Texas legislators appear to have too much time on their hands. Members of the House of Representatives just passed legislation protecting everyone’s right to say “Merry Christmas.”

That’s right. It’s mid-May, and some Lone Star lawmakers are worried about Christmas and how it might be acknowledged in public schools. They’re so worried, in fact, that they’ve passed a bill guaranteeing the right to say “Merry Christmas” and display certain holiday symbols in schools. Read more

Supporters of private school “choice” – by which they mean their right to choose to pass the bill for private religious education to the taxpayer – believe they are on a roll. To some extent, they’re right.

In March, Indiana’s Supreme Court ruled that the state’s voucher plan doesn’t violate a provision in the Indiana Constitution that bars tax aid to religion. In the wake of that ruling, legislators promptly approved an expansion of the program. Read more

Change comes slowly to some parts of the country. Louisiana is a stark reminder of that.

It’s 2013, and state legislators continue to resist efforts to teach evolution in public schools. There was another showdown on the matter yesterday, with members of the Senate Education Committee voting 3-2 to table a bill that would have repealed creationist legislation in the state. Read more

I graduated from Altoona Area High School in western Pennsylvania in 1980. I recall taking biology in the 10th grade. The teacher didn’t hesitate when it came to evolution.

“All biologists know that it’s a fact,” he said.

The following year I took chemistry. My teacher had a reputation for being tough but fair (although I seem to recall mostly the “tough” part). Again, evolution was taught as a fact. Read more

Thursday is the National Day of Prayer, and if you want to pray, by all means have at it.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: You can pray (or not) as dictated by your very own conscience. You don’t need any branch of the government to tell you what to do when it comes to religion. Read more