In 1963, the Supreme Court ruled in Abington School District v. Schempp that it was unconstitutional for public schools to include mandatory Bible readings in the curriculum. This was true even if students could request to opt out, the Court reasoned, because a state endorsement of religion violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
This ruling hasn’t stopped lawmakers in several states from attempting to promote Christianity in public schools. Recently, the Texas State Board of Education has voted to add Bible passages to the statewide reading list, forcing millions of students in Texas public schools to have to study bible passages for their classes. This is a particularly egregious example of a policy meant to force religion on students. This policy is unconstitutional, violates students’ rights to religious freedom, and is harmful to youth.
Table of Contents
- Why the Policy is Unconstitutional
- Students’ Right to Religious Freedom
- Youth vs. Parents vs. Government
- Dangers for Youth with Religious Trauma
Why this Policy is Unconstitutional
The First Amendment begins with “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. This means that the government may neither coerce citizens into supporting a particular religion, nor prevent them from doing so. Gitlow v. New York (1925) clarified that state and local governments, including public schools, must also protect citizens’ First Amendment right to religious freedom.
The government obligates students to attend school, and also obligates taxpayers to fund their education. Therefore, the Texas law compels them to support Christianity, in violation of their First Amendment right to choose their own religious beliefs. People who support other religions or none at all are marginalized by a public institution that is supposed to serve everyone.
Students’ Right to Religious Freedom
Proponents of the Texas curriculum argue that the Bible should be taught in public schools because Christianity played a larger role in United States history than other religions. It is undoubtedly true that the Bible has significantly influenced American politics and culture. Public schools should not be prevented from teaching about this history. However, the Constitution requires them to stop short of endorsing a religion, which appears to be the intent of adding Bible passages to the required reading list.
This issue was raised by a proposed Indiana law earlier this year which would have required school libraries to include a copy of the Ten Commandments. Supporters of that law claimed that it only required religious texts to be available to students, but did not mandate them in the curriculum, and was therefore constitutional. Nonetheless, civil liberties advocates were against the proposal for its preferential treatment of Christian doctrines.
Texas has already passed a more extreme law requiring display of the Ten Commandments in all public school classrooms, which was recently upheld by a federal appeals court. The plaintiffs, including the ACLU, are calling on the Supreme Court to reverse this decision.
Thus, even if non-Christian students are allowed to disagree with or refuse to participate in religious discussions, their First Amendment rights could still be violated by coerced exposure to Christian ideas in school.
Youth vs. Parents vs. Government
The Texas Education Code states that “A parent is entitled to remove the parent’s child temporarily from a class or other school activity that conflicts with the parent’s religious or moral beliefs”. Some would argue that this statute protects religious freedom by allowing parents to withdraw their children from Bible readings if they have any objections. However, that argument assumes that parents act in their children’s interests, ignoring the right of young people to form their own religious beliefs which may differ from their parents.
“Parents’ rights” is an idea supported by some religious families who want to limit their children’s exposure to ideas that might challenge their own. The idea is so popular in Texas that voters approved a parental rights amendment to the state constitution last year, despite its harmful effects on youth.
Having a public school system limits the power of abusive and oppressive parents, including those who engage in religious indoctrination. Religion can be used as a tool of abuse if parents prohibit dissent, tell the child they will go to Hell for disobedience, or cite the Bible as a justification for extreme punishments. These parents often shield children from other views, which can cause difficulties when they eventually leave home and try to integrate into wider society. Other young people may have already rejected their parents’ religion, but can’t say so without fear of retribution. For these students, secular public schools are a respite from their controlling parents which would be taken away if Christian beliefs are privileged there.
Schools in a democratic society would encourage viewpoint diversity so students can draw their own conclusions. One of the main reasons this hasn’t happened is that students are rarely allowed input on which school to attend, what topics to learn, or who the school leaders are. As long as young people are denied educational autonomy, self-interested actors will attempt to influence their beliefs, such as Texas’s unconstitutional insertion of religion into public school curriculum. The decision to support or oppose a religion should belong to young people themselves, not the state or their parents.
Dangers for Youth with Religious Trauma
One of the other, less discussed dangers of this policy, is how it negatively affects youth that already have adverse experiences with religion that is harming their mental health. As previously discussed, some oppressive parents use religion as a tool of abuse, which is extremely harmful to children. In Christianity specifically, the behaviors by parents most often identified as causing religious or spiritual trauma in children include using religion to control, scare, isolate, or shame the child.
One repeated theme is fear-based theology. Literature on religious trauma often points to teachings about hell, demons, Satan, original sin, divine wrath, and eternal punishment becoming traumatic when they are taught to children as constant, personal threats. Oppressive Christian parents may cause their children to develop religious trauma due to the “authoritarianism coupled with toxic theology” in some Christian contexts, particularly teachings around original sin and eternal damnation. If adults use hell, demons, damnation, or God’s punishment to make a child fearful, obedient, ashamed, or terrified of questioning, this can have major negative impacts on a child’s mental health.
If a child is already suffering from these negative impacts of religion at home, due to their parents, then school should be a safe place for them. They shouldn’t have to worry about going to school and getting bible passages, discussion about god, and other references to religion shoved down their throat. If a student already associates religion with fear, then tying their knowledge of religion to schoolwork, and therefore, their grades, will only serve to amplify this effect. Along with this, if their religious trauma is severe, being regularly exposed to more religious messages and imagery in school could potentially trigger anxiety, or even panic attacks.
All in all, Texas’ policy to mandate bible readings in schools unconstitutionally pushes christianity as a state religious, which violates students’ rights to freedom of religion, empowers parents who partake in religious indoctrination, and specifically harms vulnerable youth who are already suffering the effects of a home that uses religion as a tool for abuse.
The National Youth Rights Association
If you’re interested in Youth Rights, consider volunteering with us. We are always looking for new members and would love to have you on board. If you have a personal story to share, of how this policy would negatively affect your life, your personal experience with religious trauma/abuse, or about a general youth rights violation, consider sending us an email at nyra@youthrights.org. We’d love to help get your story out to the world.
The text of Unconstitutional Texas Policy Mandates Bible Study in Public Schools © 2026 by Ian Golec is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
