February 15, 2007 09:25 PM UTC

Schultheis' Religion in School Bill Dies

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• by: Colorado Pols

Republican Sen. Dave Schultheis, who never met a foot he didn’t like to stick in his craw, lost another battle at the legislature yesterday when his religion in schools bill was killed. As Colorado Confidential reports:

In the end it didn’t matter how earnestly state Sen. Dave Schultheis claimed that his proposed bill, to require a “Religious Bill of Rights” be posted in every Colorado public school and handed out to every high school student – and which would let teachers off the hook from teaching stuff they didn’t want to teach – wasn’t actually anything “new.”

It likewise mattered little how many Founding Fathers Schultheis could quote at one sitting.

His Senate Bill 138, the “Religious Bill of Rights,” was shelved indefinitely on Wednesday in the State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee on a 3-2 party line vote. But not before a multitude of testimonials suggested that public schools are swarming with heathens and are places where religion – in every case specified, Christianity – is under heavy artillery attack.

“Religious liberties are crucial to the future of our country,” Schultheis said, alternately quoting Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, John Adams and Abraham Lincoln. “In order to have morals you have to have virtue, and to have virtue you have to have religion.”

Among other reasons the Religious Bill of Rights is needed, Schultheis said, was to help ward off the ACLU, which he said has been “intimidating” public schools “for years.” As a result, massive Christian law firms have formed and are fighting back – including the Alliance Defense Fund, the Liberty Council and the American Center for Law and Justice. But that, said Schultheis, a Republican from Colorado Springs, isn’t enough.

Click below for the press release from the Senate Republicans…

Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, responded to the Democrat rejection today of Senate Bill 138, which would have ensured that Colorado public schools visibly post and distribute a Religious Bill of Rights each year to students, parents and guardians and all school faculty and employees.

The bill, authored by Schultheis, was expected to establish a Colorado Religious Bill of Rights for all public school systems. It failed today on a 3-2 party-line vote in the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee.

“The Legislature should have more regard for religious liberties in our public school systems,” said Schultheis. “Our schools are trampling on First Amendment issues, and it’s about time, together, we stand up for religious rights.”

SB-138 would also have provided “opt-out” provisions for students or teachers when class content or course materials conflict with an individual’s religious beliefs.

“Our religious liberties bestowed by our Creator are guaranteed to students, faculty and staff, in accordance with the First Amendment of the Constitution,” Schultheis said.

SB-138 would have addressed four additional factors:

-Increasing the tolerance of religious beliefs.
-Prohibiting the teaching of subjects that are contrary to strong religious beliefs.
-Clarifying the misunderstanding of “Separation of Church and State.”
-Addressing the failure of Higher Education to allow religious-rights issues in teacher certification programs.

“This bill counters the growing intimidation students, teachers and workers face when standing up for their religious beliefs within the public-school system,” added Schultheis.