New laws and policies across the country are dismantling the idea — celebrated by some, rejected by others — that prayer and proselytization should be kept out of public schools. Increasingly, religion is being injected all over the place.
With the Supreme Court rapidly changing its views on what is and is not permissible, policymakers — particularly in conservative states — are pushing the limits on incorporating religion into the school day. Public school classrooms are required to post the Ten Commandments, Bible verses are being injected into social studies curriculums and some school districts are required to allow students to leave campus midday to participate in Bible study.
“Like a teenager with a new car, states are trying to figure out how far and fast they can go,” said Michael A. Helfand, a law professor at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law and an expert in church-state law.
For decades, the court imposed strict limits, guided by the First Amendment’s prohibition on government establishing religion. In more recent years, the justices have focused on the amendment’s guarantee that Americans can freely exercise their religious beliefs.
The key ruling came in 2022 in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, in which the justices allowed a football coach to pray at midfield after a game, calling it a personal religious observance protected by the right to free expression of one’s beliefs. The ruling has clearly emboldened policymakers and legislators.
Helfand said it’s clear that the Supreme Court is allowing increased mixing of religion and education but “the constraints are loose” and will remain that way unless the court explains clearly what is not allowed.
“People are, in fact, religious,” said Henry Reyenga, co-founder and president of the Christian Leaders Institute and the Christian Leaders Alliance. He said it’s unrealistic to think that “you can keep the spirituality out of people.”
Nonetheless, the shifts are making some people deeply uncomfortable. Much of the religious programming is Christian or has a Christian bent — like in Texas, where a state-approved curriculum infuses reading instruction with religious references. Maricruz Martinez, a second-grade teacher in San Antonio, said a student dropped to his knees and began to pray during one lesson.
“The religion is not bad, but we’re in a public school setting,” said Martinez, who is leaving education, largely because she is dissatisfied with the curriculum. “It’s making it seem like this is what is right and just and important — not what you believe. Not what your parents are telling you at home.”
Here are eight policies that are melding religion with public education.
Bible passages in lessons
In Texas, 365 of the state’s 1,207 school districts and charters have opted to use the reading and language arts portion of Bluebonnet Learning, the state-approved curriculum that includes religious stories and mostly Christian references to religion.
Kindergartners are read the Book of Genesis as part of a lesson about art, and are asked to identify the order in which God created the universe. Third-graders learn that Jesus of Nazareth performed miracles. Fifth graders read “A Psalm of David” as an example of free-verse poetry.
The state’s education agency says Bluebonnet is not intended to promote certain beliefs, but incorporates religious texts when “contextually relevant for historical and literary value.” The curriculum also includes references to Judaism, Islam and other religions, a spokesman noted.
Texas is also considering new social studies standards that would pump more religious content into classrooms, including lessons on figures such as Moses and Abraham. And, a proposed list of required reading features passages from the Bible in nearly every grade.
The Bible is also making its way into Utah classrooms, where students will study it as a “literary and historical” text that influenced America’s founding, starting in the 2028-29 school year.
Ten Commandments on display
Four states — Texas, Alabama, Louisiana and Arkansas — have passed laws mandating display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms, and other states are considering similar laws. Backers say the document is historical as well as religious, but also cast the policy as a way to boost moral values. Opponents say families should be allowed to choose if and when to provide their children with religious instruction.
The Arkansas law was put on hold by a federal district judge. But in April, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, voting 9-8, upheld Texas’s mandate. An appeal to the Supreme Court is expected.
Bible study during school hours
In a rapidly growing number of school districts, students are leaving campus in the middle of the day for Bible study. Eighteen states now require districts to allow release time for religious instruction, according to LifeWise Academy, a nonprofit organization that runs these programs and lobbies for them.
Students typically leave school during lunch, recess or subjects deemed outside of core learning such as art or music. Supporters note the Supreme Court ruled in 1952 that such programs were constitutional and say they are an answer for parents who want religion incorporated into the school day.
“We know that the Bible has a positive impact on students and families, and parents and families are asking for it,” said Joel Penton, founder and CEO of LifeWise, which runs programs in nearly 500 school districts in 34 states.
He said his program is filling a need for religious instruction that private religious schools provide to their families. “This opens the door for public school families to have that opportunity as well.”
But detractors worry that students are missing important material in school and fear that students who don’t participate are made to feel left out or even coerced to participate.
Prayer in school
Texas passed a law last fall allowing school districts to decide whether they want to set aside time for students to pray or read scripture.
Conservatives embraced the measure. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton encouraged school systems to opt in.
“In Texas classrooms, we want the Word of God opened, the Ten Commandments displayed, and prayers lifted up,” Paxton said in a statement after the law took effect in September. “Twisted, radical liberals want to erase Truth, dismantle the solid foundation that America’s success and strength were built upon, and erode the moral fabric of our society.”
Still, out of more than 1,200 school systems in Texas, just 15 districts have voted to offer the devotional period, the Texas Tribune reported. Reasons for opposition include administrative burdens and students’ existing right to pray privately.
Protecting religious beliefs
Families now have more avenues to object when school activities clash with their religious views.
The Supreme Court last summer sided with a group of religious parentsin Maryland who wanted to withdraw their children from lessons that included books with LGBTQ+ characters. The decision sets the stage for families to pull their students out of a broad range of subjects.
In March, Florida launched an email hotline for public school students and staff who believe they’ve been treated unfairly because of their religion.
Public school chaplains
Texas, Florida, Louisiana and Alabama each allow local public school boards to approve chaplains to work or volunteer in schools, where they can offer advice and spiritual counseling to students and staff. Chaplains are supposed to provide support to people of all faiths.
Reyenga, of the Christian Leaders Institute and the Christian Leaders Alliance, said trained chaplains can be a valuable resource for students who need help.
“Untrained volunteer public school chaplains are going to be, I think, the biggest problem in the concept,” Reyenga said. School-based chaplains need to “stay in your lane,” he cautioned. “You’re not a counselor; you’re not a minister or a reverend in the traditional sense. You’re a chaplain.”
Voucher programs
Taxpayers in many states fund religious education at private schools through voucher programs. The Supreme Court ruled that this was constitutionally permissible in 2002. In recent years, the court expanded its rulings to say that states must include religious schools if they allow public money for secular programs.
Twenty-nine states plus D.C. have private school voucher programs of varying types and sizes. Because most private schools are religious, most of the money winds up with religious schools.
Religious charter schools
There’s an ongoing effort to create religious charter schools. Unlike voucher programs, charter schools are public schools entirely funded with tax dollars, albeit with more flexibility in operations.
An effort to create a Catholic charter school in Oklahoma failed last year when the Supreme Court deadlocked 4-4. Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself, probably because of her close ties to a religious liberties clinic that played a prominent role in the case, but might not next time. Already, another effort is underway in Oklahoma — this time from a proposed Jewish charter school.
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