Most of the states patterned their constitutions on the federal one. “Congress” applies to the federal congress.

Nice try. Stay on topic.

His assassin/murderer statement needs citation before I write this site off as horse [expletive deleted].

But since you asked and a simple google search can turn up dozens of sources, here you go.
http://www.holysmoke.org/icr-pri.htm

Assuming atheists make up the lowest feasible amount of 8%, they’re the only underrepresented group.

“Education is useless without the Bible” – Noah Webster [Our Christian Heritage p.5 ]

“The Bible was America’s basic textbook
in all fields.” [Noah Webster. Our Christian Heritage p.5]

“In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed…No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.” – Noah Webster
[Source: 1828, in the preface to his American Dictionary of the English Language]

“What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus Christ.” – George Washington [speech to the Delaware Indian Chiefs May 12, 1779]

“ Let divines and philosophers, statesmen and patriots, unite their endeavors to renovate the age by impressing the minds of men with the importance of educating their little boys and girls, inculcating in the minds of youth the fear and love of the Deity… and leading them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system.” – Sam Adams [October 4, 1790]

In Benjamin Franklin’s 1749 plan of education for public schools in Pennsylvania, he insisted that schools teach “the excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or modern.”

“I lament that we waste so much time and money in punishing crimes and take so little pains to prevent them…we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government; that is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by means of the Bible; for this Divine Book, above all others, constitutes the soul of republicanism.” “By withholding the knowledge of [the Scriptures] from children, we deprive ourselves of the best means of awakening moral sensibility in their minds.” – Benjamin Rush [Letter written (1790’s) in Defense of the Bible in all schools in America]

“Let the children who are sent to those schools be taught to read and write and above all, let both sexes be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education” – Benjamin Rush
[Letters of Benjamin Rush, "To the citizens of Philadelphia: A Plan for Free Schools", March 28, 1787]

Do Atheists believe in prisons?

Seriously, what would be funny would be you supporting your statements with credible sources showing precise statistics on the religious demographics of U.S. prisons.

Good luck with that considering how Michigan, California and a few other states gather statistics on religious preferences.

(Oops… California hasn’t maintained those stats for 15 years or so.)

Funny how only 1% of the US prison population are atheists. Funny how that’s an under-representation of the population of atheists as a whole, while every other religious group correlates almost perfectly with their population outside of prison and that inside of prison. (ie, Catholics represent 35% of the population and 35% of the prison population)

Funny how the most religious states are the most violent and crime filled. While the states with the most atheists are the least violent states in the USA.

“But, at least they have a moral center, of which the Bible provides.”
The bible provides a strong moral grounding? We’re talking about a book which condones the stoning of women, where men can be killed if they’re caught collecting firewood on the sabbath, where mothers are forced to watch as their babies are dashed against the rocks- as commanded by God.

But our morals come from that book? Absolutely not, we have a set of morals that come from outside any book. Perhaps the idea of heaven reinforces our determination not to steal or lie etc, but it’s by no means a “moral center”.
I’ve never heard a preacher teaching why it’s ok to kill women via stoning, and it makes you wonder, if the bible is such a strong moral guide why do we need to pick and choose its lessons?

I don’t have a problem with what Texas is doing. I have a problem with whoever wrote this article.
I also went to a private school, learned about the bible and came out of it fine. However judging by what I know of the USA and Texas, teaching the bible without any religion involved is just going to devolve into a creationist class- teaching kids that the world is 6000 years old, dinosaurs are made by Satan and that evolution is a lie.