Some U.S. lawmakers want more Christianity in classrooms. Trump could encourage their projects

WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative U.S. lawmakers are pushing to introduce more Christianity in Public School Classroomstesting the separation of church and state by inserting biblical references into reading lessons and requiring teachers to display the Ten Commandments.

These efforts come as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office. commit to defending the First Amendment right to pray and read the Bible in school, practices which are already permitted as long as they are not government sponsored.

While the federal government is explicitly prohibited By dictating to states what to teach, Trump can indirectly influence what is taught in public schools and his election can embolden state-level activists.

Trump and his Republican colleagues support school choicehoping to expand the practice of using taxpayer-funded vouchers to help parents send their children to religious schools.

But there is a parallel trend to incorporate more Christianity into traditional public schools that serve the overwhelming majority of students, including those of other faiths. And with the help of judges appointed during Trump’s first presidential term, courts have begun to endorse the notion of more religion in the public sphere, including in schools.

“Even though Trump is president-elect, let alone president again, Christian nationalists are emboldened like never before,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Many Americans believe that the founders intended the United States to be a Christian nation. A smaller group, part of a movement widely called Christian nationalismadvocates a fusion of American and Christian identities and believes that the United States has a mandate to build an explicitly Christian society.

Many historians argue otherwise, saying the founders created the United States as an alternative to European monarchies with official state churches and oppression of religious minorities.

Efforts to bring more Christianity into classrooms have occurred in several states.

In Louisiana, Republicans passed a law requiring every public school classroom to display the Ten Commandments, which begin “I am the Lord your God.” You will have no other gods before me. Families filed lawsuits.

In Texas, authorities approved a program in November intertwining language arts with Bible lessons. And in Oklahoma, the state superintendent of education has mandated that lessons integrate the Bible in grades 5 through 12, a requirement of the schools. refused to follow.

Utah State Legislators designated the Ten Commandments as a historical document, in the same category as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, so that teachers can display it in their classrooms. Many other states have passed legislation that would allow them to attend more classrooms. And attorneys general from 17 GOP-led states recently filed a brief supporting Louisiana’s Ten Commandments mandate.

Schools are allowed – and even encouraged – to teach religion and expose students to religious texts. But some say the new measures indoctrinate students instead of educating them.

Critics have also expressed concerns about the proliferation of lesson plans. Some states have allowed teachers to use videos from Prager U, a nonprofit founded by a conservative talk show host, despite criticism that the videos positively highlight the spread of Christianity and include Christian nationalist arguments.

During his first administration, Trump charged the 1776 projecta report that attempted to promote a more patriotic version of American history. He was criticized by historians and scholars who said he attributed many positive turning points in U.S. history to Christianity, without mentioning religion’s role in perpetuating slavery, for example.

The project was developed into a curriculum by the conservative Hillsdale Middle School in Michigan and is now taught in a network of publicly funded charter schools supported by the college. He also has influenced state standards in South Dakota.

Challenges to certain state measures are now navigate your way through the courtswho have become more sympathetic to religious interests thanks to Trump’s judicial appointments.

In 2022, the Supreme Court spoke out in favor of a football coach in Washington State, who was fired for praying with players at midfield after a game, claiming the school district violated his rights to religious expression. The dissenting judges noted that some players felt pressure to join the coach. But the high court said a public school cannot restrict an employee’s religious activity simply because it could be construed as an endorsement of religion, reversing five decades of precedent.

The ruling could open the way for conservatives to introduce more Christianity into public schools, said Derek Black, a law professor at the University of South Carolina.

“Donald Trump-appointed judges have encouraged states” to test the separation of church and state, he said.

Following the football coach’s case, courts are now analyzing the separation of church and state through the lens of history, said Joseph Davis of Becket, an interest law firm public focused on religious freedom that defends Louisiana within its mandate of the Ten Commandments.

The Supreme Court has endorsed the idea that “it’s OK to have religious expression in public spaces,” Davis said, “and that we should kind of expect that… if it represents a large part of our history.

Critics say some moves to introduce more historical references to Christianity in classrooms have gone too far, inserting biblical references for free while erasing the role Christianity played in justifying American atrocities. , such as the genocide of indigenous peoples.

These are some of the criticisms leveled at the new reading program in Texas. Created by the state, districts are not required to use it, but they receive financial incentives to adopt it.

“The authors seem to go out of their way to integrate detailed Bible lessons into the curriculum, even when they are both unnecessary and unwarranted,” wrote religious studies scholar David R. Brockman. in a hardware report. “While religious freedom is vital to American democracy, the program misrepresents its role in the founding of the nation while underestimating the importance of other fundamental freedoms Americans hold dear. »

Texas Values, a conservative think tank that supported the new reading curriculum, said in a statement that the court’s decision to allow more Christianity in schools and allow more taxpayer money to flow to religious institutions was corrective.

The football coach’s case rightly restored protections for religion and free speech in public schools, said Jonathan Saenz, president of Texas Values.

“Voters and legislators are tired of attacks on God and our legacy of being ‘One Nation Under God,’” he said.

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Associated Press writers Sara Cline, Kimberlee Kruesi and Peter Smith contributed.

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