More on the Bible in Public Schools

Excerpts from the judge's memorandum on the proposed sex education curriculum in the Montgomery County Public Schools.

Beginning with one of the judge's concluding statements about the Plaintiff's first ammendment rights.

In this case, Defendants open up the classroom to the subject of homosexuality, and specifically, the moral rightness of the homosexual lifestyle. However, the Revised Curriculum presents only one view on the subject — that homosexuality is a natural and morally correct lifestyle — to the exclusion of other perspectives. Indeed, the Revised Curriculum advises teachers that the information concerning homosexuality is to be presented to students as facts and that “no additional information, interpretation or examples are to be provided by the teacher.” As such, the Court is deeply concerned that the Revised Curriculum violates Plaintiffs’ free speech rights under the First Amendment, and believes that Plaintiffs’ free speech allegations merit future and further investigation.

With regard to the encroachment of religion in the schools:

The Court is extremely troubled by the willingness of Defendants to venture —or perhaps more correctly bound — into the crossroads of controversy where religion, morality, and homosexuality converge. The Court does not understand why it is necessary, in attempting to achieve the goals of advocating tolerance and providing health-related information, Defendants must offer up their opinion on such controversial topics as whether homosexuality is a sin, whether AIDS is God’s judgment on homosexuals, and whether churches that condemn homosexuality are on theologically solid ground. As such, the Court is highly skeptical that the Revised Curriculum is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling government interest, and finds that Plaintiffs’ Establishment Clause claim certainly merits future and further investigation.

On propagating anti-Baptist sentiment in the name of "tolerance":

The Revised Curriculum notes that “Fundamentalists are more likely to have negative attitudes about gay people than those with other religious views.” The Revised Curriculum also notes that fundamentalists and evangelicals are more likely than other religions to have negative attitudes about gay people. The Revised Curriculum contrasts this view with view of “more tolerant religious backgrounds.”

The Revised Curriculum also paints certain Christian sects, notably Baptists,which are opposed to homosexuality, as unenlightened and Biblically misguided:

Religion has often been misused to justify hatred and oppression. Less than half a century ago, Baptist churches (among others) in this country defended racial segregation on the basis that it was condoned by the Bible. Early Christians were not hostile to homosexuals. Intolerance became the dominant attitude only after the Twelfth Century.

The Revised Curriculum plainly portrays Baptist churches as wrongly expressing the same intolerance attitude towards homosexuals today as they did towards African Americans during segregation. The Revised Curriculum states that this attitude towards homosexuality is based on generalized arguments that most modern day people reject: “Today, many people no longer tolerate generalizations about homosexuality as pathology or sin.”

The Revised Curriculum also implies that the Baptist Church’s position on homosexuality is theologically flawed. The materials state that theologians and Biblical scholars agree that “Jesus said absolutely nothing at all about homosexuality.” The materials also note that many seemingly innocuous activities were deemed abominations by the Bible, such as “wearing clothing made from more than one kind of fiber, and earing [sic] shellfish, like shrimp and lobster,” inviting the reader to draw the conclusion that not all activities that were banned in the Bible are still morally objectionable today. The Court would again note that the strength Defendants’ substantive theological arguments are irrelevant — it is their exclusive nature that the Court finds troubling.

Most disturbingly, the Revised Curriculum juxtaposes this portrait of an intolerant and Biblically misguided Baptist Church against other, preferred Churches, which are more friendly towards the homosexual lifestyle. The Revised Curriculum states:

Fortunately, many within organized religions are beginning to address the homophobia of the church. The Nation Council of Churches of Christ, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Society of Friends (Quakers), and the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches support full civil rights for gay men and lesbians, as they do for everyone else. (emphasis added).