Public schools aren’t “Christian”

Since the mid-19 th century, American public schools have
become an increasingly important part of the commons —
the cultural and natural resources that are owned
collectively by all members of society. As compulsory
public education spread to all the states by the start of the
20 th century, most Americans came to support their public
schools as essential not only for educating their children
but also as centerpieces of their communities.
Unfortunately, that is changing. When teachers’ unions
and their allies warned during the Obama administration
that right-wingers were trying to destroy public education,
I thought they were overly hysterical. Turns out they were
right. A crazed conservative movement has launched an
all-out assault on public schools.
The latest front was opened earlier this week in Oklahoma,
when an obscure public body approved a religious school
which will be paid for with taxpayer funds. This is a clear
violation of the separation of church and state, but an
ultra-conservative Supreme Court may well allow it to
stand.
The online school is Roman Catholic, which gives it an
added inducement before a rightwing high court: all six
conservatives are Catholic. Perhaps that’s why the
Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board chose
to approve the school, even though Oklahoma is hardly an
overwhelmingly Catholic state. The members of the board
knew their decision was sure to end up in a battle before
the Supreme Court.
For generations, Americans have believed that taxpayer
funds should support only public schools, which would
remain free of religious indoctrination. In 1962, the

Supreme Court struck down teacher-led prayer in public
schools, which is as it should be. Students are free to pray
as they wish, but they cannot be ordered or encouraged to
pray by authority figures. That leaves Christian, Jewish
and Muslim students to pray as they like and agnostics to
ignore prayer.
The growing power of the “Christian” nationalist
movement, though, is changing that. Its members have
taken a bulldozer to the wall separating church and state
as they insist that the Ten Commandments should be
displayed in public spaces and they funnel public money to
religious schools.
I don’t want tax dollars supporting any religion, much less
one that is overtly homophobic and less-overtly
misogynistic. With all due respect to Pope Francis, who
has tried to embody the philosophy of Jesus Christ, the
church is still tied to traditions and teachings that I cannot
stomach. It not only fights abortion, but it also resists
contraception. Women are not allowed in the priesthood.
Conservative enthusiasm for a “Christian” nation, though,
is just one factor in the campaign against public schools.
As it has in so many other parts of the American story,
racism has played a leading role. While Jerry Falwell
became widely known as a leading opponent of
reproductive rights, he was a strident segregationist earlier
in his career.
In response to court-ordered desegregation of public
schools, Falwell started Liberty Christian Academy, which
he described as a “private school for white students.”
When courts later upheld an Internal Revenue Service
ruling taking tax-exempt status away from whites-only

private school, Falwell and his allies were furious. That
ignited the conservative campaign against public schools.
It continued with a fundamentalist home-schooling
movement that eventually demanded its children be
allowed some of the same perquisites given to public
school students, including participation in school sports
teams.
The anti-public schools movement has only gained power
since the Trump administration, unleashing a wave of
“parental rights” activists around the country. They
demand that certain books be banned, certain plays and
musicals be prohibited and discussions of many issues
around race and the LGBTQ community be severely muted
or silenced altogether.
Moreover, he Oklahoma decision is simply one of many
that will divert public funds to private schools. GOP-
dominated legislatures in several states are stepping up
their efforts to secure taxpayer-funded vouchers for
private schools.
Public education has been a mainstay of the democratic
system, a valuable, if uneven, structure that has helped to
lessen class inequality. The conservative movement wants
to destroy that which is best about the country.