ICR not out of the woods yet? | NCSE
More bad craziness from Texas as ICR pursues creating a minor in Creationism
Information about the graduate school quietly vanished from the ICR’s website over the summer of 2010, but writing in Creation Ministries International’s Journal of Creation (forthcoming 2010; 24 [3]: 54-55), Chris Ashcraft reported (PDF), “On 25 June 2010 the ICR board of directors voted to close the Grad School.” Replacing it, apparently, is the ICR’s School of Biblical Apologetics, which offers a Master of Christian Education degree; Creation Research is one of four minors. In a frequently asked questions section, the ICR claims that SOBA, as “a predominantly religious education school,” is exempt from the THECB’s authority as well as from any accreditation requirements.
But in a frequently asked questions section of its website, THECB asks, “Are religiously affiliated institutions exempt from state oversight under the First Amendment of the US Constitution?” and answers, “No. The provisions of the Texas Education Code narrowly regulate certain activities that are academic only, and since these provisions do not regulate any religious practice, there is no conflict between the state’s oversight of degree-granting and the First Amendment of the US Constitution.” It also asks, “Does the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act exempt religiously affiliated institutions from state regulation?” and answers, “No, the Attorney General issued an opinion (JC-0200) that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act does not exempt religiously-affiliated institutions from the requirements under the Texas Education Code (Chapter 61, Subchapter G).”