From displaying the Ten Commandments to demanding that teachers use the Bible in their classrooms, conservatives seem determined to blur the lines between church and state by infusing Christianity into public schools. And with Donald Trump headed back to the White House and a conservative majority in the U.S. Supreme Court, reshaping the country’s education system is looking increasingly feasible.
Late last month, the Texas State Board of Education approved a Bible-based curriculum for public school students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Texas schools will not be forced to use the curriculum, but those that do will be rewarded with extra funding, up to $60 per student.
The material uses the Bible in a variety of lessons, including directly quoting from it, as well as teaching about Creationism — the Christian belief that God created the Earth in one week — and the crucifixion of Jesus.
“[Conservatives] have globbed onto schools as a place to indoctrinate students,” Rachel Laser, the president and CEO of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, a nonprofit organization dedicated to keeping public institutions secular, told HuffPost. “They want to raise the next generation to learn false history, illegitimate science, and to favor Christianity over other faiths and nonreligion.”
Proponents of including the Bible in public classrooms argue that doing so doesn’t violate the Constitution because Christianity is central to understanding the history and founding of the United States.
Public school educators, however, were quick to blast the move.
“Texas American Federation of Teachers believes that not only do these materials violate the separation of church and state and the academic freedom of our classroom, but also the sanctity of the teaching profession,” the teachers union said in a statement. “These prescriptive materials cannot meet all learners in all contexts, and teachers must be empowered to adapt to the needs of their students.”
There are signs that the incoming presidential administration may not be opposed to finding ways to allow Christianity into public schools. Project 2025, the blueprint for a second Trump presidency that was written by conservative organizations, says the Department of Education should be eliminated. It also calls for allowing local taxpayers to foot the bill for parents to send their children to alternative schools, many of them religious — essentially a means of establishing publicly funded religious schools.
Political realities, however, will likely keep eliminating the agency as a fantasy for now. Red states with large rural populations heavily rely on federal funding to keep their public schools afloat, and there often aren’t nearby alternative schools. But Republicans may be able to explore other avenues for forcing Christianity on schoolchildren — notably, by escalating legal challenges to the Supreme Court in hopes of overturning precedent.
In 1962, the high court ruled in Engel v. Vitale that a public school cannot hold prayers, even if the prayer is not tied to a particular religion or is voluntary. But the 6-3 conservative-majority Supreme Court has delivered several key wins for the far-right in recent years, and an issue that could upend the separation of church and state could end up in front of the high court.
“We’re seeing an effort to have this Supreme Court reconsider longstanding precedent on keeping public schools secular,” Laser said. “It’s more emboldened right now than we’ve witnessed in a long time.”
The religious right has some legal organizations, such as the Alliance for Defending Freedom, on their side. The group works with conservative groups and families to champion their cause, file lawsuits, and take the legal disagreement all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. ADF has taken credit for overturning Roe v. Wade, which had protected federal abortion rights.
On the issue of religion in public schools, ADF has petitioned the Supreme Court to hear a case out of Oklahoma, which involves the statewide virtual charter school board approving its first publicly funded Catholic school.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled in June that taxpayer funding for the school was unconstitutional.
“Under Oklahoma law, a charter school is a public school,” the court wrote in its opinion. “As such, a charter school must be nonsectarian.”
ADF argued that “religious entities … and religious parents are being penalized for seeking to exercise their religion.” The group did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court, arguing that the state’s ruling was a violation of religious freedom.
“I’m concerned we’ve sent a troubling message that religious groups are second-class participants in our education system,” Stitt said in a statement after the state’s high court issued its opinion. “Charter schools are incredibly popular in Oklahoma – and all we’re saying is: we can’t choose who gets state dollars based on a private entity’s religious status.”
Conservatives’ fight to introduce religion to public schools only applies to Christianity, however.
Last month, when a “priestess of the goddess” delivered an opening prayer that made references to Medusa, a Greek mythological character, at a city council meeting in Tulsa, Stitt was enraged.
“Satan is trying to establish a foothold, but Oklahoma is going to be a shining city on the hill,” he posted on X, formerly Twitter, alleging that the prayer was Satanic. “Tulsa City Council needs to stand strong against actions like this, and Tulsans need to remember who allowed this at the ballot box.”
Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s superintendent for public instruction, has also pushed Christianity in schools. In June, he mandated that all public schools must begin teaching the Bible, even though he does not have the power to set statewide curricula. Most schools reportedly ignored the mandate, and a group consisting of several legal organizations, teachers, and parents are suing Walters over it.
But still, Walters persisted. Last month, he made a video in which he announced a new office dedicated to religion and patriotism, and in which he prayed for Trump. He demanded that teachers show the video in their classrooms, although he does not have the power to issue such mandates. It’s unclear how the new office will be run but a handful of school districts in the state sent letters home to parents explaining that they would not be showing the video.
In Louisiana, the GOP-led legislature passed a law in June requiring schools to display the Ten Commandments. The state was sued almost immediately, and last month a federal judge ruled that the law was unconstitutional and that school boards do not have to enforce it.
When introducing Louisiana’s Ten Commandments law, its sponsor state Rep. Dodie Horton (R) said she wasn’t concerned with how practitioners of other faiths or nonreligious people would react.
“I’m not concerned with an atheist. I’m not concerned with a Muslim. I’m concerned with our children looking and seeing what God’s law is,” she said.
“This ruling should serve as a reality check for Louisiana lawmakers who want to use public schools to convert children to their preferred brand of Christianity,” Heather Weaver, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Louisiana, said in a statement. “Public schools are not Sunday schools, and today’s decision ensures that our clients’ classrooms will remain spaces where all students, regardless of their faith, feel welcomed.”
The state, however, is appealing the decision.
And the lawsuit seems to be serving as an inspiration to other red states. Republicans in Missouri and Texas have pre-filed bills that would require the display of the Ten Commandments in their respective states’ schools.
