Religion in Schools Makes a Comeback in Some States, Shunned in Others

In Pennsylvania public schools, employees can wear religious clothing, but the words “In God We Trust” are forbidden on walls, doors, and desks.

Likewise, America’s motto and the Ten Commandments are prohibited on public school property in West Virginia, and teachers in the Mountain State can only respond to questions about how the universe and life came to exist if the answers are scientific theories and not religious.

The Nebraska State Legislature defeated a bill that would have allowed students to take elective courses on religion in classes held outside of school grounds.

Indiana, by contrast, passed a law directing school principals to accommodate periods of off-campus religious instruction.

And in Washington, D.C., there’s pending legislation for a “collective community of faith” curriculum that states Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, and other religions helped shape American history.

Those are just a handful of bills regarding religion in school that states have debated within the past two years. The flurry of legislation for and against religion in education is expected to intensify under President-elect Donald Trump, who has advocated First Amendment rights in schools.

Wins for Religious Expression

The recent election outcome “actually gives religion, in general, a lot more standing in schools,” Greg Kmetz, a Republican representative in the Montana state Legislature, told The Epoch Times. “I feel there’s a momentum swing.”

Kmetz introduced two bills that were signed into law before the 2023–24 academic year. The first protects religious expression for students and teachers. The second allows students to bring the Bible or any other religious books to school for free reading periods or to use for self-selected reading requirements. Neither has been challenged.

He drafted the laws after learning that a high school student privately sought moral guidance from a teacher. Kmetz applauded the teacher for helping a child but also feared that there would be no protection in place if any person or organization accused school employees of violating the separation of church and state provisions.

More recently, the Texas Board of Education last month approved an optional state-wide curriculum that includes using Bible stories for language arts and history lessons. The materials will be available to districts next year.

In Oklahoma, a group of students, parents, and activists filed a lawsuit in the state supreme court attempting to block the state’s plan to spend $3 million on Bibles, which would be incorporated into instruction for grades 5–12.

There is also a legal challenge in Louisiana, where a circuit court has been asked to strike down a new state law that would require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public school classrooms.

Last year, Louisiana legislators also adopted a law requiring the national motto, “In God We Trust,” to be displayed in every publicly funded K-12 and college and university classroom in the state.

Horton is confident that the courts will side with the State of Louisiana in the current lawsuit and any future litigation.

“The Ten Commandments was one of the most significant bodies of work that our country was founded on,” Horton told The Epoch Times. “It doesn’t push a religion, but it states we believe in one God.”

The Utah state Legislature this year passed a law allowing the Ten Commandments and the Magna Carta to be included in public school curricula for history and language arts instruction.

The bill’s sponsor, Michael J. Petersen, a Republican, said the legislation originally proposed posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms, but he amended it in response to a competing bill that called for secular instruction in schools.

“I’ve heard that one or two parents are not happy about it, but I’ve had a ton of people tell me how glad they are that we did this,” Petersen told The Epoch Times.

The Ten Commandments are an important learning tool, he said, because the legal systems of the United States and many other countries are based on its principles.

Petersen, 61, said he attended Utah public schools, where most of his classmates and teachers were also Mormons. He prayed in school every morning in kindergarten through second grade, he said. Beyond that, his only other religious experience in school was an advanced biology class during high school where the teacher presented both the scientific theory of evolution and the Bible’s explanation of creation.

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He says public schools in the Beehive State are mindful of the separation of church and state. They don’t advocate any religious scriptures or sing Christmas songs around the holidays, but they do allow Christmas trees in buildings “as long as there’s no angel on top.”

Petersen expects that his peers in other states will advocate using religion as a learning tool now that the nation’s political climate has shifted. He plans to reintroduce his original bill to display the Ten Commandments.

“Schools are exhausted with the wokeness and the whiplash of these fights and want to get back to some common sense,” he said.

The list of other state laws pertaining to religion in schools that have passed since 2023 includes a Kentucky bill to protect First Amendment rights, allowing public school employees to engage in private religious expression. A bill concerning social studies electives in Missouri allows the teaching of the Bible and other religious books. And in Pennsylvania, as noted above, legislation that prohibited religious garb or insignia on clothing was repealed.

Unsuccessful Bills

Similar bills in other states failed.

In April, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments.

A Ten Commandments bill in Georgia also fell short, along with legislation that would have allowed for staff and students to engage in, voluntarily, “a brief period of quiet reflection during the school day.”

A Kentucky House bill that would have allowed public schools to offer Bible literacy courses in grades 7–12 died in committee.

Three proposed laws in Mississippi—a house bill allowing students to read the Bible in public schools, a senate bill to include the Bible and other religious books in the curricula for literacy and social studies, and a senate bill to display framed copies of the Ten Commandments in every classroom, and to allow for a nondenominational prayer at the start of each school day—didn’t make it to the governor’s desk.

Laws allowing for public school postings of the national motto and the Ten Commandments didn’t make it out of the Texas Legislature in 2023; neither did a trio of bills that would have allowed the Bible and prayer in Lone Star state schools.

In Iowa, legislation allowing for social studies electives that would include religious scriptures was dead on arrival when introduced two years ago.

Its sponsor, Sen. Dennis Guth, a Republican, said his peers lost interest in debating another education bill after they spent countless hours on an education savings account bill that promoted school choice. He introduced the bill after a church pastor publicly read a book called “Jesus and My Gender” in response to a drag queen story hour that took place in a public library.

“I think we have a good chance at it this time around,” Guth told the Epoch Times, noting that he will re-introduce the social studies bill next month. “It engages the kids with something they would want to talk about, and it promotes respect for authority.”

In addition to the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of Kennedy, leaders who advocate Bible references or prayer in schools also cite the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, which made it more difficult to bring to federal courts litigation regarding religious expression in learning institutions.

The law created “a heightened standard of review for government actions that substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion” and made it easier to challenge policies that interfere with the practice of religion.

A Busy Year Ahead

Nonprofit organizations working in public education, whether they advocate for freedom of speech or separation of church and state, expect a busy year ahead.

“The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that the Bible can be used in public schools and studied for its influence on art, culture, literature, and history,” Matt Sharp, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, wrote in an email to The Epoch Times.

“States should be applauded for seeking to provide their students with a comprehensive, well-rounded academic experience. And that includes educating students on the Bible and its undeniable impact on Western civilization and American history.”

Nick Fish, president of American Atheists, said posting the Ten Commandments in school or allowing religion in the curriculum is unconstitutional. He supports the legal challenges in Louisiana and Oklahoma.

“We therefore strongly oppose efforts to impose any particular religious tradition or text into nonsectarian public schools,” Fish wrote in an email to The Epoch Times.

“We absolutely expect to see more of these religiously motivated policies crop up in Legislatures and boardrooms across the country, and our members are ready to push back.”