Jefferson, Religious Freedom, and Schools

Thomas Jefferson is often misunderstood on religion. Dubbed a Deist, Unitarian, and Rationalist, he was often contradictory, even in private. He believed in a benevolent God and saw Him everywhere. He viewed his “wife in heaven” as an “angel,” yet missed the Trinity, Resurrection, Holy Spirit, and traditional Christianity. What he did believe in was religion, free exercise of it – lest we forget.

Comparable to founding the University of Virginia, penning the Declaration, and serving as America’s third president, Jefferson was proud of his “Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.”

Written in 1777, shortly after the Declaration, the statute assured all the right to worship, as, when, and where they wished. It became law in 1786 and was a forerunner of our First Amendment.

Our First Amendment says: “The Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for redress of grievances.”

Before talking about prayer in schools, observe this was the first of all amendments to our Constitution, these core rights are considered paramount. Like Jefferson’s Virginia statute, our First Amendment links freedom of worship with freedom of speech, press, and grievance.

In other words, attesting to your faith, discussing it openly, and praying for God’s intercession in our lives – which our Founders often did – was very important to the Founders, worthy of utmost protection.

Since our founding, many Supreme Court decisions have interpreted the Amendment, contouring it, because it had a second purpose, “disestablishing the Church of England,” no official religion.

What Jefferson and our Founders never imagined was a nation that slid toward endorsing an official position that was against religion, that is, cynicism, godlessness, agnosticism, or atheism.

While our Founders made allowance for those who did not have a well-formed understanding of God’s presence in their lives, and Jefferson famously noted other’s beliefs were not his business, he was unequivocally devoted to protecting, preserving, and defending religious freedom.

So, how would the convictions of our Founders square with public schools today? In truth, not well. Gradually, we are rediscovering their understanding of religious freedom, but the trek is slow.

Leading High Court decisions since 2014, are – while respecting the need to prevent “establishing” one religion –  slowly dusting off the original meaning the Founders passed forward to us.

When it comes to public school students – those being taught – and their teachers, that is, those paid by the government to teach, caselaw has been slowly rebalancing, reestablishing core rights.

Thus, in Kennedy v. Bremerton (2022), the Supreme Court reversed a 9^th Circuit ruling that had stripped a football coach from praying at midfield in personal prayer after games.

Similarly, in Carson v. Makin (2022), the Supreme Court reversed the 1^st Circuit, forcing Maine to accommodate parents seeking to apply their state tuition assistance to schools that offered religious instruction, upending that state’s “nonsectarian” requirement.

In Fulton v. Philadelphia (2021), the Supreme Court reversed a lower court that tried to limit access to foster care, excluding organizations with religious ties. High Court said, no go. 

Likewise, in Espinoza v. Montana (2018), the Supreme Court remanded a  case where tax credits were denied to schools “controlled in whole or in part by any church, sect, or denomination.”  And in Trinity Lutheran v. Comer (2017), the Supreme Court ruled that a “church” – here a Lutheran child learning center – cannot be denied an otherwise available public benefit: No more discrimination.

Jefferson, of course, would agree with all these rulings. He would be stunned that we have overinterpreted his “separation of church and state” notion, only meant to assure the Church of England was disestablished, or that we do not nationally adopt one “official religion.”

What would he want?

First, he would agree – and many do not know this – that students are allowed to pray individually and in groups, before and after school, during lunch, and at any time in school that is not disruptive.

Second, he would agree that students can pray anywhere on school grounds – another fact many do not know – for example around a school flagpole, and they can pray for any reason.

Thus, students could gather on 9-11, a sober-minded time for remembering that is fast approaching. They could gather around the school flagpole at lunchtime, and pray for our nation.

While teachers are not presently allowed to pray with students, they are also allowed to pray privately as well as together on school grounds after the Kennedy v. Bremerton decision (2022).

What Jefferson knew and we so easily forget or are told by leftist harassers to forget, many of them unapologetically godless and atheistic, is that Americans, unlike much of the world, including kids in school, have an absolute constitutional right to discuss their faith, wear it, live it, pray it.

The sanctity of that right is one reason Jefferson was so proud of his Virginia statute. We honor him and our Founders by exercising these rights, with courage and fidelity. Lest we forget.

Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC.