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The Utah State Board of Education recently passed Resolution 202601, officially proclaiming that moral and religious people are “the only people capable of sustaining a free nation.” The resolution goes on to say that religion is "necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, and therefore must be encouraged through our schools". The full text of the resolution can be found here: https://schools.utah.gov/board/utah/resources/_resolutions_/BoardResolution202601.pdf

The Utah State Board of Education has taken the trope “You can’t be good without God” and elevated it to official, state-endorsed policy. The message to students is clear: if you are not religious then you lack the moral foundation our country requires and your perspective is detrimental to the common good.

Resolution 202601 is: (1) a violation of the United States Constitution, (2) harmful to students, and (3) demonstrably false.

First, our Constitution requires that government remain neutral on matters of religion. It must not favor religion over non-religion, just as it must not promote one religion over another. Courts at every level, including the Supreme Court, have consistently affirmed this principle. By declaring that non-religious people are not capable of sustaining a free nation and that religion is necessary to good government, the Board has crossed that constitutional line.

Second, very real and tangible harm is done when authority figures impose religion on students in the way that the USBE has done. Many student suicides have occurred as a result of this type of religious pressure, and a great many other students struggle mightily in school because they are battling crippling depression caused by this type of religious pressure.

Third, the claim that morality depends on religion is not supported by history. Atrocities committed in the name of religion are numerous and well documented. An assumption that is common in our society, and which appears to be prominent in the minds of the members of the Utah State Board of Education, is that people who reject religion do so because they lack morals. In fact, the reason many people reject religion is because they have strong morals. They encounter religious teachings that they find ethically troubling and they conclude, “My sense of right and wrong compels me to reject this.”

Public schools must be welcoming to all students, regardless of their religious beliefs or lack of religious belief. Government should unite students, not divide them along religious lines.

By adding our names to this petition, we ask the members of the Utah State Board of Education to rescind Resolution 202601 and refrain from promoting religion in public education going forward.