American 'Public Schools' Are, Of Course, Not Private.

Most Americans support parental opt-out of objectionable public school teachings: poll.

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, January 18, 2024

Religious freedom supporters held a rally to praise the Supreme Court's decision in the Hobby Lobby, contraception coverage requirement case on June 30, 2014, in Chicago, Illinois. Oklahoma-based Hobby Lobby, which operates a chain of arts-and-craft stores, challenged the provision and the high court ruled 5-4 that requiring family-owned corporations to pay for insurance coverage for contraception and abortion-inducing drugs under the Affordable Care Act violated a federal law protecting religious freedom. 

About two-thirds of Americans agree with the notion that parents should be able to opt their kids out of public school teachings they believe are inappropriate or contradictory to their values as Americans' support for religious freedom reaches a record high, a new study suggests. 

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty released its fifth annual Religious Freedom Index Tuesday, which sampled the opinions of 1,000 American adults in an online survey conducted from Sept. 28 to Oct. 5, 2023. The poll has an error margin of +/-3.1 percentage points. 

Released on National Religious Freedom Day, the report documents respondents' views about six dimensions related to religious freedom and assigns each of them a score on a 100-point scale based on the public's level of support. A score of 0 indicates "complete opposition to the principle of religious freedom at issue," while a score of 100 indicates "complete support for the same principle." 

The overall religious freedom index was measured at 69 in 2023, reaching a record high. 

"Despite some efforts to turn religion into a scapegoat for our nation's problems, most Americans believe that religion — and religious freedom — are key to solving them," Becket President and CEO Mark Rienzi said in a statement. "As we celebrate Religious Freedom Day, we should remember that religious liberty remains the cornerstone of our effort to form a more perfect union."  

As the debate about the emergence of LGBT-affirming curriculums looms large in American politics, the Religious Freedom Index included multiple questions about the rights and responsibilities of parents and schools when it comes to having the ability to opt out of such instruction and the obligation of schools to inform parents about changes in their children's gender identity. 

Respondents were asked if they believe "parents are the primary educators of their children and should have [the] final say on what their children are taught in public school" and should have the ability to "opt their children" out of the curriculum they view as "morally objectionable or inappropriate."

Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed answered that they exactly or somewhat agree with that assessment, while 33% agreed with the notion that public schools "should have the final say on what children are taught."

Fifty-eight percent of respondents exactly or somewhat agreed with the notion that public schools "should not be allowed to implement policies to require students and employees to use a person's preferred gender pronouns," while 43% totally or somewhat disagreed.

About a quarter (24%) of those surveyed expressed agreement with allowing schools to "encourage children to transition their genders," while 76% disagreed. 

Twenty-one percent of respondents agreed that schools should be able to "hide information from parents about their child's decision to adopt a new name, new pronouns, or begin a gender transition," while the remaining 79% took the opposite position. 

"The American people sent a clear message in this year's Index: parents don't take a back seat to anyone when it comes to raising their children," Rienzi said. "Parents want schools to teach their children math and science, not force them to embrace controversial gender ideology." FP.