Speaking to state lawmakers last month, Rocky Malloy argued that putting unlicensed religious chaplains in schools could prevent youth violence, teen suicide and teacher burnout. And he rejected concerns that school chaplains might use their access to recruit kids to Christ.
Chaplains “are not working to convert people to religion,” Malloy, the head of the National School Chaplain Association, told the Senate Committee on Education. “Chaplains have no other agenda other than to be present in relationships, care for individuals and to make sure everybody on campus is seen and heard.”
What Malloy didn’t mention was that, for decades, he has led another group that promotes school chaplains as a tool for evangelism. Malloy is the founder of Mission Generation, which had been open about its desire to proselytize in schools across the world until recently, when its website was changed to redirect to the school chaplain association’s home page.
The bill is part of a wider push by conservative Christians to insert religion into Texas public life — a campaign that’s already led to heated debates before local school boards and the Legislature. This session, Christian lawmakers have called church-state separation “a false doctrine,” pushed to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms and challenged the Texas Constitution’s prohibitions on public financing of religious organizations, a key plank of the “school choice” movement.
As with other legislation, supporters of the chaplains bill claim it would return morality to Texas schools to better address mass shootings, drug use and other societal ills. School chaplains, Malloy and others argue, would also provide much-needed relief for teachers burdened by low pay, limited resources, ballooning class sizes and ever-looming funding cuts.
https://deadstate.org/texas-republicans-approve-bill-to-place-christian-chaplains-in-public-schools/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
"I worry that this bill will lead to Christian nationalists infiltrating our public schools and indoctrinating our students," Talarico told Religion News Service on Tuesday.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/05/12/texas-legislators-pass-bill-allowing-chaplains-to-work-in-public-schools/70212321007/
Chaplains “are not working to convert people to religion,” Malloy, the head of the National School Chaplain Association, told the Senate Committee on Education. “Chaplains have no other agenda other than to be present in relationships, care for individuals and to make sure everybody on campus is seen and heard.”
What Malloy didn’t mention was that, for decades, he has led another group that promotes school chaplains as a tool for evangelism. Malloy is the founder of Mission Generation, which had been open about its desire to proselytize in schools across the world until recently, when its website was changed to redirect to the school chaplain association’s home page.
The bill is part of a wider push by conservative Christians to insert religion into Texas public life — a campaign that’s already led to heated debates before local school boards and the Legislature. This session, Christian lawmakers have called church-state separation “a false doctrine,” pushed to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms and challenged the Texas Constitution’s prohibitions on public financing of religious organizations, a key plank of the “school choice” movement.
As with other legislation, supporters of the chaplains bill claim it would return morality to Texas schools to better address mass shootings, drug use and other societal ills. School chaplains, Malloy and others argue, would also provide much-needed relief for teachers burdened by low pay, limited resources, ballooning class sizes and ever-looming funding cuts.
https://deadstate.org/texas-republicans-approve-bill-to-place-christian-chaplains-in-public-schools/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
"I worry that this bill will lead to Christian nationalists infiltrating our public schools and indoctrinating our students," Talarico told Religion News Service on Tuesday.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/05/12/texas-legislators-pass-bill-allowing-chaplains-to-work-in-public-schools/70212321007/
