In theory, the free accessible education that comes from public schools is meant to promote social mobility. In practice, however, school systems can often be corrupt and inefficient, put to use as a tool to benefit the government. America is not an outlier to this trend. 

In the late 18th century, Thomas Jefferson advocated for school lessons to deter violent protests and promote the importance of voting in the aftermath of Shays’ Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion. More recently, in 2020, President Trump created the 1776 Commission in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. The commission was tasked with promoting “patriotic education.” More specifically, Trump aimed to abolish Critical Race Theory (studying racism in American society) and the 1619 Project (the idea that slavery is the foundation of the United States), describing the learning as “toxic propaganda, ideological poison, that, if not removed, will dissolve the civic bonds that tie us together, will destroy our country.” While the ban on this learning was discontinued soon after President Biden took office, its underlying goals of influencing education have not been abandoned by other Republican politicians. 

Now, white Christian nationalists are taking their own shot at manipulating the public education system. Across the American South, conservative politicians are attempting to integrate Protestant Christian ideology into the classroom. In Texas, a Bible-based curriculum for public elementary schools was approved in November of 2024. Over the summer, Oklahoma state superintendent Ryan Walters passed an act requiring public school classrooms to “incorporate the Bible, which includes the Ten Commandments,” into the 5th-12th grade curriculum. Walters also explicitly called for the purchase of 500 Bibles to be placed and used within A.P. U.S. Government classrooms throughout the state. In Louisiana, officials made an attempt to display the 10 commandments within its public school classrooms. And most alarmingly, President Trump stated, “We will support bringing back prayer to our schools” in November of 2024,  disregarding the prior secularization of public school education. 

Isn’t that inherently unconstitutional? The answer is unclear. In June of 1963, the Supreme Court evaluated the Abington School District v. Schempp case, ruling that mandated Bible reading or prayer as a part of public school curriculum is unconstitutional. Therefore, Trump’s pledge should technically be illegal. However, it is up for debate whether or not this ruling is applicable to the introduction of religious themes to other aspects of education, such as the new Texas lesson plans.

A driving factor for the support of new religious curriculums stems from the idea that it provides a moral foundation for children. And the curriculum does contain lessons emphasizing morality. One Kindergarten lesson plan follows the story of The Good Samaritan, a parable that encourages loving all people. More specifically, the lesson explains that the story “was told by a man named Jesus” as a part of a sermon that included the words, “Do unto others as you would have done unto you.” In simpler terms, the Golden Rule: treat others the way you want to be treated. 

But the Golden Rule is something students have been learning for years, free from religious influences. And the Golden Rule does not solely apply to Christianity. Similar sentiments are expressed in nearly all religions, spanning from Judaism (“What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor”) to Taoism (“Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss”). If Christianity must be taught in schools to instill children with a moral compass, then why shouldn’t every other religion? 

Furthermore, the argument that “Christianity promotes morals and therefore should be taught in schools” is not new. It also dates back to Abington School District v. Schempp, when schools defended mandated prayer saying it taught kids right from wrong. The Supreme Court disagreed, and the school district’s Bible reading was declared unconstitutional. The revival of this reasoning does not make it any more valid now. 

However, even if you believe the argument that teaching religion promotes morality, the religion-based curriculums being proposed are not as righteous as they may appear. For example, in the new Christian Texas curriculum entitled “Bluebonnet,” several lessons are extremely problematic. A second-grade lesson on the story of Queen Esther of Persia describes how Haman, a Persian governmental official, casted lots, the equivalent of rolling a die in modern terms, to determine the timeframe in which he would kill the Jews of Persia. The lesson is accompanied by an activity where students play their own games of dice, following Haman’s example: the example of a notoriously evil person. In the words of Sharyn Vane, a speaker who addressed the Texas State Board of Education in protest of the Bluebonnet curriculum, “‘This is shocking, offensive and just plain wrong. Do we ask elementary schoolers to pretend to be Hitler?’” 

Another fourth-grade lesson asks students to specifically note the positive aspects of the Crusades. The Crusades in which European Christians pushed into the Middle East and raided Islamic territory, all for the sake of spreading the Christian faith in a land that did not want it. Glorifying violent and imperialistic events, such as the Crusades, is not only highly insensitive — it also erases the history of the affected peoples. Especially in the United States, a country that prides itself on its diversity, this type of historical revisionism is dangerous. 

Earlier this year, I had the privilege of interviewing Staci Childs, a member of the Texas Board of Education and one of the seven representatives who voted against the new curriculum. When I asked what her initial thoughts on the new curriculum were, she said one of her primary concerns was the lack of diversity in the lessons, particularly in regard to African American history. She noted that although she understands many people do not want to continue reliving horrific events of the past, such as slavery, the removal of these heavy topics “ silences an entire group of people’s experience.” Specifically, she “was concerned that that would happen in the Bluebonnet materials. So more important was my desire to make sure that American history was represented as true as it could be, especially when it came to Black American history.”

Not only are many Christianity-based curricula exclusionary to those of other faiths, but the ones proposed today lack representation for all Americans. But why is this? In my interview with Rob Boston, Editor of Church and State Magazine and Senior Advisor for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, he found it is because the number of Americans who identify as Christians in America today is significantly less than it was even 30 years ago. In the 1990s, 90% of American adults identified as Christians. Now, the number has dropped to 67%.

Boston believes that “there are some politicians and other figures who are alarmed at that.” And because of their fear of a loss in Christian faith in America, Boston furthers that, “We’re seeing a period right now where there is a growing political activity by Christian nationalist organizations. Unfortunately, they have a good deal of political power right now.” And indeed, contrary to the dropping numbers of Christian citizens, 88% of Congress is Christian, and 99% of Republican congresspeople are Christian. Both the Supreme Court and President Donald Trump are also extremely conservative-leaning, and often echo Christian nationalist values. “So these groups that I consider to be religious extremists, they have the wind that they’re back and because of that, they are attempting to change laws and create new policies that favor their particular version of Christianity,” said Boston. 

This is most certainly true. Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana are all feeling the push by conservative politicians to reinstate Christian influences into the classroom. This has profound consequences, especially in schools. Kids are like sponges: they “soak” in everything they learn and are easily conditioned. If schools feed Christian ideas to young children without also providing exposure to other belief systems, it will indoctrinate students into Christian nationalism, the belief that America is a superior country due to its “divine establishment,” and, further, that “true Americans” are Christians. Therefore, this would essentially create a new generation that pushes the Christian nationalist agenda in order to benefit current conservative Christian lawmakers. 

While this has been confined to the South so far, the shift in the American government cannot be ignored, especially when President Trump is making overarching claims about “bringing back prayer to our schools.” In the words of Rob Boston, “It is definitely something that we’re [Americans United] going to be keeping an eye on.”

But this does not mean that the Church will indefinitely be making its way back into public schools across the nation. For as many people who support prayer and Bible-based curriculums, there are also people who are actively working to prevent it. And there are still people out there fighting for a quality, secular, education. 

Staci Childs vows to continue working for equitable education throughout Texas: “My goal is that every student is like, ‘I can do whatever I want to do in this world and that’s because of my education that I feel confident in the statement.’” 

And students have the ability to make change too. Abigael Sidi ’26 believes, “Students have the power to shape their own education. As long as we remember this, we can fight for an education that represents all of us.”

While this has been confined to the South so far, the shift in the American government cannot be ignored, especially when President Trump is making overarching claims about “bringing back prayer to our schools.” In the words of Rob Boston, “It is definitely something that we’re [Americans United] going be keeping an eye on.”