Republicans in South Carolina have proposed legislation that would allow public school teachers to promote religion in the classroom.

With H 3345, Representatives Bill Chumley, Mike Burns, and Stephen Long want to make it legal for teachers to “express a religious viewpoint” or “conduct or participate in any student-led prayer or student-organized prayer groups, religious clubs, or other religious gatherings organized by students.”

The Republicans either don’t know or don’t care about how this bill would get out of hand. Teachers would proselytize to students, post Bible verses in the classroom, argue that Creationism is a legitimate or respectable view to hold — and none of that even gets close to addressing how non-Christian students will have to deal with all this.

There’s a reason teachers and coaches shouldn’t promote religion in school: Students feel pressured to join in, even if they don’t believe any of it. They don’t want to get on an adult’s bad side, so they’re coerced into participating in the rituals. It’s a complete abuse of power.

And there’s no need to look beyond Christianity here. Only Christians would have the audacity to push their religion while on the clock at a public school.

But maybe that’s the best way to defeat this bill if it were to pass. We just need Muslim, atheist, Satanist teachers to start talking about their beliefs during the school day. If parents start to freak out, all calls should just be redirected to the offices of Chumley, Burns, and Long.

The bill was only introduced on Thursday and is currently in the Committee on Education and Public Works. If you live in South Carolina, though, it’s not too early to call or email your representatives and urge them to vote against this bill if it were to get out of committee.

(Image via Shutterstock. Thanks to Brian for the link)



