GOP bill awaiting DeSantis’ stamp is 'as an outgrowth of rising Christian nationalism': analysis

17 March 2024

Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allies in the GOP-controlled Florida State Legislature have been major allies of the Religious Right, pushing a socially conservative agenda in public schools. State lawmakers have passed a bill that would allow religious chaplains to offer students counseling in public schools, and the bills awaits DeSantis' signature.

In an opinion column published on March 17, MSNBC's Zeeshan Aleem argues that if DeSantis does sign the bill into law, it will be an egregious violation of the United States' separation of church and state.

The Religious Right and Christian nationalists have been claiming that there is no such thing as separation of church and state in the U.S. Constitution, but the Constitution's First Amendment clearly states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The late Norman Lear's People for the American Way, over the years, has emphasized that while the U.S. promises freedom of religion, government has no business promoting one religion over another.

Aleem warns, "The emerging crusade to install school chaplains should be understood as an outgrowth of rising Christian nationalism, and an alarming threat to America’s students. It violates the spirit of the First Amendment for public schools to hire religious administrators who have the opportunity to indoctrinate students with their religious beliefs."

The MSNBC columnist notes that the Florida bill's "requirements for serving as a volunteer chaplain are virtually nonexistent."

"Public schools inviting chaplains onto campus raises obvious First Amendment questions," Aleem explains. "School districts will be picking and choosing religious figures to come onto campus to provide children with services that would typically be carried out by a school counselor — guidance on issues such as academics, relationships, mental health, trouble at home, bullying and future career ideas. But instead of drawing from education and training specific to counseling young people, chaplains would be drawing from their spiritual beliefs."

The columnist adds, "At the bare minimum, this means schools would be priming students to think of specific religions as an educational resource."

The "specific religions" part, according to Aleem, is important. Although Christian nationalists believe the U.S. is a "Christian nation," there is nothing in the Constitution that favors Christianity over Judaism, Islam, Hinduism or any other religion.

"Chaplains infiltrating public schools would constitute state-sponsored promotion of religion, in violation of the First Amendment's commitments to a secular state," Aleem writes. "In Florida's bill, parents would have to consent to allow their child to see such a cleric, but in some other states’ bills — including Texas’ policy — no consent is required."

Zeeshan Aleem's full MSNBC column is available at this link.

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