Christian nationalists are gearing up to reshape public education in America

This is an adapted excerpt from the Nov. 24 episode of "Velshi."

There is a crucial story playing out in Oklahoma right now, which has become ground zero in the escalating national battle over the role of religion in public schools.

Earlier this month, Oklahoma Education Superintendent Ryan Walters issued an email directing public school districts to show students a bizarre video of himself praying for President-elect Donald Trump. He also encourages students to join him in that prayer. 

The video was aimed at promoting his newly launched Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism, housed within the state’s Education Department. Walters claims the office will carry out Trump’s educational agenda, including the “Freedom to Pray” initiative.

The directive sparked instant backlash, with at least seven school districts in Oklahoma refusing to comply with the order. Those seven districts have the backing of state Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who is a Republican. A spokesperson for Drummond’s office said, “Not only is this edict unenforceable, it is contrary to parents’ rights, local control and individual free-exercise rights.”

Walters’ move comes at a time when Oklahoma’s education system ranks as the second worst in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2024 review of public education.

His crusade is part of a broader campaign by Christian nationalists to reshape public education in America. It involves a familiar slate of actors, including the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Christian legal nonprofit that led the charge in overturning Roe v. Wade and is actively working to demolish the wall between church and state.

Critics say that their two-pronged strategy, undermining secular public education while paving the way for publicly funded religious schools, is part of a well-funded effort to fuse Christian nationalism into the fabric of American society. 

The first prong seeks to attack secular public education by promoting Christian symbolism and prayer in schools, along with religious-infused curricula. In Louisiana, for example, a new law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments was blocked earlier this month by a federal judge and will remain on hold until the case is argued in January. Similar legislation has been introduced in at least six states. Meanwhile, on Friday, the Texas State Board of Education approved a Bible-infused curriculum set to take effect next year. It joins a number of states that have done so, including South Carolina.

The second prong seeks to create publicly funded religious charter schools, now seen as the first phase in the larger fight to do away with the U.S. Education Department, which the far right sees as a “woke cartel.” At the heart of this fight is a proposed charter school in Oklahoma, the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. If approved, it would become the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school. The Alliance Defending Freedom recently petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case after Oklahoma’s highest court deemed it unconstitutional. 

St. Isidore is also being represented by the Notre Dame Law School Religious Liberty Clinic, whose former director and current advisory board member Stephanie Barclay previously served as an attorney at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. The Becket Fund’s board includes Leonard Leo, a conservative legal strategist widely regarded as a key architect behind the Supreme Court’s current conservative supermajority.

The dean of Notre Dame’s law school, Marcus Cole says that neither the law school nor the clinic has received funding from Leo or any organization with which Leo is associated. But Leo also sits on the board of the Napa Institute Support Foundation, which according to Politico, steadily increased its gifts to the University of Notre Dame from $37,500 in 2019 to $150,000 in 2022, soon after Leo joined the board. In 2021, Leo personally donated to a Napa-led initiative at the University of Notre Dame that hosted Justice Thomas as its first speaker, Politico reports.

Andrew Seidel, author of “American Crusade: How the Supreme Court is Weaponizing Religious Freedom,” views this moment in America’s timeline as a crucial crossroads for the future of church-state separation:

“Schools are the last bastion of church-state separation, and they have been the target of Christian nationalists and the shadow network for decades. In 2022, they got a change in the personnel on the court, thanks to [Leonard] Leo.”

Justice Amy Coney Barrett was herself a Notre Dame University law professor for 15 years and worked closely with key figures now involved with the school’s Religious Liberty Initiative. Two years after the school’s Religious Liberty clinic was launched, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade — a month later, the same clinic funded a trip for Justice Samuel Alito to be honored at a gala in Rome. 

These connections underscore the tight-knit network of donors and conservative activists working to advance their Christian nationalist goals. Under Chief Justice John Roberts, the court has increasingly ruled in favor of religious claimants compared to prior eras. 

Key decisions, such as the 2022 Carson v. Makin case, have set precedents requiring states with voucher programs to include religious schools, further eroding the long-cherished American principle of separation of church and state. Even states such as Arizona, Florida and Texas have expanded voucher programs, redirecting public funds to religious schools. 

Proposals to teach Christian history while banning books on racial injustice and LGBTQ+ themes are becoming more widespread and are expected to intensify during Trump’s second term.

The Founding Fathers, who themselves experienced religious persecution, crafted the First Amendment to ensure that America would be a nation where religious freedom could thrive, without government interference.

Reflecting on the dangers of state-imposed religion, Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1802:

Today, that foundational principle is being directly threatened by far-right forces that have found a home in Trump’s Republican Party, like Oklahoma’s Education Department and its leader, Ryan Walters.

If you look closely at Walters’ prayer video, you might notice a mug sitting on his desk. It’s a small detail but one that unmistakably signals the coming battle. Inscribed on the mug is “Si vis pacem, para bellum,” a Latin phrase that translates to “If you want peace, prepare for war.”

Allison Detzel contributed.

CLARIFICATION (Dec. 5, 2024, 4:00 p.m. ET): A previous version of this piece characterized the University of Notre Dame’s Religious Liberty Clinic as being closely linked to the conservative legal scholar and activist Leonard Leo. The piece has been updated to clarify and distinguish among links between Leo and the University of Notre Dame, as well as between Leo and an advisory board member of the law clinic who was once its director.

CORRECTION (Nov. 22, 2024, 4:15 p.m. ET): A previous version of this piece incorrectly stated when Notre Dame’s Religious Liberty Clinic was launched. It was established in June 2020, not June 2022.