AUSTIN (KXAN) — Several religious groups gathered at the Texas Capitol Thursday in opposition of a new law created by Senate Bill 763 that passed last year, which allows school districts to hire chaplains as staff members.
The groups also said they were gathering to “celebrate the large number of Texas school districts that chose not to create those problematic school chaplain programs.” They also said such programs violate the religious freedom rights of students and families.
Senate Bill 763 took effect on Sept. 1. The new law required districts to vote on whether or not to create chaplaincy programs by Feb. 29. To mark the deadline, groups including Texas Impact, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, Interfaith Alliance, ADL, and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism gathered at the Capitol and held a press conference.
More than 100 Texas chaplains issued a letter in August urging school board members in the state to keep chaplains out of public schools.
The letter, organized by the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, Interfaith Alliance and Texas Impact, asked school board members to reject the opportunity to recruit government-approved chaplains to public schools to “provide support, services, and programs for students.”
The chaplains who signed the letter last year said the chaplaincy programs are an “affront to the religious freedom rights of students and parents as well as church-state separation, and the programs would take funding away from trained mental health professionals who are better equipped to serve students.”
They also expressed alarm the law doesn’t require chaplains to refrain from proselytizing — or attempting to convert someone from another religion — while at schools.
Democratic state Rep. James Talarico was at the conference. He said the pushback from the districts is a good sign.
“We are protecting our students and protecting our religious liberties, at the local level, across the state of Texas,” Talarico said. “But, we have to acknowledge that this is a growing movement.”
According to the groups, similar policies are being considered by other state legislatures: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma and Utah.