The Loss of Religious Liberty: How Conservative States are Shifting Education Across the Country

This week, Texas officials are expected to vote on a new elementary school education curriculum infusing Bible teachings into language arts lessons [1]. This new curriculum is only one of many steps states are taking in an effort to incorporate Christian beliefs into schools. States across the country are taking bold moves, toeing the line of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. 

The curriculum in Texas does not completely shift all its lessons to embody Christian values, but it does place an emphasis on them. When teaching the Golden Rule to kindergartners, the proposed curriculum will recognize that it is valued in many religions, but will teach students how the Golden Rule came to be valuable in Christianity, pulling examples from the Bible and Jesus and his Sermon on the Mount [2]. 

Not only does this curriculum place emphasis on Christian values, but it also attempts to cast Christianity as the “good religion”. For example, it tells a story that Abraham Lincoln and his supporters were devout Christians, and their religious beliefs were vital to and supported abolition. Although this may be true, Texas refuses to show students the other side, where other devout Christians also used their religious beliefs to fight for and justify slavery [3]. Christianity is not a “bad” religion but, like all other religions, it has been used throughout history to justify atrocities. Without teaching students this other aspect of Christianity schools risk creating a one-dimensional view of the religion. In doing so, society risks creating a generation of individuals who see the world in black and white. 

This has not been the first step that states have taken throughout the country to reincorporate religion into the public school system. Louisiana House Bill 71 was signed into order by Governor Jeff Landry earlier this year, requiring that the Ten Commandments be posted in Louisiana public school classrooms on large posters by January 2025 [4]. Plaintiffs of different faiths challenged this bill and the U.S. District Court for Middle District Louisiana ruled in Roake v. Brumley (2024) that this was a clear violation of the Establishment Clause [5]. It was then appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court where, on Wednesday, they ruled against a stay for the judge’s order, holding the bill from enaction until an official ruling by the Fifth Circuit [6]. 

Oklahoma is also taking radical stances to incorporate Christianity. Last Thursday, State Superintendent Ryan Walters announced his purchase of 500 Bibles paid for by taxpayer dollars to be placed in classrooms, specifically AP United States Government and Politics classrooms [7]. He also released statements of his plans to purchase 55,000 Bibles for all public school classrooms in the future [8]. In addition, this summer, he and other education officials in the state published a new mandate requiring Bible lessons to be incorporated in schools, which he now currently faces a lawsuit for [9]. 

This push to incorporate Christianity into public schools is not a new fight, but one that has been resparked. Kentucky attempted to also display the Ten Commandments in public schools more than 40 years ago. However, in Stone v. Graham (1970), the Court struck down the bill, stating that it violated the Establishment Clause and served no other educational purpose other than religion by being displayed in schools [10]. Although the case is precedent and applicable in Louisiana, the Court’s ideologies in the past four decades have shifted significantly, leaving cases of religion in schools unpredictable. 

The Roberts Court has strongly displayed their interpretations of the Establishment Clause and schools in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (2022), where they overturned Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) to allow a high school football coach to lead prayers before school-sponsored football games [11]. The Lemon test from Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) outlined three requirements for a law to be constitutional under the Establishment Clause: it must have a secular purpose, its effects must not promote or inhibit any religion, and it must not create excessive religious or government entanglement [12]. While the Court discarded the test that protected the Establishment Clause, they ruled that in the future the First Amendment must be interpreted in “reference to historical practices and understandings,” [13].

The ruling opened the door for conservative states to insert religion into their public schools with the justification that Christianity plays a large role in American history and politics. Not only are Southern states clearly violating the Establishment Clause by incorporating religious teachings into their curriculums and even classroom decor, but they are violating the “historical practices and understandings” behind the clause that they claim to value so much. James Madisons’ 1785 Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments argued a state religion would compel those of different beliefs to conform to “endorsed” ideas, playing a vital role in the ratification of First Amendment religious freedoms three years later [14]. However, his fears are coming true, as now children of all beliefs and backgrounds are forced to conform to Christian ideals in order to fit in and do well in school. 

Posting the Ten Commandments and teaching Bible lessons in public schools is only the first of many moves that conservative politicians are playing to take away religious freedoms. American society must realize and uphold their First Amendment rights to free exercise and protections against established religion, or we risk losing the very foundation of American democracy. 

Sources:

1. Troy Closson, Texas Education Board to Vote on Bible-Infused Lessons in Public Schools, New York Times (Nov. 18, 2024) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/18/us/texas-bible-school-curriculum.html
2. Id. 
3. Id. 
4. H.B. 71, 2024 Reg. Sess. (La. 2024).
5. Roake v. Brumley, 3:24-CV-00517, (M.D. La. 2024)
6. Court extends hold on Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments in classrooms, Associated Press News (Nov. 20, 2024) https://apnews.com/article/louisiana-schools-ten-commandments-cf59c57adfa049111c67a6cda1efb796
7. Molly Young, Ryan Walters says more than 500 Bibles purchased for Oklahoma public schools, The Oklahoman (Nov. 14, 2024) https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/education/2024/11/14/ryan-walters-says-more-than-500-bibles-were-purchased-for-oklahoma-schools/76310395007/
8. Ken Miller, Oklahoma amends request for Bibles that initially appeared to match only version backed by Trump, Associated Press News (Oct. 10 2024) https://apnews.com/article/oklahoma-bible-schools-trump-amend-99bec8ed6b67acd2d836913783c4fe7b
9. Lindsay Kornick, Oklahoma superintendent spars with CNN host over Bibles in schools: Liberals 'don't have to like it', Fox News (Nov. 18, 2024) https://www.foxnews.com/media/oklahoma-superintendent-spars-cnn-host-over-bibles-schools-liberals-dont-have-like-it
10. Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39 (1980)
11. Kennedy v. Bremerton School District 597 U. S. ____ (2022)
12. Lemon v. Kurtzman 403 U.S. 602 (1976)
13. Supra. Kennedy v. Bremerton School District 597 U. S. ____ (2022)
14. James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, [ca. June 20] 1785, Founders Online, National Archives https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-08-02-0163