Morrow said “absolutely” when asked if she wants to put “Bible classes” in “public schools,” while Robinson previously said “the very moment they fired God from the public school, when they said no more prayer, was the very moment public schooling started to take a nosedive.”
On paper, it seems that GOP gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson and GOP state superintendent nominee Michele Morrow have been trying to outdo one another with offending North Carolinians. Robinson is best known for categorizing people who get an abortion, “even if they are just ‘24 hours pregnant,’ as murderers,” quoting Hitler, and saw his family’s non-profit falsify documents, endanger children, and mislead government agency’s about paying out taxpayer dollars to family members, while Michele Morrow burst onto the national scene when it was reported she called for the public execution of Barack Obama.
But there is one other way these two candidates greatly align: The direction in which they want to take North Carolina’s education system.
Mark Robinson, who has made education the number-one issue of his campaign, previously said he wants to get rid of the state Board of Education, saying, “We need to have one entity, one person, where the buck stops.” This could hand more power over to the state superintendent, which with Morrow in office, would be bad news for North Carolina’s children.
The scariest similarity between Robinson and Morrow is their strong desire to push Christian nationalism in public schools. Morrow has said she wants to bring Bible studies back to public schools and appeared to promote teaching creationism. Robinson, meanwhile, has lamented that “there used to be a time in this country when you couldn’t walk into a school and not see the ten commandments, not see a bible, not see folks praying…The very moment they fired God from the public school, when they said no more prayer, was the very moment public schooling started to take a nosedive. And it’s been headed towards the ground ever since.”
Robinson has gone so far as to suggest that school shootings wouldn’t be happening if schools “were singing ‘Amazing Grace,’ giving God some praises and introducing his word back in that school, his wisdom back into those schools…”
“Mark Robinson and Michele Morrow want to run North Carolina’s education system so they can push Christian nationalism in public schools,” said American Bridge spokesperson Philip Shulman. “The Robinson-Morrow education agenda will drastically set back North Carolina’s children and the state’s future.”
Here’s what else you need to know:
- Morrow advocated for cameras to be placed in school bathrooms.
- Morrow, who homeschooled her children, has called public schools “indoctrination centers” and has shown an affinity for charter schools, saying, in part, “we need a very strong charter school system…”
- Morrow wants to reject federal funding and abolish the Department of Education.
- Morrow attended the January 6th insurrection and called for Trump to suspend the Constitution and activate the military so he could stay in office.
- Morrow said Muslims should not be allowed to hold elected office.
Published: Aug 13, 2024