HLS 16RS-4216 ORIGINAL
2016 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 139
BY REPRESENTATIVE AMEDEE
EDUCATION: Encourages the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, public
school districts, and public schools to develop guidelines for content standards and
curricula relative to religious issues
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To encourage the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, public school
3 districts, and public schools to develop guidelines for content standards and curricula
4 relative to the protection of religious rights of students, parents, and taxpayers.
5 WHEREAS, religions address and answer ultimate questions or issues regarding the
6cause and nature of life and the universe and how life should be lived ethically and morally
7as individuals, families, and cultures; and
8 WHEREAS, prevailing federal court interpretations of religion under the First
9Amendment of the Constitution of the United States include a multiplicity of theistic,
10pantheistic, and nontheistic belief systems that address such religious issues; and
11 WHEREAS, the concept of religion is often confined to traditional theistic belief
12systems; and
13 WHEREAS, since the publication of the Humanist Manifesto in 1933 and the
14immigration of foreign cultures with a variety of belief systems, many believe that the
15United States has become a pluralistic society that includes nontheistic and pantheistic
16religions, such as Atheism, Secular Humanism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism,
17Hinduism, Wicca, Scientism, New Age religions, and others; and
18 WHEREAS, according to the Pew Research Center, such nontheistic belief systems
19are expanding at a rate of approximately one percent per annum and accounted for
20approximately twenty-five percent of the United States population in 2014; and
Page 1 of 3 HLS 16RS-4216 ORIGINAL
HCR NO. 139
1 WHEREAS, since 1940 the United States Supreme Court has held that the
2Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States
3applies not only to congress but to all state and local governments and agencies, including
4public schools; and
5 WHEREAS, the Establishment Clause has been construed by the United States
6Supreme Court to preclude government endorsement or disparagement of any religion or of
7any particular religious view; and
8 WHEREAS, the Establishment Clause has been used to systematically remove the
9mention of God and the core tenets of traditional theistic religions from public elementary
10and secondary schools without concurrent removal of the religious issues; and
11 WHEREAS, many believe that this systematic exclusion of theistic views has had
12the effect of causing public schools to discriminate in favor of, and to indoctrinate children
13to accept, nontheistic religious views about where we come from, the nature of life, and how
14it should be lived ethically and morally; and
15 WHEREAS, many also believe that the nontheistic views about religious issues are
16incorrectly promoted as "secular" or "not religious" since religion is being limited to theistic
17beliefs; and
18 WHEREAS, there are widespread concerns that curricula which favors nontheistic
19views about religious issues is not neutral as it effectively endorses nontheistic religious
20world views over traditional theistic world views; and
21 WHEREAS, for public education to be truly secular and neutral, it must identify
22issues that are inherently religious and then objectively inform an age appropriate audience
23about those issues so that the goal and effect of the education is religiously neutral.
24 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that in order to instill viewpoint and religious
25neutrality and to protect the religious rights of parents, students, and taxpayers in public
26elementary and secondary education, the Legislature of Louisiana hereby encourages the
27State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and all local public schools and school
28districts to develop guidelines that reflect and accomplish the following objectives:
29 (1) Identify the content of education standards and curricula that address religious
30issues.
Page 2 of 3 HLS 16RS-4216 ORIGINAL
HCR NO. 139
1 (2) Analyze such standards and curricula to determine if they are designed to be
2taught in an objective and age-appropriate manner so that the goal and effect of the teaching
3strives to be religiously neutral.
4 (3) Revise or eliminate such standards and curricula that do not comply with the
5provisions of (2) above.
6 (4) Publish on appropriate websites content that addresses religious issues so that
7public elementary and secondary education is transparent to parents, students, and taxpayers.
8 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
9president of the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the state
10superintendent of education who shall be responsible for disseminating a copy to each public
11school district.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HCR 139 Original 2016 Regular Session Amedee
Encourages the State Bd. of Elementary and Secondary Education, public school districts,
and public schools to develop guidelines for content standards and curricula relative to the
protection of religious rights of students, parents, and state taxpayers.
Page 3 of 3