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Under President Donald Trump’s administration, we’ve seen Christianity gradually infiltrate the country’s academic curricula in exceedingly blatant ways. Fifteen states have proposed legislation requiring schools to display the Ten Commandments, with Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana passing laws to require it.

These laws are just a way for Christian-based nationalism to get its foot in the door of public education; in Oklahoma, state superintendent Ryan Walters mandated that each classroom “contain a copy of the Bible” and every teacher “teach from it.”

Walters claims he wants to teach the Bible’s “historical impact” and hopes for children to learn “the full and true context of our nation’s founding and of the principles that made and continue to make America great and exceptional.”

Although the claimed purpose is to strengthen “historical accuracy,” it’s apparent that the true intention of these mandates is to push the Christian version of history on impressionable kids and standardize religious values.

This agenda becomes even more frightening when looking at Walters’s proposed partnership with Turning Point USA, a far-right Christian nonprofit.

Following the assassination of far-right political activist Charlie Kirk, Walters announced a statewide partnership with Turning Point on social media.

This is becoming a concerningly common occurrence. The nonprofit claims it already has over “1,000 chapters in high schools across the country,” according to Education Week.

In the days following Kirk’s death, 54,000 institutions inquired about starting chapters of their own, indicative of a great threat to the separation of church and state. Allowing Turning Point – founded by a far-right political podcaster – to teach our children would effectively destroy any semblance of religious freedom we have left.

The Department of Education announced partnerships with many right-wing organizations, such as Prager U, Turning Point and Moms for Liberty, in hopes of “renewing patriotism, strengthening civic knowledge, and advancing a shared understanding of America’s founding principles in schools across the nation.”

Our government sponsoring this pattern of religious indoctrination shows how far we’ve fallen under the Trump administration.

But, the United States government is no stranger when it comes to religious favoritism, with 77% of kids attending private schools with religious affiliation, according to Pew Research.

President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” greatly expands the School Voucher Program, allowing parents who have not previously needed financial aid to siphon even more money from our public schools and put it towards their child’s religious education. It also makes households with 300% of their area’s median income or less eligible, according to NPR.

The program is commonly referred to as “welfare for the rich,” and the Joint Committee on Taxation predicts that Trump’s expansion of the program will divert $26 billion worth of tax revenue to private institutions.

Permitting parents to tap into public funds for their child’s religious education decimates any illusion of the U.S. being a “Secular State.”

Money that could’ve been used for special education or transportation services is instead sent to religious and private schools that don’t have to adhere to the same, if any, regulations that public schools must.

This issue isn’t exclusive to K-12 education either – colleges have also been experiencing the same push for desecularization. Turning Point USA currently has more than 800 chapters established on college campuses across the country.

Higher education should be a place that fosters and encourages religious freedom with equal opportunity for all. Fortunately, many colleges have been left relatively untouched. Syracuse University’s Hendricks Chapel allows for students of many faiths to gather together and celebrate as a group.

We need these pillars of religious freedom if we want to adhere to our Constitution and our label as a “secular state.” Implementing harmful programs such as TPUSA or school vouchers will only lead us toward Christian nationalism.

We can’t turn a blind eye to the already omnipresent looming of one religion, with “In God We Trust” chiseled into every aspect of our nation, from currency to courthouses.

Being complacent in these policies and the interjection of Christianity in our classrooms will allow for the First Amendment to be effectively dismissed, leaving minorities in our country susceptible to religious violence and deepening America’s religious exclusion.

James Reed is a freshman studying political science. He can be reached at jcreed@syr.edu.

Published on October 7, 2025 at 9:22 pm