The leader of an Alabama Tea Party contingent told state lawmakers on Tuesday that the “Common Core” educational curriculum system was an attempt to undermine Christianity by normalizing homosexuality, Right Wing Watch reported.

“We don’t want our children to be taught to be anti-Christian, anti-Catholic and anti-American,” Barbour County Tea Party leader Terry Batton said. “We don’t want our children to lose their innocence, beginning in preschool or kindergarten, told that homosexuality is okay and should be experienced at an early age and that same-sex marriages are OK.”

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Batton made his remarks during a state Senate Education Committee hearing called by state Sen. Scott Beason (R) to discuss a proposal allowing individual school systems to bow out of using Common Core standards.

The Associated Press reported that Beason was one of just four committee members present for the hearing ahead of tomorrow’s scheduled vote on the bill. Both educators and business leaders have argued in favor of Common Core, which was developed by the National Governors’ Association.

“Are these standards what are best for students? I feel unequivocally yes,” Suzanne Culbreth, who was named state teacher of the year last year, was quoted as saying. “We have seen gains in test scores and high-level thinking by our students. Are these standards more rigorous and setting a high academic bar? Yes.”

But Batton argued that the standards were actually “against the principles of faith, family and freedom,” and characterized the U.S. as an “unjust” country in the name of promoting social justice.

“Social justice materials typically include far-left proposals such as acceptance of homosexuality, alternate lifestyles, radical feminism, abortion, illegal immigration and the redistribution of wealth,” he said.

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Watch Batton’s remarks, as posted online on Tuesday, below.

[Image: “Two Schoolchildren Sitting At Desk In Class And Absorbedly Looking At Globe” via Shutterstock]