A trustee of the Austin Independent School District (AISD) has said that Austin public schools “can help the church with something as simple as biblical hermeneutics 101,” in order to wean Christians away from traditional interpretations of the Bible on issues like same-sex marriage.
Trustee Jayme Matthias’ remarks came at the end of an hours-long meeting on Oct. 28 on the district’s new sexual education curriculum, which was approved unanimously by the board despite opposition from dozens of Christian speakers at the meeting.
The new curriculum teaches middle schoolers about same-sex attraction, transgenderism, and several other topics that conservative parents found objectionable. Students will be taught to “differentiate between gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation.”
Mathias, who holds a liberal view on these issues and identifies as a progressive Christian, addressed conservative Christians in the audience shortly before the board vote. While adopting a conciliatory tone, he suggested that conservatives should take another look at their Bibles, and that educators could help them in doing so.
“We are in the business of education, how it is that we can help the ecclesia (church) as well with something as simple as biblical hermeneutics 101, with lessons on truth and the nature of absolutes, with perhaps a book study of Daniel Helminiak’s What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality,” Mathias said, speaking from the dais.
Mathias used the Latin word “ecclesia” in place of the English word “church,” perhaps because an earlier speaker already had done so to refer to herself and other Christians in attendance. The book to which he was referring offers a progressive reading of certain Bible texts that concern homosexual acts.
Mathias earlier in his remarks made clear that he believes in the separation of church and state, saying, “Fortunately we’re a public school system so we do enjoy a certain separation of church and state.” However, it appears from his further remarks that he believes that the Bible could still be taught in public schools if it were read as literature or as an historic text, using ‘objective’ literary or historical-critical interpretive methods, rather than religious or theological methods.
While devotional Bible readings are prohibited in U.S. public schools under the U.S. Supreme Court’s Abington v. Schempp decision (1963), the court permitted the study of the Bible as an historical or literary text.
“We noticed the remark and it was strange,” commented Hanoi Avila, the pastor of an Austin area church who attended the Oct. 28 board meeting, and who serves as president of the Consejo de Iglesias Cristianas Independientes (CICI), a collective of Latino churches in the Austin area.
In an interview, Avila noted that while Mathias’ remarks weren’t completely clear, the gist of it seemed to be that Christians were reading their Bibles incorrectly and should be taught how to read them the right way.
“He did insinuate in his remarks to bring in the study of the Bible from a different perspective, a perspective that would support the gay community, that would support inclusion in the school from that Biblical perspective, and that’s kind of the way I took it,” he said.
Honest Austin contacted Mathias more than a week ago on two email addresses asking him to clarify his remarks. He did not respond.
Last year Mathias was cited in a warning letter from the Texas Attorney General’s Office for acting with “impermissible hostility” toward a traditional Christian church, as AISD sought to evict the church from a rental contract because of its stance on same-sex marriage.
Mathias at the time said that the church’s “values did not align with those of the district.” AISD ended its efforts to evict the church after receiving the warning letter.
Hispanic Church Leaders Respond
More than 55% of AISD students are Hispanic, and both Hispanic and non-Hispanic church leaders have actively opposed the new sexual education curriculum, including the leaders of the Catholic Diocese of Austin, CICI, and Bethel Austin, among others.
Joe Vásquez, the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Austin, wrote in a letter to the trustees, “Though I am the leader of the Catholic Church in central Texas, the concerns I want to express today are not of a religious nature. I am not asking the public school district to propose tenets of faith to their students. Rather, my request concerns the common good, which the proposed curriculum threatens.”
Some parts of the curriculum, he added, are “based on unproven and controversial theories. For example, in the lesson summary entitled, ‘Identity,’ the proposed curriculum reflects the promotion of a gender theory – namely, that gender identity is unrelated to one’s bodily sex – which remains an unproven hypothesis.”
The bishop added, “The growing acceptance of this theory has dramatically increased the desire for experimental interventions to address gender dysphoria despite the lack of convincing evidence that such interventions are beneficial. In reality, the overall failure of hormonal and surgical interventions to address gender dysphoria effectively, and the harmful side effects of such interventions (including increased risk of suicide), present strong reasons to view such a theory with suspicion.”
For its part, CICI says it plans to reach Spanish-speaking parents in the district who have not been made aware of the content of the new curriculum. “Our goal is to reach out to parents of 1000 students in the district and we want to perform training, making sure they know the content of the curriculum – we want to educate the parents. That’s something the district is not doing so we’re going to do it through the church,” said Avila.
For now, he added, the church leaders are focused on seeking change within AISD rather than encouraging parents to pull their children out of AISD schools. “I met a Latino family yesterday that were trying to put their kid in private school already. But our goal is not that – the goal primarily is to represent those that cannot afford private education, those that are stuck with the school system.”
The training would equip parents to “file grievances and express their concerns to the School Health Advisory Council and District,” Avila noted.
Mathias himself is a former Roman Catholic priest who left the church. He now leads an ‘independent Catholic’ community in East Austin that dissents from theological tenets of the Catholic Church, including its views on human sexuality.
Avila says that one of CICI’s members complained to him about the fact that Mathias had presented himself as a Catholic priest during his election campaign: “The fact is he was largely elected by the Catholics, because he ran as a Catholic priest. What he didn’t disclose was that he was a not a Catholic priest from the Catholic Church but an actually completely independent church that uses the word Catholic in its name.”
“He is bringing a lot of confusion to the church in Austin, especially the Catholics. Because as you can see in the letter from the Bishop of Austin, neither the bishop nor the Vatican accept the curriculum that has been approved nor accept his theological view on human sexuality.”
“He has been very influential in the church and very active that the church would embrace his view on sexuality. He shouldn’t be using the church to be voted into office, and he shouldn’t be including his religious views into the process in the school system. He was very openly doing so.”
Trustee Mathias’ Full Remarks
Trustee Jayme Mathias full remarks on this topic were as follows:
“Fortunately we’re a public school system and we do enjoy a certain separation of church and state so we don’t teach morals or religion, but we are in the business of education, which is why I’m so glad our friends from the CICI are here.We’d love to continue speaking with y’all after this meeting.”
“We’re in the business of education, how it is that we can help the ecclesia as well with something as simple as biblical hermeneutics 101, with lessons on truth and the nature of absolutes, with perhaps a book study of Daniel Helminiak’s what the Bible really says about homosexuality.
“I think it would be an incredible educational moment for so many in our community to come together, to pray together, and to be able to learn together about matters like that. Maybe we could even write a book together about it. Seriously.”
