Terry H. Schwadron
March 28, 2024
Now that Donald Trump has decided to hawk personally endorsed Bibles as a fund-raiser, it’s apparent that the Republican-adopted push for a Christian Nation as part of its formal platform is taking off.
Grifting issues aside, this time Trump is playing with selling Christianity, up to including his own life as Jesus. Trump, who sees no conflict in brandishing the Bible at the same time he is facing trial on election law violations over seeking to bury his sexual encounter with a porn star, made clear in his appeal that he backs anything to Make America Pray Again — so long as it comports with Christian evangelical visions. For that matter, he faces criminal charges and lawsuits on an array of lawbreaking that run afoul of traditional Christian beliefs, to say nothing of his long history of misogyny, fraud, lies and self-absorption.
Just by the way, the $60 Trump Bible also includes a copy of the Constitution, as if that document supports the idea of a singular American religious belief rather than a pluralism that insists on walls between church and state. He sees Christians as “under siege” while ignoring Americans who are Muslims, Jews, Buddhists or who follow no religious path.
The Trump campaign promises that no proceeds of Bible sales will go to campaign events but omits mention of support for Trump’s legal bills. Trump is famous, of course, for other ventures to push Trump-endorsed materials. But maybe you read this Bible while wearing Trump-endorsed gold sneakers and drinking Trump wine.
We know that Trump is aligned with anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-trans, anti-immigrant, and anti-diversity efforts, and preservation of White Christianity looks to be a good shortcut way to capture that spirit. On the campaign trail, Trump has suggested that immigrants who “don’t like our religion — which a lot of them don’t” would be barred from the country in a second term.
Inserting School Chaplains
Skepticism among most Supreme Court justices this week about the latest court effort to expand anti-abortion rulings will only encourage more effort towards reducing reproductive rights; after all, an elected Trump could appoint a Secretary of Health who overrides the FDA approvals of abortion pills all by himself.
Republican states are hitting hard at Christian-sponsored efforts to move public funds to parochial education, to revisit same-sex and rights affecting trans people, even to restrict contraception.
The latest wrinkle in the culture wars has been a coordinated effort by Republican state lawmakers to bring Christian chaplains into public schools, including to replace trained school counselors. A legislative network active in 14 states says it aims to address policy issues “from a biblical world view” with chaplains to convert millions to Christianity, reports The Washington Post.
Texas legislators enacted a protocol for school districts to hire chaplains or use them as volunteers for whatever role the local school board sees fit, including replacing trained counselors. Efforts are underway in Florida, Utah, Indiana, and Louisiana at a time when the Supreme Court has weakened historic protections against church-state breaches.
Jason Rapert, a former Arkansas state senator ispresident of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, which hefounded in 2019 to craft model laws for states based on a Bible-centric view that he shares with Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. Rapert says his next legislative goal will be to of chaplain positions mandatory.
Obviously, there is another side here: The ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief sees the trend as a constitutional time bomb to promote religion.
It is doubtful that we will see a gay chaplain any more than seeing a Muslim imam appointed as a Texas public school chaplain. It’s amazing when adults are seen as “indoctrinating” children, and when, in others’ view, Christian chaplains are seen as politically neutral.
Plenty of Pushback
Even in Texas, 104 of the biggest school districts have pushed back, rejecting creation of chaplain positions. Polls show a majority for church-state separation, but not by much. A 2022 Pew Research poll had 45% support that the United States “should be a Christian nation.” It’s not quite clear what that statement means.
Some of the pushback was because the chaplain bills lack specifics or because parents value trained, educated counselors for mental health and college preparation.
In Texas, the legislature also passed a law ordering schools to hangsigns reading “In God We Trust,” or requiring the Ten Commandments be hung in every classroom in the state — until the effort was shelved. Efforts by Democratic lawmakers to require parental consent to talk with a chaplain to bar proselytizing went nowhere.
Texas has one counselor for every 389 students (The American School Counselor Association recommends one for every 250 students.) and chaplains could help in offering an ear to time of life and mental health challenges, of course.
But the emphasis seems to be on aligning perceived religiosity with public schools and government. A group called Mission Generation active in the Oklahoma schools says its goal is to use public school chaplains to convert millions to Christianity.
Advocates of school chaplains cite a 2022 Supreme Court ruling involving a high school football coach in Washington state who had been suspended districtfor prayingon the field after games. The court said the coach should not have been suspended for what Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote was a “brief, quiet, personal prayer.” The ruling did not, however, endorse staff-led prayer in public schools.
The pernicious aspect of culture wars is that there always is a kernel of support for a more individualistic spirit — right up to the moment where it becomes a mandate by the advocates of that morality to impose it on all.
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