The New Religion In Public Schools: Progressivism and the Trojan Horse Called SEL

Author:

Bill Westers

Article ID:

JAF0125BW

Updated: 

Feb 14, 2025

Published:

Jan 15, 2025

This article was published exclusively online in the Christian Research Journal, Volume 48, number 01 (2025).

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On June 19, 2024, many Christians found reason to rejoice, as Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed into law a bill requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom throughout the state. “If you want to respect the rule of law,” Landry declared upon signing, “you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses.”1 The Ten Commandments are universally recognized as an ancient, historical law code that laid the foundation for Western values, but they are also revered — or at least respected — by most major religions of the world. Nevertheless, this Louisiana legislation came under enormous scrutiny and has since been blocked by a federal judge, after parents, activists, and teachers claimed that it violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. They asserted that congress had indeed made a “law respecting an establishment of religion.”2 Which of the numerous assenting religions it sought to establish was not explicitly stated, but to Heather Weaver, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), there was no question. She not-so-subtly implied that conservative legislators had attempted to “convert children to their preferred brand of Christianity.” She scornfully reminded them, “Public schools are not Sunday schools.”3

The New Religion

But are public schools really religion-free zones? Do teachers, counselors, and administrators really check their beliefs at the door every morning? My experience as a high school teacher suggests that they do not. I began my career over twenty-one years ago in Louisiana, coincidentally. While it may be at least anecdotally true that there are more Christian teachers and influence in Louisiana schools, I noticed religious dogmatism of a different sort — and to a much greater degree — when I later began teaching in my home state of Michigan.

To clarify, this dogmatism did not arise from one of the traditional religions of the world, nor was it in reference to a specific deity, but make no mistake — it is certainly a religion. As is evident from such religions as Buddhism and even from a federal court case in 1987, “a religion need not posit a belief in a deity.”4 Rather, a religion is a “comprehensive belief system that addresses the fundamental questions of human existence, such as the meaning of life and death, man’s role in the universe, and the nature of good and evil, and that gives rise to duties of conscience.”5

According to Merriam-Webster, a religion can be defined as “a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.”6 To be sure, today’s public schools — in Michigan and elsewhere — have a cause that goes beyond academics and even “gives rise to duties of conscience.” They hold to this cause with ardor and faith and implicitly expect their faculty and staff to align their beliefs accordingly.

Of course, due to their acute awareness of the Establishment Clause — and due to a deficient and malformed definition of religion — public school officials would adamantly deny that they are propagating religious beliefs. Instead, they would necessarily invoke the oft-quoted need for separation of church and state and explain their efforts to uphold this disaffiliation as it has been manifested repeatedly since the removal of school-sponsored prayer in 1962.7

However, when society attempts to banish religion from a particular domain, man simply directs his devotion elsewhere. In today’s public schools, this devotion has been directed toward the cult of Progressivism, a sacred marriage of secular humanism and Neo-Marxist critical consciousness, or “Wokeism.”8 Secular humanism, itself determined by the courts to be the equivalent of a religion, articulates among its “Affirmations of Humanism” a belief in the “cultivation of moral excellence” and in “common moral decencies: altruism, integrity, honesty, truthfulness, and responsibility.” Interestingly, its adherents are also “deeply concerned with the moral education of our children,” desiring to “nourish reason and compassion.”9 This facilitates a natural flow of adoption by public school employees.

The Moral Problem

With traditional religion in exile, the cult of Progressivism must root itself in the naturalistic philosophy of its foundational atheistic ideologies. This presents a unique challenge to its goal of cultivating moral excellence. The difficulty lies in that naturalism offers no way to ground any kind of moral values or explain the guilt that humans feel when they break the moral law.

As a result, man becomes divided into what Francis Schaeffer called the “lower story” of facts and nature and the “upper story” of beliefs, morals, and values. Therefore, to truly believe in morals, one must do simply that — they must believe. In other words, one must take a “leap of faith” to the “upper story” just to believe that morals are a real thing.10 They want to believe in a real right and wrong, but as Schaeffer explained, “they have no absolute anywhere in the universe and without an absolute one cannot really have morals as morals. For them, everything is relative.”11

Sadly, this manufactured leap of faith does little to assuage the true guilt of the human experience, and the only solution that remains to them is a sort of works-based salvation. Yet, in the void of objective morality, the Critical Theory framework of oppressed versus oppressor is now the sole standard by which to measure moral goodness.12 Thus, the religious duties begin. They must recognize their privilege, divest themselves of power, dutifully fight oppression, read the sacred texts of antiracism and the like, and do the salvific work of social justice. Then, since “silence is violence,” as a final step toward redemption, they must signal their virtue as publicly as possible with black squares, rainbow flags, and any other symbol or slogan du jour to make themselves feel like good people. Yet, as Christians can attest, “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6 NIV). Thus, their conscience tells them that none of their deeds are sufficient unless they teach the next generation to carry on the cause with ardor and faith. Although they find themselves living with an inconsistent, incompatible worldview in which they cannot reconcile the facts and nature of the lower story with the morals and values of the upper story, this inconsistency does little to hinder progressive educators from pushing their woke religion on the children in their classrooms. It merely necessitates a creative workaround.

Safety and Belonging

Returning to the Louisiana law regarding the Ten Commandments, the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation issued a joint statement, which included the following claim: “All students should feel safe and welcome in our public schools. H.B. 71 would undermine this critical goal and prevent schools from providing an equal education to all students, regardless of faith.”13

Virtually everything in education today tends to be framed in this language of “safety,” “belonging,” “inclusion,” and “equity.” This almost certainly draws potency from something that has long been used in education, social sciences, and other fields — namely, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Created by Abraham Maslow in 1943, this popular pyramid depicts different levels of needs for human flourishing and achievement. The most basic physiological needs like food, water, and shelter are at the bottom. Right above this foundational level is the need for “safety and security,” and ascending one more level is the need for “love and belonging.”14 Notice how these are very factual and natural-sounding words. If Progressive ideology can be shaped as — or at least masked by — this natural-sounding language of “safety and belonging,” it will provide significant impetus to incorporate such language and ideas into the classroom. But how can this be achieved?

The Trojan Horse

Enter Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), the new rapidly growing educational phenomenon being widely adopted by school districts throughout the nation, and whose resources are replete with references to safety, belonging, equity, and inclusion. According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the foremost authority on the subject, SEL is defined as

the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions….SEL can help address various forms of inequity and empower young people and adults to co-create thriving schools and contribute to safe, healthy, and just communities.15

On a superficial level, these appear to be good, positive-sounding objectives that few would denounce. However, as C. S. Lewis is often credited with saying, the most dangerous ideas are not the ones being argued but the ones that are assumed, it is not the words themselves, but the assumptions beneath them, that are cause for concern. Words must be defined to achieve clarity in a culture that continuously co-opts language. Many of the terms and goals provided by CASEL serve as a vehicle — or to use their word, a framework — to disguise the underlying ideals of religious Progressivism. Thus, Social and Emotional Learning becomes a Trojan horse for the tenets and sacraments of Progressivism.

In fact, despite using veiled language in their definition, CASEL states their motives outright on the “Key Settings” portion of their website:

Inequities based on race, ethnicity, class, language, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other factors are deeply ingrained in the vast majority of these systems and impact student and adult social, emotional, and academic learning. While SEL alone will not solve longstanding and deep-seated inequities in the education system, it can create the conditions needed for individuals and schools to examine and interrupt inequitable policies and practices, create more inclusive learning environments, and reveal and nurture the interests and assets of all individuals.16

The use of language referring to the specific “inequities” — including race, gender identity, and sexual orientation — as being “deeply ingrained,” as well as asserting that these inequities are systemic and must be interrupted, undeniably reveals the Neo-Marxist assumptions underlying the entire program.

THE CASEL FRAMEWORK

Fundamental to the framework of Social and Emotional Learning is the CASEL 5, which “addresses five broad and interrelated areas of competence and highlights examples for each: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.”17 The CASEL 5 can be seen at the very center of the “CASEL Wheel,” a diagram illustrated by concentric circles indicating the broadening spheres of influence and implementation.18

Self-Awareness

The first of the CASEL 5 is Self-Awareness, which incorporates “the abilities to understand one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior across contexts.”19 Again, these appear to be positive and beneficial skills. One must ask, though, what all this could include. In other words, what is not being expressed here? Could this description inadvertently (or intentionally) open the door for deeper and more nefarious interpretations? Certainly, it is advantageous for a child to be aware of her feelings and understand her emotions. But is it possible that this could lead her to an “awareness” that she feels like a boy trapped in a girl’s body? After all, a major focus of Self-Awareness is identity, helping kids figure out who they are.

Unfortunately, many of the teachers who are charged with implementing SEL in the classroom have already imbibed the ideas of queer theory and devoted themselves to upholding the tenets of Progressivism, which presupposes the validity of expressive individualism.20 Thus, holding a genuine concern for the mental health and well-being of children who experience gender dysphoria — and beguiled by propaganda warning of their imminent suicide upon receiving anything less than total affirmation — these teachers feel a religious and moral duty to encourage and even participate in the social transitioning of these children. SEL, with its Neo-Marxist assumptions about gender identity, provides both the justification and the mechanism for teachers to facilitate this sort of “gender-affirming care”21 — all under the pretense of ensuring that children feel “safe” in school and can achieve a sense of “belonging.” Thus, with SEL’s focus on mental wellness, whatever the school deems to be good for “mental health” is inherently justified for implementation.

Self-Management

The second of the CASEL 5 is Self-Management, which essentially concerns managing the “emotions, thoughts, and behaviors” that students identify as part of the first element, Self-Awareness.22 Once again, an essential part of childhood is learning to manage one’s emotions. How this is taught, on the other hand, is not necessarily widely agreed upon.

One current trend which has made its way into many families and schools is the practice of mindfulness. In fact, Linda Lantieri, Senior Program Advisor for CASEL, has cowritten an article entitled “How SEL and Mindfulness Can Work Together,” in which she proclaims, “When SEL and mindfulness are integrated, the five SEL competencies laid out by CASEL have more fertile ground in which to grow and ultimately be embodied by students and adults alike.” In the article, she clarifies how this works well with the competency of Self-Management: “Mindfulness increases students’ emotion regulation skills, which enhances their ability to resolve conflict more creatively or to say how they’re feeling in an emotionally balanced way.”23 In the classroom, this often manifests itself in seemingly harmless meditation and breathing techniques.

However, it is no secret that the practice of mindfulness meditation finds its roots in Buddhism. As Bart Mendel, founder of Mindworks, declares, “Buddhist meditation is specifically associated with mindfulness and awareness. Indeed, although there are a lot more forms of Buddhist meditation than you might think, they all have mindfulness and awareness as their common denominator.” He goes on to state, “According to Buddhist philosophy, when we understand our mind and emotions better, we can work with our actions and reactions in a way that leads to well-being and happiness.”24

Of course, in order for this practice to be incorporated into a public school setting, it must be stripped of its traditionally religious nature and terminology. Nonetheless, when an administrator in my own school district led our faculty through a mindfulness exercise using a Tibetan singing bowl — as she proudly claimed to have also done with her students — it was difficult to deny its Buddhist origin.25

Responsible Decision-Making

Under Responsible Decision-Making, there is an emphasis on “curiosity and open-mindedness,”26 which serves to prime students for what is involved in the two remaining competencies, each dealing with social interaction. If children are pushed toward curiosity and open-mindedness, they will be more accepting of — and more susceptible to — the ideologies proposed about Relationship Skills and Social Awareness. These new young acolytes will also be more likely to proselytize for these recently accepted ideologies in other social circles, including their own families.

Relationship Skills

CASEL’s explanation of Relationship Skills involves “the abilities to establish and maintain healthy and supportive relationships and to effectively navigate settings with diverse individuals and groups.”27 In an age when screens and other technology have taken the place of in-person interaction, it is more evident than ever that humans could use a refresher course on the development and importance of interpersonal skills.

But notice the peculiar contradiction in terms found in the phrase “diverse individuals.” A group can be diverse, made up of individuals with varying characteristics and from a variety of backgrounds. However, if the word “diverse” has to do with variety and differences within an entity or group, then how can one individual be “diverse”? There is, therefore, no apparent reason to use this word in reference to an individual other than as an allegedly virtuous connection to the Neo-Marxist ideas at the root of Social and Emotional Learning.

Social Awareness

Finally, having laid the foundation above, the fifth of the CASEL 5, Social Awareness, can now reveal with slightly more clarity the ideological underpinnings of SEL and its likeness to a Trojan horse for Progressivism. Social Awareness involves “the abilities to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and contexts.”28 Much like the rest of the CASEL 5, it is hard to stand in disagreement with the need for these abilities. When framed in this language, few people would deny the potential value of Social and Emotional Learning as a whole, that is unless, of course, they can see through the façade to the underlying esoteric meanings of the terms and how they are rooted in Critical Theory.

Although goals like “demonstrating empathy and compassion”29 are incredibly admirable and highly desirable even for Christians, this fifth competency of SEL is so overladen with these ideas that the obvious goal behind Social Awareness is to fixate on individual differences, inequalities, and supposedly unjust norms. Attempting to fulfill another righteous deed to count toward their own redemption, teachers leverage students’ empathy and compassion in an effort to elevate the voices and lived experience of those they determine to be marginalized. Such undue emphasis on surface-level diversity and identity politics fosters incessant and obsessive comparison among already insecure youth. In turn it becomes a breeding ground for the concept of intersectionality, which calls upon individuals to identify in what areas of their lives and identities they have been oppressed as compared to others.

This becomes the perfect opportunity for teachers to guide students on a journey of self-criticism, manipulating their “open-mindedness” to help them see where they have unknowingly oppressed others, insisting that they check their privilege, divest themselves of power, listen rather than speak, elevate identity above merit, and participate in social justice activism. This is the teacher’s sacred duty, and failure to assent to it is to disqualify oneself from employment; for as every job posting in my own district indicates, a candidate must have a “willingness and commitment to include equity, social justice, and inclusion in all practices.”30 Educators have, thus, assumed the role of clergy, the gurus of religious Progressivism.

Beyond the Classroom

The CASEL 5, as explained above, are located at the center of the CASEL Wheel diagram and encircled by a ring labeled “Classrooms.”31 This is the heart of SEL instruction, the sanctuary of “safety” and “belonging,” and the stage on which teachers become preachers to creatively seduce potential young converts to the cult of Progressivism. The classroom is the epicenter of woke indoctrination, but like in other religions, there exists a mission field. The goal, as indicated by the sequence of rings in the CASEL Wheel, is for students to carry their newly formed beliefs outward from the classroom to the rest of the school, and ultimately to their families and the broader community.

In other words, the classroom teacher has effectively usurped the authority of parents as the one who instills values. The school decides what is virtuous, the teacher communicates and cultivates those virtues, and the parents can be reached — if not through “authentic partnerships”32 with the school, then simply by regular dinnertime conversations: “What did you learn at school today?”

If You Must Belong, Be Safe

To be fair, most public school teachers, counselors, and administrators genuinely desire the best for children, but the issue is how that will be defined. What is “best” in their eyes has already been filtered through the Neo-Marxist worldview that underlies their Progressive religion. As such, Christians should inoculate their children to these bad ideas.

If children must attend a public school, parents ought to be involved and informed, keeping eyes and ears open for the language of Progressivism — from social studies courses to English language arts, from assignments and assemblies to conferences and clubs.

What might cause children to feel “unsafe” in the classroom? What might keep them from getting an equal education? Surely, the real culprit has more to do with issues like transgenderism, antiracism, intersectionality, and Buddhist meditation practices. But still, the Left cries, “Beware the Ten Commandments poster!”

Bill Westers teaches French and Spanish at a public high school in Michigan. He also hosts the Encountering Truth podcast, graduated from the Cross Examined Instructors Academy, and participated in the Colson Fellows program.

NOTES

  1. Sara Cline, “New Law Requires All Louisiana Public School Classrooms to Display the Ten Commandments,” The Associated Press (AP News), updated June 20, 2024, https://apnews.com/article/louisiana-ten-commandments-displayed-classrooms-571a2447906f7bbd5a166d53db005a62.
  2. U.S. Constitution, amend. I.
  3. “Press Release: ‘Court Blocks Louisiana Law Requiring Public Schools to Display Ten Commandments in Every Classroom,’” American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), November 12, 2024, https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/court-blocks-louisiana-law-requiring-public-schools-to-display-ten-commandments-in-every-classroom.
  4. Kristen Goldberg, “Federal Court Finds Secular Humanism a Religion,” Education Week, March 11, 1987, https://www.edweek.org/education/federal-court-finds-secular-humanism-a-religion/1987/03.
  5. Ben Clements, “Defining ‘Religion’ in the First Amendment: A Functional Approach,” Cornell Law Review 74, no. 3 (March 1989): 553, http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/clr/vol74/iss3/4.
  6. Merriam-Webster, s.v. “religion,” accessed November 17, 2024, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/religion.
  7. “Facts and Case Summary: Engel v. Vitale,” United States Courts, accessed November 17, 2024, https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/facts-and-case-summary-engel-v-vitale.
  8. For more on Neo-Marxism and Wokeism, see Christian Research Journal, “The War on Western Civilization: Everything You Need to Know about the Cult of Wokeism,” 46, no. 01/02 (June 14, 2023), https://www.equip.org/christian-research-journal/the-greatest-assault-on-human-nature-ever-devised-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-cult-of-wokeism/.
  9. Paul Kurtz, “Affirmations of Humanism: A Statement of Principles,” Free Inquiry, accessed November 17, 2024, https://secularhumanism.org/what-is-secular-humanism/affirmations-of-humanism/.
  10. Francis Schaeffer, The God Who Is There, in The Francis A. Schaeffer Trilogy: Three Essential Books in One Volume (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1990), 16, 53, 69, 83.
  11. Schaeffer, The God Who Is There, 171.
  12. For more on Critical Theory and the oppressed versus oppressor framework, see Neil Shenvi, “Critical Theory and Christianity, Part 1,” Shenvi Apologetics, accessed January 12, 2025, https://shenviapologetics.com/critical-theory-and-christianity-part-1/.
  13. “Press Release: ‘Civil Liberties Groups Will File Lawsuit Against Louisiana Law Requiring Public Schools to Display the Ten Commandments,’” American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), June 19, 2024, https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/civil-liberties-groups-will-file-lawsuit-against-louisiana-law-requiring-public-schools-to-display-the-ten-commandments.
  14. Saul McLeod, “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs,” Simply Psychology, updated January 24, 2024, https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html.
  15. “What Is the CASEL Framework? Social and Emotional Learning,” Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), accessed November 17, 2024, https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/#social-emotional-learning.
  16. “What Is the CASEL Framework? Key Settings,” Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), accessed November 17, 2024, https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/#key-settings.
  17. “What Is the CASEL Framework? The CASEL 5,” Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), accessed November 17, 2024, https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/#the-casel-5.
  18. See “What Is the CASEL Framework? Interactive CASEL Wheel,” Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), accessed November 17, 2024, https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/#interactive-casel-wheel.
  19. “What Is the CASEL Framework? Self-Awareness,” Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), accessed November 17, 2024, https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/#self-awareness.
  20. Expressive individualism is the idea that an individual’s sense of identity and meaning comes from within the individual, from his/her own feelings and desires rather than from outside influence, and that it should be freely expressed to achieve true, authentic individuality. For more on expressive individualism, see Carl R. Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020).
  21. “Gender-affirming care” in schools consists mostly of participation in the social transitioning of gender dysphoric youth (using preferred names and pronouns, referencing chosen gender identities, offering access to corresponding restrooms, etc.). On a broader scale, as defined by the World Health Organization, it “can include any single or combination of a number of social, psychological, behavioural or medical (including hormonal treatment or surgery) interventions designed to support and affirm an individual’s gender identity.” World Health Organization, “Gender Incongruence and Transgender Health in the ICD,” WHO, accessed January 12, 2025, https://www.who.int/standards/classifications/frequently-asked-questions/gender-incongruence-and-transgender-health-in-the-icd#:~:text=What%20is%20gender%2Daffirmative%20health,affirm%20an%20individual’s%20gender%20identity.
  22. “What Is the CASEL Framework? Self-Management,” Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), accessed November 17, 2024, https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/#self-management.
  23. Linda Lantieri and Vicki Zakrzewski, “How SEL and Mindfulness Can Work Together,” Greater Good Magazine, Greater Good Science Center, University of California, Berkeley, April 7, 2015, https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_social_emotional_learning_and_mindfulness_can_work_together.
  24. Bart Mendel, “What Is Buddhist Meditation?,” MindWorks, accessed November 17, 2024, https://mindworks.org/blog/what-is-buddhist-meditation/.
  25. For more on mindfulness, see Sarah C. Geis, “Thinking Through Mindfulness: Psychology, Religion, or Both?” Christian Research Journal 41, no. 03 (2018), accessed January 12, 2025, https://www.equip.org/articles/thinking-through-mindfulness-psychology-religion-or-both/.
  26. “What Is the CASEL Framework? Responsible Decision-Making,” Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), accessed November 17, 2024, https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/#responsible.
  27. “What Is the CASEL Framework? Relationship Skills,” Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), accessed November 17, 2024, https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/#relationship.
  28. “What Is the CASEL Framework? Social Awareness,” Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), accessed November 17, 2024, https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/#social-awareness.
  29. “What Is the CASEL Framework? Social Awareness.”
  30. This specific quote comes from a 2023 job posting for an Upper Elementary Teacher.
  31. See “What Is the CASEL Framework? Interactive CASEL Wheel,” https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/#interactive-casel-wheel.
  32. “What Is the CASEL Framework? Families and Caregivers,” Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), accessed November 17, 2024, https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/#families-caregivers.
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