CLT is not religiously or politically affiliated. What differentiates CLT from other standardized tests is that the CLT does not censor reading passages from different viewpoints and includes content on a variety of topics, including philosophy, religion, literature, history, science, and more. The majority of these passages are drawn from classic literature and historical texts that have had a lasting influence on Western culture and society.
Students do not need a prior knowledge of these texts to succeed on the CLT; instead, what is assessed is a student’s ability to read, comprehend, and analyze a text. Students who take the CLT will read atheist as well as religious authors, Karl Marx as well as Adam Smith, Aristotle as well as Mahatma Gandhi. These are the texts that students are likely to encounter throughout high school and college, and by the end of high school, students should be able to read texts that they agree or disagree with and glean information from them.