The Founding Fathers believed that, in order for the nation to avoid repeating the devastating religious wars that had laid waste to Europe 150 years earlier, the government must be free from religious conflict. As such, they enshrined religious freedom into the Constitution itself with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
Thomas Jefferson, a key believer of the Establishment Clause, proposed “building a wall of separation between Church and State.” Though he and most of the other founding fathers were Christian, most believed religion was too personal for the government. In recent years, this hard-fought ideal has eroded, leading to religious coercion being woven into the education system.
In 2022, the Supreme Court, in a mockery of precedent, history and the Republic’s enduring ideals, declared that a football coach was allowed to host prayer with all of his players. This decision valued the free exercise of the coach’s religious activity over the discrimination and coercion imposed on his players. How does the Muslim linebacker feel when the entire team, including the coach, all kneel in prayer at the center of the field? Obviously he’d feel pressured into joining. That’s why, in 1962, the Court decided in Engel v. Vitale, that school prayer, no matter the circumstances, was unconstitutional.
Earlier this month, Texas Attorney General and Republican Senatorial primary candidate Ken Paxton began the process to encourage and defend any public school districts engaging in school prayer, through Bible readings or recitations of the Lord’s Prayer. Essentially Paxton is imposing a specific sect and religion on the state population, 73% of which aren’t Evangelical Christians.
Despite two Supreme Court rulings forbidding the Ten Commandments from public schools, Texas, at the beginning of this school year, required them to be posted in every public school classroom. This is a flagrant and disturbing violation of civil liberties and constitutionality. As a multicultural and secular society, America shouldn’t promote one religion above others. One can’t just pick and choose which religions deserve to be supreme. In the event that the state sponsors a religion, it serves as an attack on all other faiths and denominations. For now, it has been struck down by a district court judge, but the case is expected to go to the Supreme Court, where some experts suspect the Texas law will be upheld.
In 2018, the Court dealt constitutionality a major blow. Fifteen states had voucher programs, a system to fund private schools with state funds. The Court decided that if the state funds private schools, it had to fund religious schools as well. For the first time ever, the state was funding private religious education with taxpayer dollars. This opposes the text, traditions and intent of the Constitution. It was a cannonball straight to Jefferson’s wall, rubble strewn across the dirt.
Court precedent is breaking down. After two centuries, the Court had all but eliminated religion from public education, which was initially a given. Court cases like McCollum v. Board of Education paved the way for secular public education. But, that precedent is being eliminated one case at a time.
If we allow this to continue, we allow discrimination, coercion and attacks on faith. We must call on the religious leaders of America, who the Establishment Clause was designed to protect. We must call on school boards as well, because they are necessary to oppose state and nationwide educational orders. School board members and clergymen must come together and lead the fight to preserve religious freedom and maintain Jefferson’s wall.
