The new Trump administration and the mostly conservative U.S. Supreme Court will soon be testing the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the concept of a separation of church and state. When it came to the government’s role in the religious lives of Americans in the new country, the Founding Fathers drafted the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause to prohibit state-sponsored religion and protect the freedom to worship (or not) according to one’s personal beliefs. 

Now, for the first time in U.S. history, President Trump has established a “Faith Office” run by Paula White, a controversial Christian pastor. The pastor, 58, is a televangelist and apostolic leader in the Independent Charismatic movement and allegedly a proponent of prosperity theology.

As the head of the new “Faith Office,” the pastor expects everyone to agree with President Trump – always. In a public post on February 8th, Pastor White expressed, “To say no to President Trump would be to say no to God.”

Simultaneously, the United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments in an Oklahoma lawsuit, where the first religious charter school in the U.S. would not only teach core academic subjects such as reading and math but also religious subjects as well. The school, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, would be online, taxpayer-supported, and free for all students.

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt and State Superintendent Ryan Walters, both conservative Christians, are supporting the idea of opening a religious public charter school paid for by tax dollars. Governor Stitt is known for his belief that the Bible should be a required subject in public schools. Superintendent Walters, meanwhile, has included funding in his budget request to place Bibles in all public schools “to invite God back into the classroom.”

Contrary to the governor and Mr. Stitt’s support for the public taxes to fully fund a religious online school, numerous Oklahoma public school leaders, a group of religious leaders, and even some state Republicans said the proposal is unconstitutional.

The State Board of Education approved the creation of the charter school in 2023, but its implementation has been blocked by litigation. Now, the case has reached the highest court in the land where the Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, has agreed to hear the case. This current composition of the Court has ruled in favor of various types of connections mixing religious activity and public schools.

In 2022, the High Court ruled that it is legal for a high school football coach to pray on the field after games. In another case that came out of Maine and Montana, Chief Justice John G. Roberts wrote that states are not “required” to fund religious education, but, where states subsidize private schools, those states may not “discriminate” against religious schools.

In Oklahoma, supporters of the proposed religious online charter school believe not funding it with tax dollars would itself be a First Amendment breach. An attorney for the nonprofit group Alliance Defending Freedom, representing the supporters of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, said it would be discrimination against Catholics if the school is not supported by tax dollars.

In a statement, Mr. Campbell said, “Oklahoma parents and children are better off with more educational choices, not fewer. There’s great irony in state officials who claim to be in favor of religious liberty discriminating against St. Isidore because of its Catholic beliefs.”

Numerous organizations disagree strongly. In a recent statement, nonprofits such as Americans United for Separation of Church and State said, “Converting public schools into Sunday schools would be a dangerous sea change for our democracy.”