For most of American history, religious teachings were a normal part of public education. Students learned about Biblical stories, moral values, and the spiritual traditions that shaped Western culture. These lessons were not about forcing belief. They were about grounding students in shared values, giving them a moral compass, and helping them understand the foundations of law, culture, and community.

Today, that kind of instruction is nearly banned from public schools. At the same time, gender ideology has moved into classrooms, introducing young children to complex and often confusing ideas about gender identity. This shift has not made education better. It has made it less stable and more controversial.

A Moral Foundation Lost

Religion has always played a key role in shaping American life. From the earliest colonial schools to classrooms in the mid-twentieth century, religious texts like the Bible were used to teach reading, ethics, and critical thinking. Stories from scripture taught children about justice, mercy, courage, and forgiveness. These were not just religious principles. They were life lessons that applied to everyone.

But in the name of “separation of church and state,” religious content has been stripped away. Schools are now afraid to mention God, prayer, or traditional values. This has not created neutrality. It has created a moral vacuum. When schools refuse to teach any shared moral foundation, something else moves in to take its place.

What Replaced Religion

That “something else” is gender ideology. Unlike religion, which has been refined and debated over centuries, gender theory is a recent invention. It teaches kids that gender is not rooted in biology but in feelings. It encourages them to question their identity at an age when they barely understand how the world works.

This is not education. It is confusion. And it is showing real effects. Teen anxiety, depression, and identity crises are on the rise. Kids are not just learning facts. They are being pushed to question fundamental parts of who they are before they are mature enough to understand the consequences.

Religion Doesn’t Cause Identity Crises

Religious teaching never made kids question whether they were real or fake, male or female, valid or invalid. It gave them stories, examples, and guidance. No student ever came home crying because they read about Noah’s Ark or the Ten Commandments. But parents across the country are now trying to explain why their 10-year-old is suddenly asking if they were “born in the wrong body.”

Most parents are not religious extremists. But they want their children to grow up with stability, purpose, and values. Religion helps provide that. Gender ideology does not. It pushes the idea that feelings define reality, and that personal identity must be constantly explored and publicly declared. That’s a heavy burden for a child.

This Isn’t About Forcing Faith

No one is saying schools should force kids to believe in God. But there is a big difference between teaching religion and preaching it. Schools can introduce students to the moral teachings, cultural significance, and historical importance of religion without crossing a legal or ethical line.

When schools teach religion properly, they help students understand the world. They learn where our laws come from, why forgiveness matters, and how humans have searched for meaning for thousands of years. Compare that to lessons about pronouns, “gender euphoria,” and hormone blockers. One approach teaches wisdom. The other pushes identity politics.

Time to Rebalance the Classroom

Most parents do not ask for gender ideology to be taught in schools. Many do not even understand what is being introduced until it is too late. But they do understand values. They understand right and wrong. They want their kids to learn discipline, kindness, responsibility, and respect.

Religious stories and traditions help with that. They are not a threat to education. They are a stabilizing force. If we want stronger kids, we need to stop treating religious content as dangerous and stop pretending modern ideologies are the answer.

Religion has helped raise generations of grounded, thoughtful, resilient children. Gender ideology, by contrast, has sparked confusion and division. It is time to ask which of the two actually benefits young minds—and to choose the one that has stood the test of time.