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‘Soul of Yoga’ at Stake in Texas Regulation Push

…that require yoga teacher training programs to be licensed by the State of Texas. Until the last few years, Texas approached the regulation of yoga as it approached the regulation of religious institutions and organizations: it didn’t. But in January of 2010, The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) informed the program directors of yoga teacher training programs in Houston and Dallas that they may be running career schools as defined by Chapter 132 o…

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Glenn Beck’s Cheap Grace

…way from the hard work of repentance, who tickle our ears with promises of cheap grace, and offer a vision of the cross of Jesus that has nothing to say to the crosses, and lynching trees, of history. But, if we do, we will be settling for the gospel of Caesar, not the good news of Jesus Christ. Perhaps it is time to put down the chalk, stop drawing pyrotechnical conspiracy theories that play into our worst fears and listen, instead, for the diffi…

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New Report: Angels & Aliens in Texas Schools

…des of Hanna-Barbera’s The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible. The number of Bible courses in Texas has gone up since 2007, when Texas passed a law encouraging schools to offer them. Texas is not alone in having such a statute; in recent years, Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Arizona have passed similar laws, and Bible bills are currently making their way through the Wyoming and Arkansas legislatures. While these laws typically urge teac…

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The Same Toxic Christian Right Theology Supports Both the Online Bullying I Experienced and the Cruel Anti-Trans Policy in TX — And it’s Not Remotely Fringe

…n Right and the GOP—an assault that’s advancing to disturbing degrees in a number of Republican-controlled states, even if a court in Texas has stayed the investigation into the Does, for now. Apart from that context, I wouldn’t bother writing a column about an incident of online bullying, something I and every vocal marginalized social media user with any visibility, along with every journalist who covers controversial topics—especially if the jo…

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Art(ful) History in Texas

…the new language.  In addition to the issue of supplemental materials, the Texas Education Agency is now scrambling to complete its end-of-chapter tests, which are based on the new standards. Since the vote, church and state watchdog groups have been contemplating their next step. In the meantime, the Texas American Civil Liberties Union and other civil liberties organizations are urging members to contact publishers asking them to not kowtow to t…

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A Reporter’s Guide to the New Apostolic Reformation

…ir multi-national, multi-racial and multi-ethnic character. That said, the numbers of nations and people that we mention are sourced solely on the claims of the groups themselves. We have no way to independently verify these numbers, so they should be used advisedly. Simply put, the global vision of the NAR is based on their understanding of the Great Commission text of Matthew 28:18-20, with an emphasis on “discipling nations” (28:19). Internatio…

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Texas Woman Opposes Divorce Citing ‘Blood Covenant’; Will Anti-Sharia Law Get in the Way?

…s. However, Shawn’s case may run into another, less obvious legal barrier: Texas’ “anti-sharia” law, which went into effect in 2017. Texas’s H.B. 45 (codified at § 22.0041 and § 22.022 of the Texas Government Code), states that “litigants in actions under the Family Code involving a marriage relationship… are protected against violations of constitutional rights and public policy in the application of foreign law.” The bill doesn’t explicitly refe…

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“Fast for Families” Immigration Reform Effort Enters 20th Day

…bed “active” Mormon, father of three and immigration attorney from Austin, Texas, traveled to stand on the mall.  RD: How did you come to be fasting for immigration reform on the national mall in Washington, D.C.? SA: My concern about immigration reform started when was 14 or 15 years old and had a job picking watermelons on a farm outside of Phoenix, and I was the only person on the crew who wasn’t undocumented. In southern California, Mormon par…

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Court Rules Against Texas Education Employee Forced To Resign Over Forwarded Email

…inability to publicly speak out for or against a potential subject for the Texas curriculum would be construed or perceived as the State’s endorsement of a particular religion.” The full decision can be read here. Steve Schafersman of the Texas Citizens for Science, a bulldog on these issues, disagrees with the court’s decision. The National Center for Science Education’s coverage is here. Meanwhile, fast forward a few years, the Texas Board of Ed…

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Fundamentalist-Led Texas History Standards Get ‘D’ from Conservative Think Tank

…new social studies curriculum, The Thomas Fordham Institute has handed the Texas Board of Education a ‘D’ and a stern lecture.  But the far-right learning Christian fundamentalist board members, who rewrote the curriculum last year to create a version of American history in their own image, can’t honestly dismiss the study as the work of pointy-headed liberal elites. The Fordham Institute is a conservative think tank that advocates for school choi…

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