Last month in Louisiana, Republican Governor Jeff Landry signed a bill into law that requires the state’s classrooms to feature poster size versions of the Bible’s Ten Commandments. A few weeks later in Oklahoma, Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters issued a mandate that Bibles must be distributed and taught in public classrooms across the state.
Per Newsweek magazine, Louisiana ranks #48 as the “least educated” state in America—with Oklahoma two spaces ahead at the bottom of the barrel at #46! But instead of focusing on how to move up those rankings by providing quality academic instruction for its constituents, conservative leaders in both states continue their right wing crusade to shatter the line separating church and state—one that has existed since the United States Constitution was ratified in 1787.
Being a native Southerner, and one who was raised Baptist (converted to AME), trust when I tell you that I know ALL about the blurred line between church and state where Christianity, specifically, is concerned. As a child who attended Lucy Moten Elementary/FAMU High School on the campus of public Florida A&M University, I participated in “Christmas Plays” with my classmates—and we ALWAYS prayed before band performances, before and after football practices and games, before and after baseball practices and games, and even before and after quiz bowl matches!
Yes, I occasionally wondered how my schoolmates who practiced Islam felt about such Christmas plays and pre-game prayers and yes, the young history enthusiast in me that fully understood the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and how it forbade government establishing one religion in favor of the other wondered how our public school teachers and coaches were able to lead public proclamations of our Christian faith.
But I was a child, thus, I did what I was told and never raised the issue about whether the faith of my forefathers—one that wasn’t shared by ALL of my school and teammates—should be forced upon EVERYONE at the schoolhouse.
What I did not know in my youth, but later learned in law school is that per the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1963 decision in Abbington vs. Schemp,is that public schools may teach the Bible, so long as it is taught in comparison/contrast form to other major world religions! More recently, in 2022 to be exact, the Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision that allowed Joseph Kennedy (below), a high school football coach in Bremerton, Washington, to lead prayer after games so long as it is voluntary and not mandatory.
For those unaware, this past year, I had the privilege of teaching world history and civics at Havana Magnet School, a public school in predominantly Black Gadsden County which is adjacent to my home Leon County. As I began developing lesson plans per Florida’s standards, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the assigned textbook per state mandate had extremely informative units not just about Christianity, but about Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Shintoism—along with segments that featured the polytheistic religious practices in Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome! By year’s end, my students were fully aware that there is nothing new under the sun, and that the world’s major religions ALL borrowed liberally from prior pagan polytheistic practices—and each other—over the span of centuries!
To that end, the State of Florida, at this time, understands the importance of the above mentioned Abbington case precedent to compare and contrast religions as a part of a broad based liberal arts curriculum.
But my concern is that across America, comparing and contrasting religions is no longer the goal among far too many Christian evangelical voters who have no qualms with radically restructuring over 200 years of church/state separation doctrine. Evangelicals, I remind, who are quick to support gimmicks and gestures in the name of Jesus as opposed to a really working within their political spheres to express the unconditional love for the poor, the meek, and the dispsossed (like Jesus did)!
Which is why it is so very important to not just focus on the presidential races and the policy positions within that conservative blueprint called Project 2025, but to pay careful attention to local school board and superintendent races in your areas to ensure that right wing ideologues don’t turn your public classrooms into their personal bully pulpits.
Lest we forget!
Subscribe to Hobbservation Point
“Real Politics in Real Time”
Chuck Hobbs is a freelance journalist who won the 2010 Florida Bar Media Award and has been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.
"Real Politics in Real Time"
Chuck Hobbs is a freelance journalist who won the 2010 Florida Bar Media Award and has been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.
