A fight over religion and politics is roiling a Texas school board election. And 'it's gotten ugly.'

Source: NBC News

A fight over religion and politics is roiling a Texas school board election. And 'it's gotten ugly.'

Mike Hixenbaugh and Antonia Hylton
Wed, October 4, 2023 at 5:23 PM EDT·10 min read

GRAPEVINE, Texas — In this suburb 20 miles northwest of Dallas, some religious and political leaders have framed a nonpartisan school board election this week as a spiritual battle between forces of good and evil.

During a Sunday worship service, Robert Morris, a megachurch pastor and spiritual adviser to former President Donald Trump, warned his congregation that Satan was at work in the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District and other area schools, then shared the names of Christian school board candidates who would stand against such demonic forces.

David Barton, a leading promoter of the claim that America was founded as a Christian nation, recently spoke at a local theater, urging followers of Jesus to “go on the offensive” to restore prayer and biblical values in classrooms.

And at a church-based political rally ahead of Saturday’s vote, Rafael Cruz — a pastor and the father of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas — called on believers to reclaim “territory that the devil has stolen from us” by electing “committed Christians.”

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This coordinated and well-funded campaign to exalt God in the halls of the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District, or GCISD, has divided local residents and raised alarm among religious liberty advocates who oppose what they view as a growing embrace of Christian nationalism in America.

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Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/fight-over-religion-politics-roiling-140042254.html