Latest news with #SusanDuBose
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Religious instruction bill fails House committee; Senate version filed
Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, reading legislation in the House Education Policy Committee on April 2, 2025, in the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Alabama. HB 342, sponsored by DuBose, which would require local school boards to adopt a policy for religious instruction, failed the committee on a 4-9 vote. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) A bill that would require local school boards to adopt policies on extending academic credit for 'religious instruction' outside the classroom failed an Alabama House committee on Wednesday. The House Education Policy Committee rejected HB 342, sponsored by Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, on a 4-9 vote despite significant amendments to the bill that gave local school boards more flexibility with the policy. Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, the chair of the committee, said she supported the amendments but said the pushback from both sides was stronger than she expected. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'I had every superintendent around me actually reach out and ask not to,' Collins said in an interview about her vote. 'There was just a lot of passion. The amount of people pushing both ways was extreme, more so than I thought, and that makes me hesitant.' State law currently allows boards of education to extend that credit, but does not mandate released time religious instruction (RTRI), the subject of DuBose's bill, in which students can take time out of the school day for religious instruction. The ministry teaches students about the Christian Standard Bible 'with a focus on head, heart and hands,' according to its website. In a sample curriculum, it alters the language and organization of Bible lessons so that children can understand it easily. Rep. Alan Baker, R-Brewton, also voted against the bill, saying schools can already create religious release time policies. The Legislature passed a law allowing school boards to create a policy in 2019. 'I think the local authorities need to make that decision,' Baker said in an interview. 'If they want that there in their system, then they can handle it.' Collins said she wanted to see more results of the current law. 'My thought is, we passed it several years ago as a 'may.' I would like to see how that works a little bit longer,' she said. Rep. Tashina Morris, D-Montgomery, said the program would take away needed instructional time. 'The school hours haven't changed, but we keep sticking things into the class time,' she said. DuBose said the bill may come back next year, but start in the Senate. 'People had a difference of opinion. And that happens all the time,' DuBose said in an interview. 'I don't think anything went wrong.' SB 278, sponsored by Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, is identical to DuBose's bill with the amendments. It was filed Tuesday and is in the Senate Education Policy Committee. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Religious instruction bill changes significantly in Alabama House committee
Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, speaks to the House Education Policy Committee while holding a binder that reads "Religious Release Act" on March 19, 2025, at the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Alabama. The legislation changed significantly with two amendments in the committee. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) A bill intended to force local school boards to give academic credit for religious instruction went through significant changes on Wednesday. As filed, HB 342, sponsored by Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, required local school boards to give elective credit to students to attend 'religious instruction' outside the classroom. But DuBose amended the bill to say local school boards 'may' give elective credit. Another amendment allowed local school boards to develop individual policies for religious instruction credit instead of having a single statewide one. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'I think that makes the bill a stronger bill and will be something that can be implemented easily in our districts and support our parents,' DuBose told the House Education Policy Committee on Wednesday. State law currently allows boards of education to extend that credit but does not mandate released time religious instruction (RTRI), the subject of DuBose's bill. LifeWise Ministries is one nonprofit that does RTRI. The ministry teaches students about the Christian Standard Bible 'with a focus on head, heart and hands,' according to its website. In a sample curriculum, it alters the language and organization of Bible lessons so that children can understand it easily. The legislation only applies to religious instruction, not philosophical like Satanism or atheism, DuBose said. 'This group and other secular groups are philosophical groups: the atheists, those are philosophical groups, not religious,' she said. 'They do not qualify for release time under state law.' Rep. Alan Baker, R-Brewton, said students can go to church services outside of school time. 'I think some of these school systems that have chosen not to [adopt a policy], I don't think it's because they dislike religious instruction,' Baker said. 'But they more so value that instructional time and they want that quality time.' DuBose said the legislation provides more access to religious instruction for children that may not have transportation to Wednesday night Bible studies or Sunday services. 'This provides these students with an access to religious education, that their parents approve of, that they may not have access to,' DuBose said. The committee adopted both amendments to the bill unanimously, but did not vote on the legislation as a whole. Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, the committee chair, said they would take it up in a couple weeks. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The danger of mixing law and religion, in two Alabama bills
We reap bitter fruit when lawmakers cross-pollinate religion and law. It's not just a question of elevating one belief over others. The law at its best gives fair treatment to competing interests and keeps them on the same path through the world. When one version of what lies beyond this reality gets into the law, the people clinging to that vision enjoy a privilege over any other need or desire in the broader community. Two bills pending before the Alabama Legislature put particular beliefs on a pedestal. And in the process, they could subject public education and the health of our children to the schemes of zealots. HB 342, sponsored by Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, would force local school boards to give academic credit to students participating in religious instruction programs. And how does HB 342 define religious instruction? It doesn't. Nor did DuBose when Anna Barrett asked her about the bill last week. 'I don't know that I have a more detailed description other than religious instruction,' she said. 'Basically think of Sunday school class. It would be something like that.' What kind of Sunday school class? Unitarian? Methodist? Flying Spaghetti Monster? There's nothing wrong with pursuing these questions in private. Faith deals with the unknown. Our struggles sometimes feel inexplicable. But the law must work with the grubby reality of the world. So laws must be clear in their meanings and mandates. They should be easily understood; easily applied and fair to everyone. That's not going to happen under HB 342. Yes, it requires students to take core classes. But it makes it easy to undermine the point of that instruction. A student staying up late writing a paper explaining the forces that shaped the U.S. Constitution gets credit. But so does a student whose pastor tells her that God Did it. Under HB 342, the state of Alabama must treat these academic outcomes equally. It tells students that the hard work of reading and reasoning matters less than nodding at what the clergy tells you. And yet, that bill seems tame compared with SB 85, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur. The legislation does two terrible things. It extends religious exemptions from vaccines to public colleges and universities. This alone is a bad idea. College and university students live close to one another; spend long hours in work and study and deal with loads of personal, professional and financial stress. It's a perfect environment to breed illness. But the bill goes further. It explicitly states that a college student or the parent or guardian of a K-12 student can claim a religious exemption from vaccines without explaining why. And it prevents a school from determining if that objection is legitimate. So if you think the MMRV vaccine will put mischievous elves in your child's bloodstream, the state will shrug. If you think measles is the better option, and you smile when your kid gets that contagious and potentially deadly disease and spreads it to other children, SB 85 says your viewpoint matters more than the health of other people's kids. A medical exemption from a vaccine is one thing. But religious ones are highly suspect. No major religion expressly forbids people from taking vaccines. Not Judaism. Or Islam. Not the Catholic Church. Or the Methodists. Not the Southern Baptists. Or the Lutherans. In fact, anti-vaxxers often exploit religious exemptions to prevent their children from getting vaccinated, regardless of what their actual beliefs are. A move like this is especially reckless as Alabama's vaccination rates fall into risky territory. Empowering people eager to put your family's health at risk will lead to an uncountable number of preventable tragedies. We're already seeing the dangers of vaccine denial in Texas, where (as of Friday) two people had died in a measles outbreak and hundreds more had been sickened. It didn't have to happen. And that's the part that makes me angry. You have a right to your religious convictions. Or to believe nothing matters. But education and public health must work from reality. They emerge from practices developed through hard experience. Teachers and health care workers train all the time to refine those methods and learn new ones. All to protect and elevate as many people as possible. Your leaders should defend those systems. Instead, they're abandoning their duties and giving charlatans legal perches to sicken us and wreck public education. Religious belief does not trump every other consideration. One person's destructive conviction does not mean we bow our heads in silence as they smash everything around us. That's not religious freedom. That's straight-up nihilism. It trashes professional expertise and puts paranoid fantasy in its place. When we bend the law to accommodate it, the law is no longer rational. It no longer functions. And instead of confronting the world as it is, we find ourselves subject to someone's faith. With no way to reason with them. Brian Lyman is the editor of Alabama Reflector. He has covered Alabama politics since 2006, and worked at the Montgomery Advertiser, the Press-Register and The Anniston Star. His work has won awards from the Associated Press Managing Editors, the Alabama Press Association and Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights. He lives in Auburn with his wife, Julie, and their three children. Alabama Reflector is part of States Newsroom, an independent nonprofit website covering politics and policy in state capitals around the nation. This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: The danger of mixing law and religion, in two Alabama bills | BRIAN LYMAN
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The danger of mixing law and religion, in two Alabama bills
A nurse holds a vial of COVID-19 vaccine and syringe. A bill in the Alabama Legislature would allow parents to declare their children religiously exempt from vaccination without needing to provide a reason or justification. (Getty Images) We reap bitter fruit when lawmakers cross-pollinate religion and law. It's not just a question of elevating one belief over others. The law at its best gives fair treatment to competing interests and keeps them on the same path through the world. When one version of what lies beyond this reality gets into the law, the people clinging to that vision enjoy a privilege over any other need or desire in the broader community. Two bills pending before the Alabama Legislature put particular beliefs on a pedestal. And in the process, they could subject public education and the health of our children to the schemes of zealots. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX HB 342, sponsored by Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, would force local school boards to give academic credit to students participating in religious instruction programs. And how does HB 342 define religious instruction? It doesn't. Nor did DuBose when Anna Barrett asked her about the bill last week. 'I don't know that I have a more detailed description other than religious instruction,' she said. 'Basically think of Sunday school class. It would be something like that.' What kind of Sunday school class? Unitarian? Methodist? Flying Spaghetti Monster? There's nothing wrong with pursuing these questions in private. Faith deals with the unknown. Our struggles sometimes feel inexplicable. But the law must work with the grubby reality of the world. So laws must be clear in their meanings and mandates. They should be easily understood; easily applied and fair to everyone. That's not going to happen under HB 342. Yes, it requires students to take core classes. But it makes it easy to undermine the point of that instruction. A student staying up late writing a paper explaining the forces that shaped the U.S. Constitution gets credit. But so does a student whose pastor tells her that God Did it. Under HB 342, the state of Alabama must treat these academic outcomes equally. It tells students that the hard work of reading and reasoning matters less than nodding at what the clergy tells you. And yet, that bill seems tame compared with SB 85, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur. The legislation does two terrible things. It extends religious exemptions from vaccines to public colleges and universities. This alone is a bad idea. College and university students live close to one another; spend long hours in work and study and deal with loads of personal, professional and financial stress. It's a perfect environment to breed illness. But the bill goes further. It explicitly states that a college student or the parent or guardian of a K-12 student can claim a religious exemption from vaccines without explaining why. And it prevents a school from determining if that objection is legitimate. So if you think the MMRV vaccine will put mischievous elves in your child's bloodstream, the state will shrug. If you think measles is the better option, and you smile when your kid gets that contagious and potentially deadly disease and spreads it to other children, SB 85 says your viewpoint matters more than the health of other people's kids. A medical exemption from a vaccine is one thing. But religious ones are highly suspect. No major religion expressly forbids people from taking vaccines. Not Judaism. Or Islam. Not the Catholic Church. Or the Methodists. Not the Southern Baptists. Or the Lutherans. In fact, anti-vaxxers often exploit religious exemptions to prevent their children from getting vaccinated, regardless of what their actual beliefs are. A move like this is especially reckless as Alabama's vaccination rates fall into risky territory. Empowering people eager to put your family's health at risk will lead to an uncountable number of preventable tragedies. We're already seeing the dangers of vaccine denial in Texas, where (as of Friday) two people had died in a measles outbreak and hundreds more had been sickened. It didn't have to happen. And that's the part that makes me angry. You have a right to your religious convictions. Or believe nothing matters. But education and public health must work from reality. They emerge from practices developed through hard experience. Teachers and health care workers train all the time to refine those methods and learn new ones. All to protect and elevate as many people as possible. Your leaders should defend those systems. Instead, they're abandoning their duties and giving charlatans legal perches to sicken us and wreck public education. Religious belief does not trump every other consideration. One person's destructive conviction does not mean we bow our heads in silence as they smash everything around us. That's not religious freedom. That's straight-up nihilism. It trashes professional expertise and puts paranoid fantasy in its place. When we bend the law to accommodate it, the law is no longer rational. It no longer functions. And instead of confronting the world as it is, we find ourselves subject to someone's faith. With no way to reason with them. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alabama House committee to consider bill requiring academic credit for religious instruction
Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, speaks on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on Feb. 12, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. A religious instruction bill sponosred by DuBose is set for a public hearing in the House Education Policy Committee on Wednesday. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) An Alabama House committee Wednesday is scheduled to consider a bill that would require school boards to give academic credit to students attending 'religious instruction' outside the classroom. State law currently allows boards of education to extend that credit but does not mandate it. HB 342, sponsored by Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, would require local school boards to develop policies extending elective credit for religious instruction, known as released time religious instruction (RTRI), following guidelines from the Alabama State Board of Education. DuBose said in an interview that the bill was an attempt to protect religious freedom. But she said she did not know what would qualify as religious instruction. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'I don't know that I have a more detailed description other than religious instruction,' she said. 'Basically think of Sunday school class. It would be something like that.' Sally Smith, executive director of the Alabama Association of School Boards, said in a phone interview on Monday that the legislation is too broad and lacking definition of religious instruction. 'We don't know,' Smith said. 'There's no definition of what a sponsoring entity could be.' DuBose said Jefferson County Schools have already adopted the policy and it will begin in the fall. Messages seeking comment were sent to the Jefferson County Board of Education seeking comment. Qualifying religious instruction must not use public funds, according to the bill. DuBose said LifeWise Ministries is one nonprofit that does RTRI. In a sample curriculum, LifeWise connects the Christian belief that 'God created all things good' to a list of virtues that the nonprofit describes as 'LifeWise qualities.' In take-home worksheets, students are assigned questions that tie back into the head, heart and hands focus of the curriculum. The curriculum alters the language and organization of Bible lessons so that children can understand it easily. LifeWise operates in 26 states with over 42,000 enrolled students, according to its website. The legislation limits the time away from school to an hour, including transportation. DuBose said ministries often find locations within walking distance to the school. 'Most of the time they transport the students in buses, but occasionally parents could transport them. In some cases, they find a location that's close enough for the kids to walk,' she said. 'So time is of the essence, and they don't want to spend a lot of time toting them around.' The House Education Policy Committee will hold a public hearing on the legislation on Wednesday. DuBose said she expects opposition from the Alabama Association of School Boards and the School Superintendents of Alabama. 'Some of them are worried about the impact it may have, I think, administratively or just coming and going during the school day,' she said. Requests for comment from SSA sent Monday afternoon. Smith said she is worried about the legislation creating an unfair playing field by allowing students to take credit for the religious instruction. 'We just don't think that would be a level playing field,' she said. 'We don't have any authority under the legislation to determine the rigor or whether it merits the same level of credit.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
