Do You Want Christian Nationalism in Public Schools?

If Yes, then School Vouchers and Pull-out Religious Programs are the Answer 

In the seventy years since Brown v. Board of Education desegregated public schools, there have been intense efforts made to privatize public education. One strategy has been to provide private school vouchers to offer families a “choice” of school. However, it is well documented nationwide that: 

1. School vouchers have a negative impact on public schools, 

2. Public schools are academically succeeding, not failing as some allege

3. There is an advantage provided to businesses when public school students transfer to private schools, and 

4. Private school vouchers are unpopular among Americans. 

What has not been well documented, but is nevertheless true, is how the Christian Nationalist movement is jeopardizing public education.

Of course “Christian Nationalism” is not actually Christian–instead it is a “political ideology that seeks to merge Christian and American identities, distorting both the Christian faith and America’s constitutional democracy.” Although Christian nationalism uses symbols of Christianity like the bible and the cross, in truth, its values typically overlap with white supremacy. In fact, the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State refer to it as a “noxious, ahistorical view that stands in opposition to religious freedom and the separation of church and state.”

TPUSA pin handed out at the taxpayer-funded Rededicate 250 National Prayer Jubilee that some have termed a Christian Nationalist Event (credit: Laura Jedeed)

Christian Nationalist Goal: Systematic Takeover of Public Education

For decades, a subgroup of the religious right has led a “systematic movement to take over American education.” That movement is nondenominational (avoids traditional denominational affiliations) and is aimed largely at integrating extreme fundamentalist Christian views into public schools while they attack policies and programs that they consider immoral. 

A central tenet of that movement is that the United States was founded as a Christian nation, despite all evidence to the contrary. Toward that end, members of this far right, fundamentalist movement are working to integrate extreme, fundamentalist Christian views into public education and at all levels of public life. The danger to public school systems from the rise of Christian Nationalism goes beyond blurring the separation of church and state. Those in the movement claim it will improve morality for children but the Supreme Court disagreed. Abington School District v. Schempp found that Bible reading or prayer as a part of public school curriculum is unconstitutional. 

Pressure from the Christian Nationalist movement has been so strong that warnings about the growth of the movement have been given. In 2023, the national media warned that a well funded coalition of far-right groups wanted to put the Bible ahead of the Constitution. Some religious groups have warned that this Christian Nationalist movement is destructive, is gaining strength, and is being adopted by Trump’s political party which has courted extremist and fundamentalist views. Both the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and Christians Against Christian Nationalism outlined the dangers to public education. Also, Congress was so alarmed they developed a task force to stop the “far-right government takeover”. 

It has become apparent that instead of ensuring religious freedom for all Americans, the plan is for extreme Christian Nationalist views to be imposed on all citizens of the United States. This is in opposition to the First Amendment of the Constitution which clearly bars laws “respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” However, it also defies the intentions of the Founding Fathers, which included what Thomas Jefferson defined as a “wall of separation between Church and State.” 

Project 2025: The Christian Nationalist Blue Print

The Forward of Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, the Conservative Promise provides a summary of the Christian Nationalism plan for the Trump administration, and explains the rationale of leaders of that movement. In response, the Charles Kettering Foundation has outlined the disturbingly accurate blueprint for the Christian Nationalist regime change currently underway in our country. 

Significant portions of Project 2025’s anti-public education agenda have already been accomplished, which means that the warnings about the Project 2025 agenda for public education should have been taken seriously. The President is following the plan as he works to close the U.S Department of Education (ED) even though that authority officially lies with Congress, not the presidency. Trump has successfully exceeded his authority in the ED by laying off half of the employees, outsourcing most of the ED responsibilities to other agencies, and radically changing the goals and priorities of the department. Also, Trump has been trying to cut funding to the department. He was unsuccessful for FY 2026 but now he is trying to cut the ED budget for 2027. 

In the future envisioned by Project 2025 authors, public schools won’t be welcoming places where all kids can learn, think for themselves, and succeed. There won’t be a Department of Education to ensure everyone has access to a quality education and that students who are LGBTQ+, Black or Brown, or have disabilities are protected, much less educated. 

Vilifying Public Education as a Strategy

One tactic that has been used to further the extreme right agenda is smear campaigns against public schools so parents will desire a different type of school. Despite abundant evidence that public schools have many advantages over private schools, there is an entire array of think tanks devoted to anti-public school campaigns. 

Recently the far right and the Republican party have begun to demonize public schools using false and often outrageous claims. In one of his first executive orders in his second term, President Trump alleged that public schools imprint “anti-American, subversive, harmful, and false ideologies on our Nation’s children”. Also he made inflammatory and baseless claims that public schools allow children to get sex change operations during the school day. Other examples of false and outrageous claims include that public school employees helped arrange abortions for students (see Vanessa Hall's current blog), and hit pieces that use misinformation to disparage public school systems and accuse administrations of mismanagement, Unfortunately, these false conspiracy theories are believed by many and are circulated widely, which endangers school staff and administrators. 

Federally Funded Private School Vouchers

One of the goals of the extreme, fundamentalist Christian right is to have the federal government pay for students to receive religious training in private religious schools under the guise of “school choice”. This is at least part of the rationale behind the passage of the Federal Tax Credit Scholarship Program that was established under Public Law 119-21. That federal scholarship program promises families a “choice” of schools for their children but makes it more difficult to fund public education.

The cost to public school systems is not yet fully determined but the use of school vouchers and reduced federal funding to public education will starve public schools that are already lacking adequate funding. In fact, allowing vouchers has already contributed to closures of some public schools, and the loss of schools as community hubs can be detrimental beyond the families who attend public schools. Also, because private schools are exempt from anti-discrimination laws, the loss of funding and civil rights protections that are required of public institutions will impact the most vulnerable of our children and families. 

This tax credit private scholarship program provides generous tax credits and an advantage to the private school industry, but private schools are not held to the standards and accountability that are required of public schools. Also, indications are that the academic advantage of private schools is being oversold. Because most private schools are religiously affiliated, (78% of students in private schools are in religiously affiliated schools), it is clear that encouraging the transfer of students from public to private schools supports the Project 2025 agenda by luring students to schools that will teach fundamentalist Christian ideology. 

Pull-out Programs for Religious Instruction 

A second strategy is Released Time Religious Instruction (RTRI), where public school students are released during the school day to attend religious classes or services. LifeWise Academy is a nationwide program that provides Bible classes to public school students during the school day using “release time.” Details about the program and the problems associated with this pull-out program are provided in this video. 

Often students who are not enrolled in the program feel left out and have unstructured time at their public school while their classmates attend the pull-out program. This is not conducive to academic achievement for those in the program or for those left behind, and in some cases substantial loss of core instructional time occurs. 

There is strong pressure exerted on children in LifeWise programs to recruit other students into the religious pull-out program. For elementary school students they are enticed to join with candy, toys, and pizza parties. Older children are lured with the opportunity to miss class time. The number of new LifeWise programs based in public schools continues to grow each year and Virginia shows a disturbing number of public school systems that have already initiated LifeWise programs. 

Ohio citizens organized after they realized that LifeWise Academy programming introduced indoctrination, divisiveness, disruption, and undue influence in Ohio public schools

The Secular Education Association (SEA) “stands firmly against programs like LifeWise, advocating to preserve the constitutional separation of religion and public education nationwide.” The SEA monitors the status of participation by school systems across the country and posts information at this link.

LifeWise Academy claims to be “non-denominational, character-based bible education” but the organization is using an extreme religious curriculum based on the “The Gospel Project” – a Bible study program produced by LifeWay Christian Resources, the publishing house for the Southern Baptist Convention.” 

Readers may not be aware that some Christian Nationalist educational programming hides behind the "non-denominational" label which often is misunderstood to mean inclusive. In this case it means the movement is autonomous, fundamentalist, and evangelical. In the case of LifeWise Academy, many have criticized its relationship with Christian Nationalism. For example, according to Bruce Gerencser of Ney, Ohio in a Letter to the editor of the Defiance Crescent-News:

“Sadly, school boards seem all too willing to bulldoze the wall between church and state, reintroducing sectarian Christianity into our schools. Take LifeWise Academy. LifeWise, an Ohio-based Evangelical ministry, is a Trojan horse that has been rolled through the front doors of numerous local schools with no push back from school administrators or the media. LifeWise’s objective is indoctrination, not truth.”

What can You Do?

Readers may wonder what can be done about the rightward push by the federal government toward incorporating Christian Nationalism into the curricula of our public schools. There are two fronts where people can resist and create change. 

1. Federal Tax Credit Scholarship Program: It is up to the governor of each state to decide if their state will opt into the program, which will start in January 2027. Former Governor Youngkin opted Virginia into the program as one of his last actions as Governor. 4 Public Education is appealing Youngkin’s decision to the Spanberger administration. Public school advocates in Virginia should watch for updates on this issue and respond to calls to action that will be published in the 4 Public Education newsletters. 

2. RTRI Programs like LifeWise: Public school advocates should become educated about the problems with these pull-out programs and monitor their school systems for plans to participate. Details on school systems in Virginia that are participating in LifeWise are available at this link and details for other parts of the United States can be found at this link.