We reported in March that California was developing a curriculum that included chants and prayers invoking several bloodthirsty Aztec deities (demons, really). This was based upon a report by City Journal’s Christopher Rufo. Rufo described the chants as follows:
"Students first clap and chant to the god Tezkatlipoka—whom the Aztecs traditionally worshipped with human sacrifice and cannibalism—asking him for the power to be 'warriors' for 'social justice.' Next, the students chant to the gods Quetzalcoatl, Huitzilopochtli, and Xipe Totek, seeking 'healing epistemologies' and 'a revolutionary spirit.' Huitzilopochtli, in particular, is the Aztec deity of war and inspired hundreds of thousands of human sacrifices during Aztec rule. Finally, the chant comes to a climax with a request for 'liberation, transformation, and decolonization,' after which students shout 'Panche beh! Panche beh!' in pursuit of ultimate 'critical consciousness."
In a letter to the state superintendent of Public Instruction, Thomas More Society lawyers warned that suit would brought if this curriculum was not changed. There was no response to the letter, so the Thomas More Society filed suit last Friday against the state of California. The complaint can be read in its entirety here.
"The Aztecs regularly performed gruesome and horrific acts for the sole purpose of pacifying and appeasing the very beings that the prayers from the curriculum invoke," explained Paul Jonna, partner at LiMandri & Jonna LLP and Thomas More Society special counsel. "The human sacrifice, cutting out of human hearts, flaying of victims and wearing their skin, are a matter of historical record, along with sacrifices of war prisoners, and other repulsive acts and ceremonies the Aztecs conducted to honor their deities. Any form of prayer and glorification of these bloodthirsty beings in whose name horrible atrocities were performed is repulsive to any reasonably informed observer."
“The curriculum’s unequivocal promotion of five Aztec gods or deities through repetitive chanting and affirmation of their symbolic principles constitutes an unlawful government preference toward a particular religious practice,” added Frank Xu, President of Californians for Equal Rights Foundation. “This public endorsement of the Aztec religion fundamentally erodes equal education rights and irresponsibly glorifies anthropomorphic, male deities whose religious rituals involved gruesome human sacrifice and human dismemberment.”
Lawyers for the Thomas More Society stated:
“Our clients have both a religious and civic objection to the Aztec prayer, and they do not want their children chanting it, being asked or pressured to do so, or risking ostracism if they refuse. Under both the California and United States Constitutions, they have the right to expect all branches of the state government, including the State Board of Education and the Department of Education, to respect this choice. Furthermore, all Californians have the right to expect that tax-supported public schools will not aid or promote this religion.”