DEFEND ... The Enlightenment,Science and Reason, High Academic Standards in our public schools, and the separation of Church and State!

"By any reasonable standard, the rally organized and led by American Atheists on the steps of the State Capitol of Texas in Austin, TX, on 16 May 2010 CE was a resounding success." -- Ed Buckner

Thanks to all the 300 people who attended this important rally!





The "Texans for Truthful Textbooks" rally is organized to protest the Texas Board of Education's recent decision to inject conservative politics and personal agendas into the state's textbook curriculum by changing the standards in several significant ways. The curriculum standards, originally developed by teachers and scholars, were altered over a period of two board meetings without consulting with the appropriate subject matter experts and represent a blatant attempt at revisionist history.

Read the Proposed Revisions here

Their actions could affect the content of school texts in nearly two-dozen other states as well!

Selected Examples:

Removal of Thomas Jefferson from a World History standard on Enlightenment thinkers who have influenced political revolutions around the world, replacing him with John Calvin, Thomas Aquinas, and William Blackstone.  (1)

Failed to include a discussion of religious rights during a lesson on the First Amendment.

Rejected a proposed requirement that students learn why the nation's founders banned government from promoting one religion over others.  (3)

Changed standards to suggest that the anti-communism "witch hunts" led by Joseph McCarthy were justified.  (4)

Altering standards to present American-style capitalism in a superior light with no balancing critique.  The word "capitalism" was replaced by "free enterprise system" throughout the curriculum.  (5)

Adding a section on the alleged "Conservative Resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s", overstating the historical significance of this movement. (6)

Changing date references from BCE (Before Common Era) to BC (Before Christ). (7)

 

Notes:

(1)  World History Studies (SBOE amendment).  The proposal to delete Thomas Jefferson's contribution to the Enlightenment was made by board member Cynthia Dunbar.

(2) Citizenship section of the United States Government curriculum.

(3) Board member Mavis B. Knight introduced a amendment requiring students  study the reason "the founding fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring the government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion above all others" which was rejected in a party-line vote.  Board member David Bradley was quoted as saying "I reject the notion by the left of a constitutional separation of church and state".

(4) United States History Studies Since 1877 (SBOE amendment).

(5) Found throughout the social studies curriculum.

(6) United States History Studies Since 1877 (SBOE amendment).

(7) World History Studies (SBOE amendment). 

WHEN: Sunday, May 16, 2010 beginning at 11:00 AM.
MORE INFO: Kathleen Johnson (Vice President); Joe Zamecki, (Texas State Director)

(AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a nationwide movement that defends civil rights for Atheists, Freethinkers and other nonbelievers; works for the total separation of church and state; and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.)