Settlement: California agrees to ditch ‘Aztec chant’ from curriculum

The new curriculum would have had students praying to the Aztec dieties Tezkatlipoka, Quetzalcoatl, Huizilopochtli and Xipe Totec.

[...]

The co-chair of the California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, Tolteka Cuauhtin (left), had said the chants were to “regenerate indigenous spiritual traditions” as Christians had committed “theocide” to “oppress marginalized groups.”

The Thomas More Society filed a lawsuit in September challenging the chants on behalf of Californians for Equal Rights Foundation and three parents. Special Counsel Paul Jonna said “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.”

Jonna added “Any form of prayer and glorification of these bloodthirsty beings in whose name horrible atrocities were performed is repulsive to any reasonably informed observer.” He also noted the California and U.S. constitutions “prohibit prayer in public schools – particularly prayers drafted by public officials.”

Early Saturday morning, Jonna (below, right) posted on his Twitter account that California had agreed to settle the suit, and to pay $100,000 towards legal expenses.