Texas State Senator Fails History Test While Passing School Prayer Bill

Texas Senate passed Sen. Mayes Middleton's bill but he flunked a history test

After watching a little bit of the Texas Senate debating religion in schools today, I am convinced of two things.

• Texas Senators need serious history reeducation.

• Texas is where separation of church and state goes to die.

Today I learned that separation of church and state is a myth. I also heard the following fractured history from sponsor of Senate Bill 11, Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston). Middleton’s bill would allow school districts to create times for prayer and religious study during the school day. During debate, Middleton was asked by Sen. Sarah Eckhardt (D-Travis Co.) if he had read the debates from the 1787 Constitution Convention. He said he had and recited the Ben Franklin prayer myth. Watch:

Transcript:

Sen. Eckhardt: So have you reviewed any of the debates leading up to the U.S. Constitution and the Establishment Clause?

Sen. Middleton: Actually, there was a very famous one at the Constitutional Convention where things were not going very well. And Ben Franklin said, you know what, we need to begin our day in prayer. This is really not going too well. And then when they did that, things started to go well. So yes, I have reviewed the history.

Sen. Eckhardt: I pray every day, Senator Middleton.

In fact, this is only half right. Ben Franklin did offer a motion for daily prayers during the Convention, but the delegates adjourned for the day without voting on Franklin’s motion. They did not “do that;” in other words, they did not pray as a group that day or any other day as Franklin asked them to. In fact, Franklin later recorded in his journal this quote: “The Convention, except three or four persons, thought Prayers unnecessary.”[1]

Many people who want to merge religion and state misuse and exaggerate Franklin’s call to prayer. They insist the delegates prayed right then or began to pray daily or some such thing when in fact, they resisted the old gentleman’s motion. Back in 2017 and then recently again, I read the notes from each day of the Constitutional Convention. If you want the play-by-play of June 28, 1787 when Franklin made his prayer motion, click here.

It is too bad that Sen. Eckhardt didn’t provide the facts right away. Maybe she didn’t know them either. The Senate passed the prayer bill and then went on to debate a bill which would require Texas schools to post the Ten Commandments in all classrooms. That bill also passed. According to Robert Downen, who was faithfully monitoring the proceedings, Sen. Eckhardt’s amendment to allow the Five Pillars of Islam along with the Decalogue failed. Obviously, these bills are about promoting their version of Christianity over other religions instead of some interest in having religion in general join reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic as the fourth R. The class they want to add to the curriculum is Christian nationalism. Today, they succeeded in that assignment, but they failed their history tests.

[1] Max Farrand, ed., The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1911). Vol. 1.