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Tomlinson: Christian nationalist trustees begin ideological purge

25 2
14.05.2024

Dr. Natalie Blasingame raises her hand to vote for allowing religious councilors in the school district during the Cy-Fair ISD board meeting.

Cypress-Fairbanks ISD School Board Trustees Scott Henry, from left, and Natalie Blasingame listen to a speaker during a school board meeting in 2022.

Homebuyers and CEOs looking to relocate always ask the same thing: “How are the schools?” Christian nationalist trustees at Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, Texas’ third-largest public school district, just made answering that question awkward and embarrassing.

Six school board members voted to ban teachers from discussing how vaccines saved millions from polio, smallpox and COVID. Teachers may no longer highlight the benefits of living in the nation’s most culturally diverse region. Nor will students learn about the threat posed by climate change, humanity’s biggest challenge today.

Backtrack along the money trail to understand why the board banned instruction from 13 chapters of state-approved textbooks. There, you’ll find evangelicals who see political activism as a form of spiritual warfare against secularists who are Satan’s unwitting accomplices.

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The Cy-Fair ringleader, Natalie Kagan Blasingame, has long rejected the separation of church and state and advocates getting Jesus in the classroom. Her backers go a step further, insisting that the Bible trumps the Constitution.

The conservative Cy-Fair trustees, who voted 6-1........

© Houston Chronicle


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