Parental rights don’t disappear when children enter public schools. Schools are supposed to help students develop essential skills, gain valuable knowledge, and build interpersonal relationships, but they do not replace parents, who have the final say in how their children are raised. Nonetheless, some public-school systems are depriving religious parents of this fundamental right—and new data shows that they are on the wrong side of public opinion. That’s especially relevant as we celebrate Religious Freedom Day, as parents’ religious liberty includes the right to hand on their faith to their children.
The new data comes from this year’s Religious Freedom Index, an annual survey published by my firm, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and shows resounding support for parental religious liberty. Over two-thirds of Americans believe that parents should be the primary educators of their children and should be able to opt them out of public-school curriculum if the parents believe the material to be inappropriate or morally objectionable. More pointed questions tallied even broader agreement. When asked whether religious parents should be able to opt their children out of lessons on gender and sexuality when those lessons conflict with their religious beliefs, three-quarters of respondents said yes. (RELATED: MIMI SINGLETON: Blue States Are On A Warpath Against School Choice. Here’s One Way To Protect It)
But some public-school officials say no. In Montgomery County, Maryland, for example, the local school board recently revoked parents’ longstanding rights to be notified and opt their children out of instruction that violates their religious beliefs. Last year, the school board introduced a slate of storybooks, billed as “inclusivity” books, that push one-sided gender and sexual ideology to children as young as four. One book encourages three-and four-year-olds to search images from a word list including “intersex [flag],” a “[drag] queen,” “leather,” a “lip ring,” “underwear,” and an image of a controversial LGBTQ activist and sex worker. Another task for first graders to discuss childhood romance and what it means to “like like” someone. Another supports the notion that a child’s gender transitioning doesn’t have to “make sense.” Teachers are told to enlighten students that, at birth, doctors only “guess about our gender,” but “[w]e know ourselves best.” Even the County’s own elementary school principals warned that these lessons are “not appropriate” and “dismissive” of religion—but the school board pressed on with the forced instruction. After allowing parental notice and opt-outs for these books the prior year—and continuing to honor that right for everything else taught in Montgomery County Public Schools—the school board ended notice and opt-outs only for these books last March. No public explanation was provided.
Within days, a coalition of religious parents including Muslims, Jews, and Christians rallied in opposition to the Board’s decision. Despite their differing faith backgrounds, the parents all believe that the books conflict with their faith and are age-inappropriate for their kids. With the help of Becket, the parents filed a federal lawsuit last year seeking to restore their parental religious liberty rights to notice and opt-outs. After a lower court left the Board’s mandate in place, the parents appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals last summer. A ruling is expected in the coming months.
At a time when it’s hard to find agreement on important cultural issues in America, strong support for parental rights in public schools is a promising sign. Hopefully Montgomery County will take note.
Eric Baxter is vice president and senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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