Some state lawmakers want school chaplains as part of a 'rescue mission' for public education
Lawmakers in more than a dozen states have proposed legislation to allow spiritual chaplains in public schools, a move that proponents say will ease a youth mental health crisis, bolster staff retention and offer spiritual care to students who can’t afford or access religious schools.
Conservatives also argue religious foundations will act as a “rescue mission” for what they say are public schools’ declining values, a topic that has galvanized Republican-controlled Legislatures to fight for issues such as parental oversight of curriculum, restrictions on books and instruction on gender identity and state-funded tuition assistance for private and religious schools.
But many chaplains and interfaith organizations oppose the chaplaincy campaign, calling the motivation offensive and describing the dangers of introducing a position of authority to children without clear standards or boundaries.
Anyone taking bets on how long it takes for the Satanic Temple to step in and fuck this up?
Ya, this is a dumb thing and the satanic temple needs to shut it down.
The thing is, they can shut it down simply by participating, and sending over qualified candidates to do the job. Then, all the people who were advocates of hiring these chaplains will all of a sudden start objecting, once they realize some posts won't go to people they pre-approved of.
There aren't really any qualifications to be a chaplain in the schools with some of the laws being passed. So anything that you might consider a qualification makes the person over qualified
“Lawmakers”, huh AP? That’s your take is it? Kind of a “both sides” implication eh.
AP, cut the shit. Stop being republiQan toadies and stand up for truth for once.
As someone who has been forced to have a chaplain around, they are usually great people that are very uplifting. Absolutely no need for the religious part though. Until there is a true non denominational "chaplain" which is really just a counselor with extra privilege, you will alienate people who feel you can be, and do good things without any need for a sky daddy. All I wanted was someone to listen and maybe offer some advice, please don't bring your millennia+ worth of baggage to the conversation.
So what you seem to be saying is that schools should have some kind of staff of full time social workers. People who can give counseling and guidance to students who may be struggling. I wonder what we should call those faculty?
We can be real, the goal is to convert children to be part of the army of christ here. This is all about grooming and indoctrination of minors and undermining separation of church and state. No one promoting it gives a shit about the social value of these chaplains.
Underpaid.
what happened to school guidance counselors? they still exist, right?
They're awful. When a girl doxxed my daughter on Discord and prank called her repeatedly, the counselor made the girls apologize to each other because my daughter dared to get mad at the girl for doing it.
Another counselor made my daughter do some sort of bullshit fake group therapy with girls that were bullying her.
And these religious assholes would be even worse.
This is so sad to hear.
At least where I’m at, they were casualties of budget cuts back in the late 90’s, early 2000’s. Lost school nurses in the 90’s to the same thing.
Damn, even the nurses? Public education is even more of a mess than I thought.
Nah they were part of the budget cuts of the 2000s.
You ever notice that all these headlines say "Lawmakers want" and "Politicians want" and virtually never say "Voters want"?
It's almost like maybe it's an Us vs Them thing?
It also often doesn't say which lawmakers. Not even what party they belong to. And it's usually the same party every time...
Is TST ordaining chaplain’s yet? Because this is how you get TST chaplains.
Fucking 2024 and they are still trying to get weirdos to tell children about their imaginary sky friend. Anything else on the news today? Did some country build a big pyramid out of rocks or another one all excited about this new metal called bronze or another one predicting the future by reading dead animal organs?
Schools: We need more qualified therapists for kids because social media, gun violence, climate change are destroying kids mental health.
Conservatism: We can't solve any problems but how can we turn this thing into an authority position for weirdos and pedophiles?
If they actually cared about student mental health they would hire mental health professionals or improve training and requirements for councilors, if they cared about staff retention they would provide better compensation and benefits for staff.
But they care about neither students nor staff, they just want an excuse to preach in government organizations to further erode the separation of organized religion and public service leading to shit like political cults and theocrats.
I was deprived of a school psychologist. Australia has been giving these religious nutjobs free reign for decades now.
A couple hot takes….
Better a priest than a trigger happy, power tripping moron with a badge.
Sounds like this is just a relabeled guidance counselor position.
Seems like this approach might run into separation of church and state issues as well.
This is going to run into a lot of flak from communities that don’t have common ethics or morality standards with the priest that takes up the position.
Edit: From everyone’s reactions, I think my definition of “priest” may be a bit looser than is common. My definition of priest is any spiritual leader, from the Catholic priests everyone seems to be hating on to Buddhist monks.
And for the record, I would rather trust Hannibal Lecter with the care of my children than leave them alone within potential line of sight of any cop I don’t know personally. Ya’ll distrust Catholics, I distrust police.
The guy with the badge isn't likely to be alone in a room with a child.
Would you leave a child alone in a room with a priest?
The alternative to a pedo shaman is not a lunatic with a gun the alternative is licensed and trained therapists with a background screening and specialist knowledge of children development. You are setting up a false either-or. And frankly I would trust a random person hired at a bus stop over a priest because if they rape a kid they won't have a criminal organization hiding it. Hell I would trust someone who almost never showed up and when they did they spent their entire time on their phone because at least if they do nothing it is still an improvement over doing something wrong.
It doesn't not sound like a relabeled guidance counselor position. It sounds like they are trying to get their dress wearing shamans back in taxpayer funded schools so they can have a harem.
I am proud to be a member of a community that doesn't consider child rape to be an ethical value.