;itok=luGvZ0fY" width="1700" height="525" alt="comet" title="comet DLU" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-banner" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary items"><p><strong><em>Editor’s Note:</em></strong> <em>This post by Americans United President and CEO Rachel Laser originally appeared in the </em><a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/february-2022-church-state-magazine"><em>February 2022 issue</em></a><em> of AU’s </em>Church &amp; State<em> magazine. To subscribe and get </em>Church &amp; State<em> delivered to your door every month, </em><a href="https://www.au.org/become-a-member"><em>become a member of AU</em></a><em>.</em></p> <p>A few weeks ago, I sat down with my family to watch <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11286314/">“Don’t Look Up,”</a> currently streaming on Netflix. There’s been a lot of buzz about this movie, so if you haven’t seen it, I recommend you do. Why? Because its message is relevant to the work we do here at Americans United.</p> <p>“Don’t Look Up” tells the story of two astronomers who discover that a comet is on a collision course with Earth. Unless something is done, it will destroy the planet in six months. Unfortunately, the Trumpian president called President Janie Orlean (played flawlessly by Meryl Streep) is more concerned with her poll numbers than saving the world, and too many Americans embrace fake-news claims that the comet is a hoax.</p> <p>Many viewers have described the movie as a commentary on climate change. It is that to be sure, but it’s much more. It’s also a biting commentary on some Americans’ refusal to see what is plainly before them and the dangers of elevating ideology over facts.</p> <p>Christian nationalism appears in the movie explicitly only once when President Orlean says during a speech: “May Jesus Christ bless every single one of you – especially the members of my own party.” But the underlying theory of Christian nationalism is really on trial in this movie.</p> <p>Consider the COVID pandemic and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. In both cases, Christian nationalists are telling Americans stories that require those who buy into them to deny clear truths.</p> <p>Even as the death toll for Americans surpasses 850,000 and hospitals across the country once again run out of beds, Christian nationalists continue to demand religious exemptions from mandatory vaccination policies and to spread anti-vaccine propaganda. Most recently, they’ve been claiming that the spread of the omicron variant among vaccinated people proves they were right all along. It does no such thing. Unvaccinated people are dying of omicron, while the vast majority of vaccinated don’t even end up in the hospital. One study found that an unvaccinated person is 13 times more likely to require hospitalization than a vaccinated person. If you’re like me, you know people who’ve had the omicron variant but because they were vaccinated, it was basically a bad cold. The evidence that vaccines work is right in front of us.</p> <p>Now let’s turn to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Christian nationalists want us to believe that Antifa was responsible or that the rioters were really patriots and the assault on the Capitol wasn’t so bad after all.</p> <p>Again, we saw with our own eyes what happened: A mob of Trump supporters, people literally draped in MAGA gear, swarmed the Capitol, vandalized the building and assaulted police officers and the press. Many of them hoisted crosses and other symbols of the Christian faith. The photos and videos prove this. As writer Katherine Stewart <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/06/opinion/jan-6-christian-nationalism.html">observed in The New York Times</a>, “The most serious attempt to overthrow the American constitutional system since the Civil War would not have been feasible without the influence of America’s Christian nationalist movement.”</p> <p>Christian nationalists would have us look away from these facts and deny them. They have a track record of doing that. These are the people, after all, who insist that America was founded to be a “Christian nation” despite the mountain of evidence to the contrary. They’re the people who claim that biblical creationism is a credible scientific alternative to evolution. They’re the ones who say LGBTQ people are a threat to society.</p> <p>There’s a scene toward the end of “Don’t Look Up” where President Orlean is rallying her base at an outdoor event. During her speech, a few people look up and see the comet streaking across the sky. They realize they’ve been lied to and start screaming at her. The president’s reaction is to tell them to stop looking up; they need to look down.</p> <p>Christian nationalists would have us look down all the time. They would have us look down whenever presented with facts that conflict with their power. They would have us look down to avoid uncomfortable truths. They would have us look down to cover up their transgressions.</p> <p>At Americans United, we never hesitate to call out Christian nationalists for their untruths. We let them know that their attempts to mislead will not succeed. And we remind them and all Americans that simply looking away from the truth makes it no less true.</p> <p>Americans United looks up. We’re so grateful you do, too.</p></div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-tags--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-tags.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-tags.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-tags field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Tags</label> <div class="items"> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/christian-nationalism" hreflang="en">Christian nationalism</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/vaccinations" hreflang="en">Vaccinations</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/katherine-stewart" hreflang="en">Katherine Stewart</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> Wed, 02 Feb 2022 13:47:01 +0000 boston 17223 at https://www.au.org Christian Nationalists Love Misinformation – And That’s Bad For All Of Us https://www.au.org/blogs/perry-christian-nationalists <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Christian Nationalists Love Misinformation – And That’s Bad For All Of Us</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <a title="View user profile." href="/user/95" lang="" about="/user/95" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username">boston</a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Tue Feb 01, 2022 - 09:24</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x links--node.html.twig x links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/content/links--node.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/content/links--node.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-authored-by--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-authored-by.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-authored-by.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-authored-by field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Authored by</label> <div class="item"><a href="/about/people/rob-boston" hreflang="und">Rob Boston</a></div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-image--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-image.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-image field--type-image"> <label>Image</label> <div class="item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img src="/sites/default/files/styles/banner/public/images/blog_post/Qanon%20flag.jpg?h=4dc35482&amp;itok=SdVt3wNK" width="1700" height="525" alt="Q " title="Qanon flag " typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-banner" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary items"><p>According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 64% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19. That’s a decent number, but medical experts say it’s not high enough.</p> <p>What’s holding people back? Some distrust doctors, some have fallen for misinformation about the vaccines and still others have unnecessarily politicized the issue.</p> <p>And some are Christian nationalists. As scholar Samuel L. Perry noted recently in a <a href="https://religionnews.com/2022/01/28/the-deadly-dogmatism-of-christian-nationalism/">column for Religion News Service</a> aptly titled “The deadly dogmatism of Christian nationalism,” Americans who embrace Christian nationalism are more likely than others to refuse vaccines.</p> <p>Perry points out that part of this is due to the tendency of Christian nationalists to become ensnared in conspiracy theories – no matter how fantastic they may be. These are the people, after all, who brought us <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/what-is-qanon.html">QAnon</a> and false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.</p> <p>But, as Perry writes, “[T]here is something more fundamental going on – something that makes these Americans vulnerable to conspiracy theories and bad information. Multiple data points show such Americans have a greater tendency toward dogmatism – the tendency to insist one’s beliefs are true without regard for counter-evidence.”</p> <p>Perry and his colleagues conducted a study recently that quizzed Christian nationalists on some science facts. Interestingly, they found that Americans who align with Christian nationalism know as much as everyone else on certain issues, such as lasers, genes, molecules or viruses.</p> <p>“But Christian nationalism was the strongest predictor that they would score lower on questions about religiously contested scientific facts such as the Big Bang or natural selection,” Perry, associate professor of sociology at the University of Oklahoma, wrote. “Christian nationalism, in other words, didn’t necessarily coincide with ignorance. Rather, it reflected a powerful dogmatism that rejected any facts that were inconsistent with cherished narratives.”</p> <p>Perry and his fellow researchers also found that Americans who align with Christian nationalism also “held incorrect views about things like whether the Supreme Court actually banned people from praying in schools (no) or whether the First Amendment allows Congress to privilege Christianity (no).” Christian nationalists, Perry writes, were “more likely to pick incorrect answers that stressed the supremacy and victimization of Christianity…”</p> <p>The false beliefs of Christian nationalists are not harmless. We’ve all suffered because of them. Before we had effective vaccines, Christian nationalists and their legal allies defied stay-at-home orders and demanded their churches be allowed to meet in person. After the vaccines were produced, they refused to take them. Even now, as hospital beds overflow with mostly unvaccinated people suffering from the Omicron variant, Christian nationalists scream about freedom and insist that they should have the right to go about unmasked and unvaxxed.</p> <p>But there is a ray of hope. Perry points out that studies show that deplatforming people who spread bad information helps. “Even as their [Christian nationalists] numbers diminish in the general population, bad actors are working to isolate and radicalize these Americans toward political goals,” he observes. “Along with striving to persuade our fellow citizens who are being manipulated, sidelining those bad actors wherever possible should be our top priority.”</p> <p>Private companies have no obligation to hand megaphones to cranks peddling nonsense. (Are you listening, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/joe-rogan-spotify-protest-covid-misinformation-neil-young-rcna14158">Spotify</a>?) As for the rest of us, we can keep challenging those bad actors, who may be politicians, media personalities, internet-based preachers and even celebrities. We should work to lure their followers, one by one if necessary, into the reality-based community – and boost those vaccine numbers along the way.</p> <p>(<em>Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images</em>)</p></div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-tags--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-tags.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-tags.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-tags field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Tags</label> <div class="items"> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/christian-nationalism" hreflang="en">Christian nationalism</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/donald-trump" hreflang="en">Donald Trump</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/protecting-religious-freedom-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic" hreflang="en">Protecting Religious Freedom During the Coronavirus Pandemic</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> Tue, 01 Feb 2022 14:24:38 +0000 boston 17222 at https://www.au.org Justice Stephen Breyer: A Pragmatist Leaves The Court https://www.au.org/blogs/Justice-Breyer-retirement <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Justice Stephen Breyer: A Pragmatist Leaves The Court</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <a title="View user profile." href="/user/95" lang="" about="/user/95" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username">boston</a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Mon Jan 31, 2022 - 12:13</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x links--node.html.twig x links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/content/links--node.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/content/links--node.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-authored-by--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-authored-by.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-authored-by.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-authored-by field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Authored by</label> <div class="item"><a href="/about/people/rob-boston" hreflang="und">Rob Boston</a></div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-image--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-image.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-image field--type-image"> <label>Image</label> <div class="item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img src="/sites/default/files/styles/banner/public/images/blog_post/justice%20breyer.jpg?h=e2040fdb&amp;itok=uZgK1CHi" width="1700" height="525" alt="Justice Breyer" title="Justice Breyer" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-banner" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary items"><p>Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to attend dozens of oral arguments in church-state cases at the U.S. Supreme Court.</p> <p>When Justice Antonin Scalia was on the court, I’d wince just about every time he opened his mouth. Scalia had a tendency to question attorneys in an aggressive and acerbic manner, bordering on rude.</p> <p>Justice Stephen G. Breyer was never like that. His questions were thoughtful, and his tone was always polite – even when you could tell he didn’t agree with the attorney arguing before the court.</p> <p>Breyer, who announced his retirement last week, wasn’t a champion of strict separation of church and state. But he was with us more often than not, and even when he didn’t side with the perspective favored by Americans United, Breyer often took steps to craft a narrow position that at least attempted to mitigate damage to the church-state wall.</p> <p>Consider Breyer’s position on religious symbols on public property. He tended to accept symbols that were erected many decades ago, arguing that they had become integrated into communities as quasi-secular landmarks (a view AU does not accept), but he opposed newly erected religious symbols.</p> <p>Breyer thus voted with the majority in 2019 to<a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/september-2019-church-state-magazine/featured/secularizing-the-sacred-supreme-court"> </a><a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/september-2019-church-state-magazine/featured/secularizing-the-sacred-supreme-court">allow a towering cross</a> in Bladensburg, Md., that had been erected in 1925 to remain on public land, but he was careful to add, “Nor do I understand the Court’s opinion today to adopt a ‘history and tradition test’ that would permit any newly constructed religious memorial on public land. The Court appropriately ‘looks to history for guidance,’ but it upholds the constitutionality of the Peace Cross only after considering its particular historical context and its long-held place in the community. A newer memorial, erected under different circumstances, would not necessarily be permissible under this approach.”</p> <p>On questions of taxpayer funding of religion, Breyer sought a middle ground. He voted to require Missouri <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/september-2017-church-state/featured/a-hole-in-the-wall">to include a religious school in a program that funded renovations of school playgrounds</a>, arguing that the program was a safety measure akin to police and fire protection (again, a view not shared by AU). But he opposed more substantial forms of government aid to religion. In a 2002 case in which the <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/julyaugust-2002-church-state/featured/supreme-mistake">high c</a><a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/julyaugust-2002-church-state/featured/supreme-mistake">ourt upheld private school vouchers</a>, Breyer dissented, warning of the dangers of too much government involvement with religion. As America's religious diversity expands, he asserted, public aid to religion becomes increasingly problematic.</p> <p>In a 2014 case brought by Americans United, Breyer<a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/june-2014-church-state/featured/greeces-slippery-slope"> </a><a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/june-2014-church-state/featured/greeces-slippery-slope">opposed the use of mostly Christian prayers</a> to open city council meetings in Greece, N.Y. While Breyer did not write his own dissent, he joined one penned by Justice Elena Kagan that said in part, “I respectfully dissent from the Court’s opinion because I think the Town of Greece’s prayer practices violate that norm of religious equality – the breathtakingly generous constitutional idea that our public institutions belong no less to the Buddhist or Hindu than to the Methodist or Episcopalian.”</p> <p>Breyer opposed any form of school-sponsored religion in public education and was a strong supporter of LGBTQ rights. He was skeptical of the idea that religious freedom grants a broad right for secular businesses to discriminate against certain customers.</p> <p>Most recently, Breyer<a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/january-2021-church-state-magazine/cover-story/the-winter-of-our-discontent-americans"> </a><a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/january-2021-church-state-magazine/cover-story/the-winter-of-our-discontent-americans">criticized the court majority</a> when it ruled in favor of a New York church that sought to evade state-mandated curbs on large gatherings in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.</p> <p>“[A]ccording to experts, the risk of transmission is higher when people are in close con­tact with one another for prolonged periods of time, particularly indoors or in other enclosed spaces,” Breyer wrote. “The nature of the epidemic, the spikes, the uncertainties, and the need for quick action, taken together, mean that the State has counter­vailing arguments based upon health, safety, and administrative consider­ations that must be balanced against the applicants’ First Amendment chal­lenges.”</p> <p>Breyer was a pragmatist who often sought to find ways to work toward consensus. Unfortunately, that approach is out of favor on an increasingly polarized court.</p> <p>Justice Breyer’s perspective will be missed. We wish him all the best in his retirement.</p> <p>(<em>Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</em>)</p></div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-issues--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-issues.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-issues.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-issues field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Issues</label> <div class="items"> <div class="item"><a href="/issues/taxpayer-funding-of-religion" hreflang="en">Taxpayer Funding Of Religion</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-tags--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-tags.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-tags.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-tags field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Tags</label> <div class="items"> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/justice-stephen-breyer" hreflang="en">Justice Stephen Breyer</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/supreme-court" hreflang="en">Supreme Court</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/display-of-religious-symbols" hreflang="en">display of religious symbols</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/protecting-religious-freedom-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic" hreflang="en">Protecting Religious Freedom During the Coronavirus Pandemic</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> Mon, 31 Jan 2022 17:13:37 +0000 boston 17221 at https://www.au.org For ‘School Choice Week,’ Arm Yourself With Facts About The Problems With Vouchers https://www.au.org/blogs/SCW-no-vouchers <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">For ‘School Choice Week,’ Arm Yourself With Facts About The Problems With Vouchers</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <a title="View user profile." href="/user/95" lang="" about="/user/95" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" class="username">boston</a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--blog-post.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Thu Jan 27, 2022 - 09:32</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x links--node.html.twig x links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/content/links--node.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/content/links--node.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-authored-by--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-authored-by.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-authored-by.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-authored-by field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Authored by</label> <div class="item"><a href="/about/people/rob-boston" hreflang="und">Rob Boston</a></div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-image--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-image.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-image field--type-image"> <label>Image</label> <div class="item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img src="/sites/default/files/styles/banner/public/images/blog_post/school%20bus%20with%20kids%2C%201.27.22.jpg?h=119335f7&amp;itok=ciQwCemN" width="1700" height="525" alt="bus" title="school bus " typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-banner" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'core/themes/classy/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary items"><p>This week is “School Choice Week,” an annual propaganda blitz sponsored by organizations that favor private school voucher plans.</p> <p>The event is misnamed. Voucher plans bestow choice, all right – just not to parents. Private religious schools that receive public funds from private school vouchers retain the right to decide who gets in and who doesn’t. They get to choose to discriminate.</p> <p>Despite these problems, voucher plans continue to proliferate in the states. AU’s Public Policy Department is monitoring more than 100 state bills in 2022 that would create or expand private school voucher programs.</p> <p>You can help AU oppose vouchers by arming yourself with some facts. Consider the following:</p> <p><strong><em>Vouchers violate your religious freedom</em></strong><em>:</em> The separation of church and state means that you get to support only the religious groups of your choice – or none at all if that’s your preference. Vouchers violate your right of conscience by taking your tax dollars and giving them to private religious schools for religious indoctrination.</p> <p><strong><em>Vouchers don’t work</em></strong><em>:</em> Vouchers have been pitched as a way to boost the academic performance of students who are falling behind. They don’t do that. <a href="https://www.ncpecoalition.org/academic-achievement">Several studies have shown</a> that children attending voucher schools perform no better than their public school counterparts. In some cases, they even do worse.</p> <p><strong><em>Vouchers force you to support schools that discriminate:</em></strong> Private schools that receive vouchers are not required to provide students with the same rights and protections as public schools.. They may deny admission to or expel students for being LGBTQ, having a disability, for being the “wrong” religion or for failing a capricious “moral” standard. Faculty and staff at these schools are subjected to discriminatory policies. We’ve worked hard to eradicate discrimination in American society. Vouchers force you to subsidize it, and that’s wrong.</p> <p><strong><em>Vouchers require you to support schools that teach controversial doctrines:</em></strong><em> </em>Many private religious schools <a href="https://www.au.org/blogs/bad-science-schools">teach things that are problematic</a>. Fundamentalist academies may teach that LGBTQ people are “evil” or that women should not have equal rights. These schools may teach creationism in lieu of sound science or offer false “Christian nation” views of American history. Fundamentalists have the right to believe these things and teach them in their schools, but you should not be expected to pay for the propagation of such views.</p> <p><strong><em>Vouchers don’t help poor students:</em></strong> Despite what voucher boosters claim, these schemes <a href="https://www.ncpecoalition.org/low-income-students">don’t help low-income kids</a>. Most voucher programs are capped at a few thousand dollars, and many private schools charge much higher figures for tuition. They may also tack on additional fees for things like uniforms, books, transportation, etc. This means private schools are still out of reach for many low-income families. If we really want to help these families, we should ensure that they have access to a well-funded public school.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.au.org/a/urge-your-legislator-to-oppose-school-vouchers?emci=3788a7a8-f07d-ec11-94f6-c896650d4442&amp;emdi=795bf93e-b07e-ec11-94f6-c896650d4442&amp;ceid=3720207">Let your state legislators know that you oppose voucher plans</a> and urge them to do the same.</p></div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-issues--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-issues.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-issues.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-issues field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Issues</label> <div class="items"> <div class="item"><a href="/issues/private-school-vouchers" hreflang="en">Private School Vouchers</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/issues/government-support-of-religion" hreflang="en">Government Support Of Religion</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/issues/government-funded-discrimination" hreflang="en">Government-Funded Discrimination</a></div> <div class="item"><a href="/issues/lgbtq-rights" hreflang="en">LGBTQ Rights</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-tags--blog-post.html.twig * field--node--field-tags.html.twig x field--node--blog-post.html.twig * field--field-tags.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-tags field--type-entity-reference"> <label>Tags</label> <div class="items"> <div class="item"><a href="/tags/national-school-choice-week" hreflang="en">National School Choice Week</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/au/templates/field/field--node--blog-post.html.twig' --> Thu, 27 Jan 2022 14:32:55 +0000 boston 17200 at https://www.au.org