By: Ryan Jayne, Senior Policy Counsel
Public schools are facing an unprecedented state-level assault on secular rights. States are forcing public schools to display an officially approved version of the Ten Commandments, corrupting state standards with ahistorical religious propaganda, and siphoning public school funding to private religious schools.
With so many threats, it might be easy to forget that some state lawmakers also want to place religious chaplains in public schools, envisioning that these Christian heralds will remedy the shortage of certified counselors in public schools. As if dealing with proselytizing coaches weren’t enough, students will now have to contend with school officials whose job description is to promote religion. This edition of “Strongly Stated” will explore these new chaplain laws, the organization behind them, and what you can do to help ensure your local school board does not adopt a chaplain program.
Missouri is poised to become the newest state to adopt a public school chaplain law, joining the disgraceful ranks of Texas, Louisiana and Florida. Like Texas, Missouri will require school boards to vote on whether to adopt a new chaplain program. Fortunately, the vast majority of Texas schools declined the invitation to decimate students’ rights in this fashion. But among those who leaped at the opportunity to push Christianity onto a captive audience of students, damage is already being done.
The trouble with chaplains and the group pushing for them
The organization behind these chaplain bills, the National School Chaplain Association (NSCA), is bragging about Texas chaplains using their new school positions to win converts and to push their religious views into the lives of students and staff. Here’s part of an email NSCA sent earlier this year:
According to NSCA, chaplains are a “steady presence” at the school and insert themselves into disputes (“They step into tense conversations, de-escalate conflict, and connect families to critical resources”). They initiate conversations with students, particularly when students are vulnerable (the email says they greet kids in the morning and are “watching for signs of silent struggle”). And most egregiously, the chaplains reportedly show up at people’s houses to connect them with churches (“They show up at homes. They walk beside families through emergencies. They help navigate next steps, provide referrals, and coordinate with local churches.”). The email’s authors are plainly oblivious to students’ right to a secular public school system, family rights to privacy and to be free from unwanted proselytizing. To NSCA, Christianity is synonymous with helping students and staff, so what could possibly be wrong with promoting Christianity in public schools?
And make no mistake, these NSCA chaplains are 100 percent Christian. The NSCA describes itself as a “Christian chaplain ministry,” and its email closes with, “Thank you for helping us reach children, teachers, and parents with the love of Christ.” The email even quotes a New Testament verse, Matthew 25:40, that is quickly followed by Jesus promising “everlasting punishment” (Matthew 25:46). NSCA’s Statement of Faith, too, includes a belief in “eternal punishment,” along with a swipe at same-sex marriage.
So the chaplains spot struggling students and staff, then show up uninvited at their homes to connect them to their Christian church. What advice do these chaplains give to struggling staff or students who are non-Christian, LGBTQ, etc.? Even well-meaning Christian chaplains can alienate and traumatize nonadherents when they offer only a sectarian religious perspective, to say nothing of preachers who have no problem threatening children with everlasting punishment if they fail to convert to the “right” type of Christianity.
In fact, when the NSCA testified in favor of a chaplain bill in Georgia, the representative was asked whether schools would be obligated to allow chaplains of disfavored religions, and the NSCA responded that such chaplains were excluded by definition. That statutory language — in this case excluding satanists specifically — made its way into the final Georgia bill (which failed, fortunately). When fundraising, NSCA calls potential donors “Kingdom investors” and says they are “planting revival in the very soil the enemy tried to claim,” referring to secular public schools. Just who is “the enemy”? Similarly, Missouri’s chaplain law only allows chaplains who are on a preapproved list of denominations, which means the state is singling out particular sects to be given a privileged position and barring others — in direct contravention of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and Missouri’s Constitution.
Some legislators argue that chaplain bills are religiously neutral, but they’re being disingenuous. They know the Constitution prohibits laws that advance a particular religion, or religion over nonreligion, but just like attempts to put the framed Ten Commandments posters in classrooms or to inject Christian-slanted bible lessons into school curricula, the religious intent is clear and undeniable.
NSCA’s parent organization, Mission Generation Inc., even has a goal to reach “the largest unreached people group inside of the schools around the world,” to “influence those in education until the saving grace of Jesus becomes well-known, and students develop a personal relationship with Him.” In Mission Generation’s own words, the organization works to exploit the “massive lack of school counselors throughout public schools” by filling the void with religious chaplains to “win” and “disciple” school-age children. Legislators who suggest these bills are about anything other than winning Christian converts need to be called out and corrected.
Finally, it should come as no surprise that the NSCA, despite its tax-exempt status, openly endorsed Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy just before the 2024 election:
It’s clear that NSCA and its CEO, Rocky Malloy — a self-described convicted international drug smuggling pirate — have adopted the current administration’s disdain for constitutional rights and do not think the rules apply to them or their chaplains. Concerned citizens must inform parents, school boards, and lawmakers about the sort of organization schools invite into their schools when they adopt a chaplain program.
Even more issues with chaplain laws
Although Louisiana’s chaplain law does not require school boards to vote on a chaplain policy, it manages to make the law even worse with a broad liability shield for chaplains: “No person shall have a cause of action against a chaplain for any action taken or statement made in adherence with the provisions for service, support, and programs for students,” with an exception only for conduct that is “maliciously, willfully, and deliberately intended to cause harm to harass or intimidate,” an almost impossibly high legal standard. Fortunately, state law cannot remove students’ state or federal constitutional rights, but this language tells Louisiana chaplains that they have virtually no limitations when proselytizing public school students.
Chaplain laws also offer only the barest safeguards against abusive clergy, typically disallowing only chaplains who are on the sex offender registry or who fail a criminal background check. Meanwhile, the laws are uniformly devoid of any requirement that chaplains be certified to provide secular services to students or staff. That is, after all, not really the point of these laws. In Texas, for instance, school counselors must have a qualifying master’s degree, pass a test, and have two years of classroom teaching experience. Chaplains typically have no education requirement, no test to pass, and no past experience requirements — just a desire to talk to students about religion. The dire need of students for more qualified school counselors is merely an excuse to introduce chaplains, not a problem chaplains can actually help address (despite laughably implausible claims to the contrary from NSCA).
In short, there are myriad reasons to oppose public school chaplains and no reason for anyone other than Christian nationalists to support them. This makes a recent survey, showing a majority of Americans open to the idea, even more shocking. There is plainly a void in education and awareness that needs to be filled.
What can be done
Those of us who understand true religious liberty and the crucial need for secular public schools need to be more vocal in sharing the facts and explaining the problems. Legislators need to be prepped by constituents with talking points and background information on NSCA and Mission Generation Inc. Legislators need to understand that these bills are an attempt to push a particular, hellfire-infused, anti-LGBTQ version of Christianity onto public school students. We need op-eds, letters to the editor, social media posts, blogs and — perhaps most importantly — personalized, genuine communication with elected officials.
In the mercifully few states that have adopted such laws, school boards need to be persuaded to protect their students by rejecting chaplains. Thus far, school boards have received solid advice to this end, and most have followed it, but hearing support from local parents, students or voters can go a long way in persuading school board members.
For those in districts that have made the unfortunate decision to allow chaplains into schools, your eyes are needed to protect kids and staff in your district. Monitor chaplains’ behavior any way you can, request public records if needed, and inform groups like the Freedom From Religion Foundation if you see anything concerning.
And finally, please consider educating yourself more about the need for qualified, high-quality school counselors. Support secular school counselors in your community and urge your state lawmakers and school boards to support them as well. Providing school counselors with the help they desperately need would not only improve the lives of American children, but it would also remove the despicable excuse groups like NSCA use to enter public schools to proselytize other people’s kids. It is far easier to stop chaplain programs before they become enacted rather than responding to the inevitable reports of the harm they have caused.
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