Bill to bring religion into the classroom ran out of time

Arizona House Bill 2713, the Student Religious Liberties Act appears to have failed to make it out of the Legislature before they adjourned. It passed both the House and Senate comfortably, but the bodies adjourned without resolving differences between the two versions.

The bill's key sections state that:

A. A public educational institution shall not discriminate against students or parents on the basis of a religious viewpoint or on the basis of religious expression.

B. If an assignment requires a student's viewpoint to be expressed in coursework, artwork or other written or oral assignments, A public educational institution shall not penalize or reward a student on the basis of religious content or a religious viewpoint. In such an assignment, a student's academic work that expresses a religious viewpoint shall be evaluated based on ordinary academic standards of substance and relevance.

C. Students in public educational institutions may pray or engage in religious activities or religious expression before, during and after the school day in the same manner and to the same extent that students may engage in nonreligious activities or expression.

D. Students in public educational institutions may wear clothing, accessories and jewelry that display religious messages or religious symbols in the same manner and to the same extent that other types of clothing, accessories and jewelry that display messages or symbols are permitted.

There has been no word about whether the sponsors plan on bringing it forward next year. Much of the public debate centered on critic's concerns that hate language on clothing could be targeted toward certain religions or lifestyles. At least one bill supporter encouraged this view by declaring that homosexuality needed to be challenged in this manner. Others questioned what problems a shirt with an admonition such as "kill the infidels!" would create in the classroom.

The section of the bill that was being most closely followed on the national level but which got little attention in Arizona, was the provision that would mandate full academic credit for personal religious views offered as answers to tests and assignments. This is viewed by watchers of the evolution battles as a new tactic to bring creationism into the classroom. Passage of the bill was expected to bring legal challenges.