Texas Governor Backs Bill for Students' Religious Expression
Texas Governor Rick Perry has voiced his support for a new bill that would guarantee students' right to freedom of religious expression.
Surrounded by several children and parents, the politician stressed Tuesday the importance of House Bill 3678, also known as the Religious Viewpoint Anti-Discrimination Act, which would simply protect and clarify existing First Amendment rights of children at school. The bill would not amend or add any new legislation that would expand the influence of religion or go against the separation of church and state.
The bill, proposed by Charlie Howard (R-Sugar Land), is a measure to make schools more confident in allowing their students to speak their faith without the threat of being sued.
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"Freedom of religion should not be mistaken for freedom from religion," explained Perry on Tuesday. "It is one thing to prevent government from sponsoring or endorsing a particular religious view. It is quite another for government to sanitize all dialogue from religious viewpoints in a public setting."
"The constitution prohibits the former, but was never meant to prohibit the latter."
With HB 3678, students would be able to more freely express their religious viewpoints in the same manner as they do secular opinions.
"We don't need to shield our children from religious expression and allow them to only be exposed to the religion of secularism in our schools," added the governor. "Discussion does not lead to indoctrination. Rather, it leads to open-mindedness and personal and educational betterment."
The bill was made in reaction to several incidents that have occurred within the Texas school system over the past year.
Examples include prohibiting students from wishing troops overseas a "Merry Christmas" in letters mailed to them as well as scolding a first-grader for answering "Jesus" when she was asked what she thinks of when she thinks of Easter.
The governor, including other supporters, links the cases to a misunderstanding about students' religious rights by school districts.
"The waters have become very muddy," explained the bill's author.
People against the new proposal have noted that the bill is an unnecessary addition, however, in that the rights already exist for freedom of religious expression.
They also note that the bill is vague and would require a "limited public forum." If future students want to speak at an event, the new legislation would open up the door for other students to express their religious viewpoint, which opponents argue make it nearly impossible to control public forums.
"This bill wouldn't relieve school districts from their responsibility to protect the religious freedom of all students, regardless of their faith," said Kathy Miller, president of the nonprofit Texas Freedom Network, in the Houston Chronicle. "What this bill mostly does is give politicians something easy to pass to keep their [conservative] base happy."
HB 3678 is now being considered by the House State Affairs Committee.
