Judge Issues Order Against Christianist Indoctrination in Louisiana School

For years, Louisiana has maintained one of the most subversive creationist laws in the country. In lieu of mandating that teachers offer creationism or intelligent design in the public classroom – both of which have been struck down in courts as scientific fact – Louisiana has allowed teachers to augment their lessons with “supplemental material,” circumventing established law and slipping religious tracts into public schools.

LOOK: One Billion Of Your Tax Dollars Funds Anti-Science Religious Education Across The Nation

The state, and GOP Governor Bobby Jindal, has defended this law by noting that it not only doesn’t contradict prior rulings, but that it’s never actually been challenged in court. If the law were so preposterous, officials say, why has no one come forth to point this out in court? Why do parents and children seem so happy with it?

And, to be fair, many do. Creationism has a massive following in Louisiana – a strong majority noted that they prefer to have Christian folklore taught as fact in the classroom. But a court order this month may, finally, stem the tide of un-scientific education in Louisiana’s classrooms.

A federal judge has ruled that officials at Louisiana’s Negreet High School had been indoctrinating students with Christianism, and that they must promptly cease and desist. The ruling came in the form of a “consent decree,” and, per the ACLU’s release, ends the lawsuit filed on behalf of one of the school’s former students, a Buddhist child identified as C.C.

According to C.C. and his family, the school not only subjected students to Christian iconography in school, but even went so far as to implement Christian rhetoric in testing. As The Daily Beast wrote when the lawsuit was initially filed in January:

[I]f you aren’t religious, or if you aren’t a Christian, don’t worry. … Just ask the superintendent of schools in the parish, Sara Ebarb, who has said, “[t]his is the Bible Belt” and who asked the parents of a Buddhist student recently if he “has to be raised Buddhist” or if he could “change” his faith and suggested to them that he should transfer to a school where “there are more Asians.” Religious objectors, Ebarb has said, should simply accept the pervasive of official Christianity in Sabine Parish public schools. Easy-peasy, folks, just convert!

One of the more notable pieces of evidence came on one of C.C.’s tests, in which the teacher asked children to fill in a bizarre, caps-locked quote: ““ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE _______ HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.” (The correct answer is “Lord,” though more exclamation points may earn credit, also.)

As it is, the state is still assessing the fallout from the ruling, which also forces the school board to offer First Amendment training for school staff. But the biggest fallout may come from the precedent the lawsuit has set. Finally, a family has challenged the state’s claims that its “supplemental materials” legislation has brought not further scientific education, but religious indoctrination. While the law remains on the books, the ruling bolsters the opposition’s arguments that Louisiana has helped creationist back its way into the classroom.

Image by Michael 1952 via Flickr

Casey Michel is a graduate student at Columbia University, and former Peace Corps Kazakhstan volunteer. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Slate, and Talking Points Memo, and he has contributed multiple long-form investigations to Minneapolis’s City Pages and the Houston Press. You can follow him on Twitter.