In the World, But Not of the World: Understanding Conservative Christianity and Its Relationship With American Public Schools

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the socio-political, cultural, and historical characteristics of the relationship between conservative Christians and the American system of public education; describes the influence of fundamentalist views on contemporary conservative Christians; and recounts the historical relationship between the Religious Right and American public schools. Specifically, the article examines several policy issues advanced by conservative Christians, analyzes developments in legal strategies employed by the Religious Right to influence public school curricula over the past century, and considers how vestiges of the Judeo-Christian roots of American public education continue to influence school policy and discourse despite claims to the contrary by contemporary fundamentalist Christians. The article concludes with a critique of the fundamentalist approach to education and an argument for taking seriously the need to defend democratic aims of public education against fundamentalist challenges.

Notes

¹It is important to note that, although the Gary program is commonly cited as the first released time program in the United States, a separate movement of Latter-Day Saints’ high school seminaries had been established for Mormon students in Utah public schools in 1912.

²At the time of this writing, Alabama and Ohio are also considering such policies.

³The Supreme Court generally declines to hear cases in the absence of conflicting rulings issued by lower courts. As the Moss case is the only one of its kind, it is conceivable that a contradictory ruling in another state could lead the Court to issue a decision on the constitutionality of for-credit released time programs.

⁴I owe debts of gratitude to anonymous reviewers for their suggested revisions relating to this section: One suggested that I include a review of Burke and Segall's argument and another suggested that I be careful not to conflate fundamentalist Christianity with Christianity, in general. Both suggestions, I believe, added important clarifications and additions to my overall argument.

⁵It is also important to note that several states have passed Bible Bills, which allow for the teaching of the Bible as an important and influential historical and literary work. Along with the fact that nowhere have the courts ruled that schools cannot teach about Christianity, passage of these bills further undermines the exaggerated claims that Christianity has been banned from the schools.

⁶Michael Apple (2001) emphasized in Educating the “Right” Way: Markets, Standards, God, and Inequality that, since the 1980s, American public schools have dramatically shifted in a conservative direction—with Christian fundamentalist beliefs and commitments among the driving forces behind the shift.

⁷For instance, her analysis of 3 decades of research on the topic shows that girls in these schools routinely receive less opportunities to participate in school-sponsored athletics, inadequate sex education (which she argues has an especially harmful effect on women), blame for Eve's alleged disobedience to God in the Book of Genesis, and lessons that they are inferior to men—girls are often taught that women are especially weak and sinful, are unworthy of leadership positions and are suited only for domestic roles, and should adopt attitudes of submission to fathers and husbands.