So we have now a legal rights group that is urging school leaders not to adopt Texas Bible infused curriculum. Robert pass the sword. No, there is no Robert on this particular panel. But Kelly's here.
Kelly Yes, Cynthia. What appears to be another win for Christian nationalism in Texas has a large group of civil rights groups coalescing together to speak out against the state school board's recent adoption of its blue Bonnet curriculum. Now. Critics say the courses, which were actually developed by the state of Texas, are too heavily infused with Christian religious
views and idealism. While proponents argue that Christianity is an important part of our heritage, I'm getting a little tongue tied, and history must be told by including it for students to fully understand all of history and of the importance of the Bible itself in world history. Now, critics have also pointed out that it downplays the importance of things like slavery, racism, and civil rights. You know that stuff throughout American history. But Texas is actually giving schools sixty
dollars per student to adopt this blue bonnet system. So the way it appears to me is they're actually bribing or extorting the schools to accept it, depending how you look at it, but either way, it does put the state's actions in a bad light. Now. This story is from The Texas Tribune by Jada Edison, published on January thirtieth, twenty twenty five.
You know, I feel some kind of way people, if you can just give me a little bit room to kind of like, you know, give you my mind. Blue bonnet reminds me of margarine, And there is nothing more simple.
And that's where my mind went when I heard. So I feel closer to you now.
You said that because I knew that it was something and I just couldn't place it.
Where do I know this from oil?
Why does like a curriculum have to been like into like margarine. That's just not right. But you know, Kelly, I'm going to come back to you since you introduced this particular segment to us. Okay, So, with legal organizations warning the potential constitutional violations that you know, this particular blue bony curriculum actually like displays, how might Texas school districts weigh the risk of lawsuits against the states push to adopt the blue Bonnet curriculum.
You know, that's a really good question, and I think this is something that we're seeing I'll playing out in other states too, at Louisiana with their Ten Commandments law, in Oklahoma with their mandatory teaching of the Bible and classes there. And I don't know that any of these three states have prepared for the amount of lawsuits that may come out of this, and hopefully hopefully going to
see a lot of them. I don't think they're prepared for the amount of money it's going to cost them to defend these religious views that they're trying to push into the classrooms. This is I mean, this has been a big goal of Christian nationalism, is to get this back into the classes. So it's something I know that they're willing to spend money on. However, I don't know that taxpayers are willing to spend money on it. And
that's why I don't. I think that's why it's really important for people like us to be out here talking about it and to getting it out there and educating people so that they know that the money that they're giving to education that they think is teaching their kids algebra, is actually teaching their kids the Bible instead. I think it's really important that we're teaching people that.
Yeah, that's a very good point that you brought up. Is that not necessarily are the states prepared for the lawsuits that are coming up, but are the constituents willing to pay for it? I would say nah. But with that being said, Lionel supportives argue that Christianity influences on history justifies as prominence in the curriculum. You know, that's always been the argument. The Bible is an historical documents,
so it should be taught in school. But you also have critics on the other side to see this as a religious favoritism. So where should the line be drawn between education and indoctrination in public schools?
So I feel this, and I've heard it said on the show before. I think that if we're using different a wide selection of religious texts to teach about, like, yeah, these are how beliefs can be different all around the world, and they look like some people believe different things, and honestly, like that's okay, some of them are wrong. That's just the way that it is. Not everybody not like everything
isn't going to be right. Something is right here, are some things people believe, and if that's what you're teaching, perfect, that's great. And Texas Education Agency does did issue a statement trying to defend the curriculum, suggesting that that blue bone this is a quote, Bluebonna contains a variety of religious source materials, and when I look into that, I find that although it does appear that there are some non Christian references, the source materials in the curriculum are
overwhelmingly Christian. So the curriculum creators then go on to defend it and say, the Bible is a foundational document of our civilization, so students must understand it to be well educated citizens, which I think it just like takes
away any veil that this is just Christian nationalism. So to pretend that it's anything other and anything else, I think is silly at this point, because it's once you start to say things like that civilization or that that the Bible is foundational to civilization as a whole, you're you're no longer speaking realistically.
I don't think I gotta giggle because I was thinking it's sort of like the metaphorical. Yeah, but I have a Buddhist friend.
Friend, I don't know you know, it's it's kind of friend with my Jewish you know, you know, once a week, take a bag a tree. That's fun, right, But you know, you know, like if we actually look at the content of the Bible and of itself and try to compare it to a civilized document, I would argue differently.
Have you read even here?
And it's perfect?
Cia everybody did it?
Sorry, I'm run off the rails now because this is just terrible, terrible, it really is.
It kind of reminds me of the episode of The Naked Now when Wesley was screaming at the the chief engineer when like somebody pulled out all the isolinear chips and like these Enterprise couldn't go anywhere, and he was like, somebody pulled out all the isolinear chips. And then she said and then he said, well, an adult did it. That makes it right. For those of you all who
do not understand the reference. Star Trek the Next Generation is a television show from Okay, guys, let's talk about the Supreme Court, because why not?
So Helen.
So given me so, Given the actual recent Supreme Court rulings that have blurred the boundaries of church state separation. I think that Justice Soto Mayor Or it was famously said that the women test is did is like beyond sour. See what I did there?
Yes, I did? I see you?
So just beyond sour. So how my future legal challenges actually shaped the role of religion in public education.
So we just did a story on this a couple weeks ago about a Muslim family wanting to go all the way Supreme Court and wanted to make their child exempt from story time due to religious privilege because a gay pro gay Brook book might be read, you know, to a child about like I don't know, like a duck go into like a prie parade, and apparently that will indoctrinate them into being queer. I didn't know that's how it worked. I don't know where career books I
as a child, but that's how it happens. So this is the thing, and the concern is is that when does it stop? When do we have like do we because am I like in my brain is that yes,
there's a lot of Christianity in this country. We know that, you know, yeah, I know that it's fine, But there's also Jews and Muslims and Pagans and Hindus and all different sects of religions that are part of the United States because we are a multicultural, multi faith or lack thereof nation, So why do we have religious privilege for this particular brand but not anything else for anybody else?
And that's the problem. And the thing is, though, like I really wish other like you know, you see electricals of it, and like the Jewish community bringing lawsuits forward, but it's not getting as much traction as it should where groups from different faiths or lack thereof are pushing to say, why is correct criculum gets to be in schools. Why can't I have like my paying curriculum, Why can't I have my Hindu curriculum? You know in these schools.
Because I think you know, we saw and like the Satana Temple brings these lawsuits forwards, there's pauses.
At least there's a pause.
I can tell you what they're thinking is because I've heard it directly from them, is that you know, this is a democracy, and if the majority of people want Christianity being taught in the school, then that's just democracy and action.
Yeah, diet is because money in politics or is it? Like, is it because of money in politics. Or is it because people don't feel like they have enough power to bring those things forward? Because if you did, a bunch of different groups got together and said, hey, wait a second, hold on mofos, you know they could that is a legitimate thin because they're violing an establishment clause.
Yeah, but this one's true, so it has special.
Rights, right exactly.
Okay, I'm sorry, I forgot. I sorry, I forgot.
I forgot.
I forgot that we would have to admit that maybe not every religion is true. I forgot about that. I'm so sorry, trying to just bringing up quibbles.
I have a ship's social detail. Even still, sixty sixty six percent of Americans are Christian, So even if you got all those other groups together, there's still the minority.
Hey, as the four of us convert right now, would it becomes sixty six point six? Like? Is it close enough?
All?
I would do it.
I don't want to do that because I don't particularly like Jesus line.
Ironically, just to take the screenshot and then we can come back.
Okay, that's fine. Well, I was going to bring up that, you know, we do have our friends at uh for for for that is fighting the good fight of bubonnet faith. In fact, they are actually leading the coalition in Texas to actually fight against the blue bonnet learning okay, and matter of fact, I got a quote from Annie Laurie Gaylor shout out to Annie, and I just want to
ask you girl, Hey, Annie, are you okay? But you know quotes if I'm going to quote her, she said these kinds of references the suggested curriculum use talking about blue bonnet, such as using the Golden Rule as pretext to introduce kindergarteners to Jesus. Jesus and the summer on the Mount are suitable for you know, Sunday school classes, but do not belong in our public schools. We will urge these school districts to avoid this politic size and
divisive curriculum. So they are currently galvanizing the troops to fight against this. Usually, if I ever go to if I ever look at like for for first way of doing things, they normally like start out with letters with the cease and desists, and sometimes the season desists like you know, works because people get all scared. They're like, oh, for for force coming after us. I always feel like somebody watching me but you know, if that doesn't work,
then that's when we go through little litigation. So I would definitely hope that we can get some traction on this, especially since the old the age old argument always comes up when we're talking about like golden rule stuff that how did other societies that were not based on a monotheistic principle tame to be able to develop the same type of sentiments when they were building their particular you know, enclaims like I would conjecture that if you look at like,
you know, maybe like a society that's built on Buddhism or Hinduism or even Judaism, that they still had some type of ethics built into it in order to say that, hey,
it's not really good going around murdering people. That kind of like, you know, uh, goes against the point that we're trying to build a society that's based on well being and actually you know, protecting people, and we shouldn't go around stealing from people, we should go around hurting people like that does not really help us, like you know, build like a community. It actually tears it down. So they came up with these particular sentiments on their own
without necessarily have to get all jesusy with it. Why do nowadays, in when we're looking especially at red states, that we do this thundercat?
I mean, it's just well, because this is true, you know, we.
Know that argument.
Fine, it's one of those things that gets mentioned all the time. It is the circumstances of your birth. If we were born in in India, then we would be potentially all, you know, having this conversation about like why Hinduism is in schools, or if we were born in Pakistan it would be about Islam, or.
It could actually be a thundercat.
Right, Yeah, So it's I think it's just one of those things that because of where we are, this is what we're saturated with. So this is you know, just a sort of bit like in in places where some of those other ideologies or those thought systems, belief systems is what I mean, what might be more prevalent, and those might be the ones that people are trying to put into their public education system. You're going to have those pockets of people saying why this, you know, why
this belief system? Why not Christianity, why not Judaism, why not you know, whatever the case may be.
You know, well Kelly, answer real me this, uh Batman. So some of the districts that happens to be in Texas are adopting only certain parts of the blupon It curriculum, while you know, some are rejecting its religious content entirely. I'm with those people. Is it a viable compromise to have, Okay, we're just gonna cherry pick like some of the particular particulars of the Blueponic curriculum and then Blay put them
in here. Or is it like, no, reject all this bullshit, you know, throw it out the window, throw the baby out with the bathwater, because all of it is funky.
That's a really good question. And to be honest with you, I really wanted to check out the whole Blue Bony curriculum before this, but uh, there was no way I was going to be able to go through all you know this in just a few days time. And honestly, even if I had been able to do it, I don't think I would have understand it, understood it all going through it that fast. But that's a really good point. I mean, I'm sure that I'm sure that they're is
some good stuff in there. I mean, educators did put it together. You know, I'm sure that there's some good stuff in there that that could be used. And I don't see why. I don't see why if the state spent all of that money developing this program, that some of it can't be good. I mean, the Texas Imprivate Comedy Group or the state school board did put all
of this together on their own. So and if nothing else, they've shown us how to slide something in and try and blackmail schools to get a pass too.
So I don't know that's what you got margin for, Kelly.
Yeah, for lubrication, right, for a.
Good lubricated.
Guys.
I think it's a good idea to go ahead and wrap up this segment before it gets Leaven Altimore, The hell did you have about that? You want to get off your head to lubrication?
That can.
Now bab all right?
I would like to notably not participate.
The case isout shutting, Lina has bowed out him and Mom rod about to go about their business. But you know, like, listen, guys,
you know. The controversy surrounding Blubony curriculum highlights the ongoing tensions between education and religious influence in public schools, as legal organizations call for action Life for The Debate raises critical questions about balance between providing historical contexts and ensuring the separation of church and state, with school districts having the discretion to adopt the curriculum or stakes are high, or both the rights of students and the broader implications
for religious freedom in public schools. This issue is set to unfold in courts and classrooms alike, with far reaching consequences for future generations.