A proposed Texas law would let teachers "encourage" prayer during school activities
The change is hidden inside a different bill meant to create space for students to pray and read the Bible
This newsletter is free, but it’s only able to sustain itself due to the support I receive from a small percentage of regular readers. Would you please consider becoming one of those supporters? You can use the button below to subscribe to Substack or use my usual Patreon page!
A new bill proposed in Texas by Republican State Rep. David Spiller would allow public school boards to set aside some time each day for students to read the Bible and pray. While adherents of other religions could participate, too, the bill makes clear that this is all about promoting Christianity… and others can just come along for the ride if they feel like it.
And we know that because of a subtle change tucked away elsewhere in the bill.
HB 1425 comes with all kinds of caveats—as it would have to in order to avoid the inevitable lawsuits—but the short version is that it would allow school boards to adopt a policy forcing all schools in the district to “provide a period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious text.” (That language alone tells you this is all about pushing Christianity. All other holy books are just lumped into the “other” category.)
All students who want to participate would have to submit a permission slip signed by their parents or guardians, while employees could also opt in if they choose to participate. No one’s forced to do this. That permission slip would acknowledge that participants won’t be bothered by others praying in their vicinity and waives their right to sue over this law.
More importantly, this would all happen before the start of the school day, in designated areas meant for all participants.
If this is all voluntary and outside instructional time, then the obvious question is: Why is this even necessary?
That’s a question you would only ask if you don’t understand Christian Nationalism.
Nothing about this bill fixes an existing problem. Students can already read the Bible before school, after school, and during school (within reason). They can already silently pray anytime they want (assuming their God is powerful enough to hear those thoughts).
All this bill does is create another way to show Texans that their lawmakers prioritize Christianity over all other belief systems. It also forces every public school district to vote on whether or not they want to adopt such a policy, giving conservative politicians possible ammo to use against board members who decide not to go along with this charade.
Spiller himself said this bill, along with another to put the Ten Commandments in every classroom, was all about “strengthening the role of faith and moral education in Texas public schools.” Even though both bills offered nothing but symbolic, performative bullshit.
"Displaying these principles in every classroom provides students with the opportunity to reflect on core moral values such as integrity, respect and responsibility—values that are essential for the future of our state and our nation," Spiller said in an X post on Tuesday.
But neither the Commandments nor the Bible (as a whole) promotes integrity, respect, or responsibility. Nothing about “don’t worship false idols” has anything to do with “core moral values.” These bills just offer different ways to waste everyone’s time and resources. (Christian Nationalist lawmaker State Sen. Mayes Middleton has proposed an identical bill, SB 380, in his chamber.)
In fact, I would argue that the bill’s most telling passage has nothing to do with the Bible reading section at all. There’s a Texas law that says students have a right to “silently pray or meditate”… which is fine. But that law includes this line: “A person may not require, encourage, or coerce a student to engage in or refrain from such prayer or meditation during any school activity.” (Also fine.)
Now look at what Spiller wants to do.
His bill calls for a small change in that law. See if you can spot it:
Spiller’s bill would change the law so that school employees could “encourage” students to pray or meditate during assemblies, athletic events, or any other gathering. That’s far more damaging than the voluntary prayer and Bible reading time because this could occur during instructional hours and at school events with a captive audience of children.
(Technically, the way that’s worded, that also means teachers and administrators could encourage students to refrain from praying. That’s an amusing, if unintended, possibility.)
Chris Line, an attorney with the Freedom From Religion Foundation, told me this bill was unnecessary but that attempt to remove “encourage” was truly problematic:
Students are already free to pray or meditate privately on their own time, but it is wholly inappropriate for government employees—teachers and administrators—to actively encourage religious practices in an official capacity as this proposed change would allow.
It's clear that it's intended to muddy the waters and allow school staff members to claim that their attempts to coerce or pressure students into participating in prayer are simply "encouragements."
There’s virtually no mention of that proposed change, by the way, in media coverage of this bill.
That said, the Houston Chronicle’s Eric Killelea and Faith Bugenhagen quoted State Rep. James Talerico, who’s used his platform to push back against Christian Nationalist legislation proposed by his colleagues:
State Rep. James Talarico, a Presbyterian Democrat in Austin who taught public school before studying to become a pastor, has expressed concerns over the increasing number of legislative bills seeking to mix church and state. "I think if Jesus read some of these bills, he would remind us to treat Jewish students, Muslim students, Buddhist students, Hindu students, atheist students as ourselves," Talarico said. "And that's not what this legislation does."
As we’ve learned from the Republican Party, though, following Jesus isn’t the goal. The goal is using Christianity to crush opposition to their cruel and thoughtless agenda. It’s why so many Republicans couldn’t handle a Christian bishop telling Donald Trump and JD Vance to use their power to help the oppressed.
I am beyond sick of the right wing Christians who can never stop trying to force their way into the public schools paid for with everyone's tax dollars. They personify the, "It's okay if we do it" mentality. They would go out of their tiny little minds should any other faith attempt to do what they're doing. There is no shortage of churches in this country. Religious broadcasters and Christian bookstores abound. That the religious right keeps trying to force their way into the public schools speaks directly to how badly the churches have failed at getting their message across. They want a captive audience who has not reached the age of reason.
They have spaces for praying and reading the Bible. They’re called “home” and “church” - school is for learning.