Texas Republicans Want a Month Dedicated to God

Newsweek

06-05-2025

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Texas Republicans' efforts to devote an entire month toward God's "Promise" are receiving pushback from constitutional advocates endorsing the separation of church and state.
Why It Matters
Multiple states have brought forward religious-based legislation, including the forced display of the Ten Commandments, and using the bureaucratic pulpit to exclaim that "Christ is King."
What To Know
House Concurrent Resolution 59 in Texas would, if passed, designate April as "Promise Month" for a 10-year period beginning with the legislation's adoption year.
The bill, sponsored by Republican State Representative Carrie Isaac, honors God's promises and includes a list mentioning multiple Bible verses, achieving salvation through Jesus Christ, and remarks on the religious history of the United States.
"The Declaration of Independence clearly reveals the fact that America was founded upon biblical principles and Christian values; the Bible had great influence on the founding of our great nation," the resolution reads.
Newsweek reached out to Isaac's office for comment.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), which has been involved in past and current litigation against states like Oklahoma for issues like praying in public schools, said Texas conservatives' efforts to create a decade-long month devoted to Christianity are "effectively endorsing Christianity as the state-sanctioned religion."
File photo of the Texas State Capitol Building in downtown Austin.
File photo of the Texas State Capitol Building in downtown Austin.
Getty Images
"Our opposition comes not from a perspective of anti-religion, but pro-Constitution," Mickey Dollens, regional government affairs manager at FFRF, told Newsweek. "Anytime you have a state, whether it be North Dakota, Montana, or Oklahoma, that have introduced similar resolutions, they are elevating one religion over the others.
"In a way it's making other people second-class citizens. When we're talking to lawmakers, we often have to remind them that they have sworn an oath of office to uphold the U.S. Constitution and their own state's Constitution—and the majority of states have an establishment clause in their state's Constitution. We just ask that lawmakers uphold that that oath of office to respect everyone's freedom of and from religion."
This new legislation comes about two years after a successful Republican-backed bill, House Concurrent Resolution 29, was approved to designate the second-to-last week in April as "Texas Christian Heritage Week" for 10 years ending in 2033.
As previously hinted in the federal policy agenda Project 2025 ahead of the last presidential election, the Trump administration has leaned into making religious preservation more widespread.
In February, President Donald Trump established the White House Faith Office. Last week, he signed an executive order establishing the Religious Liberty Commission "to safeguard and promote America's founding principle of religious freedom."
He also created the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias at the Department of Justice, to end what the White House has described as "the anti-Christian weaponization of government and unlawful targeting of Christians."
Dollens said that FFRF and groups like it are attempting to raise awareness around bills like Texas's due to the symbolism of potentially leading down a path where laws rooted in Christian nationalism become the norm and may cause actual harm or take rights away.
"The beginning of that is laid in the groundwork with these religious proclamations that we're seeing, such as declaring April as 'Promise Month' and quoting biblical scripture in the state of Texas," Dollens said. "It's definitely setting and perpetuating this false narrative that Texas is a Christian state, and that the United States of America is a Christian nation—which it's not."
He added that the conversation regarding the role of Christianity in political discourse and the laws that result from it is in a "new era" far different from when "In God We Trust" was adopted as a national motto in 1956.
States like Oklahoma have been engaged in ongoing litigation against the FFRF, on issues like prayer in public schools and Trump-themed Bibles being used in classrooms.
"If you if you take that phrase, 'In God We Trust,' or in many preambles it recognizes a creator, those are very deistic in nature...Christian nationalism is not a religion but a political ideology that is used by controlling politicians to attain wealth to yield power and control over citizens," he said.
Dollens added: "We will defend people's right to practice, pray and believe in whatever they want as long as they're not hurting other people. But the moment that people in positions of power and authority start to use that legislative power to dictate their interpretations of religion onto all of society is when we have to stand up and fight for that constitutional principle of separation of church and state."
What People Are Saying
President Trump on Truth Social on Easter Sunday 2025: "We are, together, going to make America bigger, better, stronger, wealthier, healthier, and more religious, than it has ever been before!!! DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!"
FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor, in a statement: "These government endorsements of Christianity serve a broader purpose. They normalize the false narrative perpetuated by extremists that Texas is a Christian state. This is then used to justify passing actual laws rooted in Christian nationalism that take away rights, violate religious freedoms, and cause real harm to those who don't conform to certain religious beliefs."
What Happens Next
Isaac's resolution has 47 co-sponsors, including 11 Democrats. It was last heard on May 1 and remains pending in committee.