Texas Law to Criminalize Certain Bible Beliefs

Very cool! Thanks!

A bill filed in the Texas House and Senate would give new protective rights and privileges to a class of citizens based on race, religion, or nationality.

The bill criminalizes people having “certain perceptions” regarding this protected class of people.

Yes, the bill criminalizes thought.

“The First Amendment prohibits government officials from wielding their power selectively to punish or suppress speech.” – National Rifle Association of America v. Vullo (2024)

The bill criminalizes expressing these perceptions, classifying some forms of expression as “rhetorical acts.”

These rhetorical acts, which is a fancy way of saying speaking, can be directed at anyone in order to meet the criminal threshold.

Examples of beliefs that the government wants to prohibit include various geo-political beliefs, socio-political commentary, factual statements, and views on parts of the Bible.

SB 326 by King and HB 2391 by Capriglione used “copy+paste” to grab the definition of antisemitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's "Working Definition of Antisemitism" and make it Texas law.

A “working definition” means they are changing it constantly, and the proposed bills would attach this definition to the Education Code, and the new law would be applied on top of student code of conduct violations—working in the same way a “hate crime” does, being selectively stacked on top of actual crimes.

“A state may not interfere with private actors’ speech to advance its own vision of ideological balance.” -Moody v. NetChoice, LLC (2024)

The language of the bill was already codified into state law in 2021 as “non-legally binding,” and many people are saying the Senators at a recent committee meeting on this bill were unaware of that fact.

Just a few years later, lawmakers are seeking to make it the law for students.

Specific examples of “certain perceptions” that will be illegal are given:

• Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.

• Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.

Is reading from the Bible and using it to guide your “perceptions” about the events that led to the death of Jesus Christ something the government has the right to regulate?

Doesn’t seem like it.

This is all totally illegal, color-of-law type of activity, and the government telling people what they are and are not allowed to believe about the Bible is gross.

I have a feeling 99% of these bills filed in Austin are copy+paste that nobody actually takes time to read and consider.