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A non-profit organization is concerned that new civics-education training for Florida teachers may push Christian nationalism and endanger the separation of church and state.

The organization, Americans United For Separation of Church and State, said earlier this month that it wants to investigate whether the training was influenced by 鈥渃onservative Christian groups like Hillsdale College and the Koch-founded Bill of Rights Institute.鈥�

Gov. Ron DeSantis has touted his administration鈥檚 effort to boost Florida鈥檚 civics education, including revamping the civics standards in 2021, but some teachers claim that new civics training materials are skewed towards Christian and conservative ideology.

The organization is starting out with a public records request with the Florida Department of Education, but may it may not end there.

鈥淎mericans United is considering all options. We鈥檙e not going to sit by while politicians smuggle white Christian Nationalism into public school curriculums under the guise of good citizenship,鈥� Americans United President and CEO Rachel Laser said in a press release.

Late last month, the Miami Herald reported that being trained to implement the new standards found the materials 鈥渋nfused with a Christian and conservative ideology.鈥� The news organization shared the PowerPoint slides from a

reported that a St. Johns County teacher shared similar sentiments.

鈥楳ore fire beneath that smoke鈥�

Andrew Seidel, vice president for strategic communications of the church-state separation advocacy group, told the Phoenix the organization has been following Florida鈥檚 civics curriculum for some time. The Florida Department of Education adopted new civics standards for K-12 schools in 2021.

鈥淭he training itself, to implement this curriculum, was alarming, so that suggests to us that there鈥檚 a lot more fire beneath that smoke,鈥� Seidel said.

The PowerPoint slides from the training claim, for example, that there is a 鈥渕isconception鈥� that 鈥渢he Founders desired a strict separation of church and state and that the Founders only wanted to protect Freedom of worship.鈥�

Seidel is the author of 鈥淭he Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American.鈥�

鈥淭he separation of church and state is a concept that is woven into the very fabric of our Republic and our Constitution,鈥� he told the Phoenix. 鈥淭here is no freedom of religion without a government that鈥檚 free from religion.鈥�

鈥楶rovide that foundation鈥�

DeSantis claims that if more people understood civics, there would be less 鈥渄ivision.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 confident that if we provide that foundation, these students as they become adults, they鈥檙e gonna be able to navigate a lot of the things that are going on, and make sense of a lot of the things that are going on, much better than probably my generation or certainly in more recent years,鈥� DeSantis said during a June 30 press conference in Sanford.

鈥淎nd that鈥檚 gonna pay a lot of dividends,鈥� he continued. 鈥淚 mean, quite frankly, if we did a better job of doing civics education, I don鈥檛 think we鈥檇 have as many divisions in our country as we have. Because there鈥檚 a lot of people that you know that 鈥� you don鈥檛 have a common understanding of our constitutional structure, of our founding principles, and it makes it a lot harder to agree on different types of issues.鈥�

Much of DeSantis鈥檚 political image revolves around keeping so-called 鈥渨oke ideologies鈥� out of Florida schools, and he frequently recites the motto of 鈥渆ducation, not indoctrination鈥� during his appearances.

DeSantis added during the press conference:

鈥淗istory is good and bad. There鈥檚 all kinds of things that happen, but I think that the story is, is that because that we were founded differently on different ideas 鈥� about God-given rights and the way the government, uh, the proper role of peoples lives, people have been able to triumph over a big, big challenges.鈥�

鈥楨xistential threat鈥�

Seidel says his group鈥檚 investigation will look into whether the civics training for teachers integrates Christian nationalism, which he says is an 鈥渆xistential threat to our republic.鈥�

鈥淐hristian nationalism is fundamentally opposed to pluralist democracy and, if we are teaching that to children in the public schools we aren鈥檛 raising good citizens. It鈥檚 the opposite to what DeSantis claims it the goal of this program,鈥� he said.

Andrew Spar, president of the statewide teacher union, the Florida Education Association, also discussed the civics training.

鈥淎s I understand it from those teachers who attended that first training that they had on civics was that it wasn鈥檛 just teaching about religion 鈥� it was teaching in one way skewed to a specific religion,鈥� Spar told the Phoenix.

鈥淎nd it really mischaracterized the founding of this country, where it said the founding of this country is based on religion. The founding of this country was actually based on escaping religious persecution,鈥� he continued.

鈥淵ou know, I think our founding fathers were very deliberate in talking about religion not being so central in how our government functions. So you know, it is concerning.

鈥淎nd it鈥檚 also concerning, and interesting, that, you know, this is coming from the governor鈥檚 administration where he keeps accusing teachers of indoctrinating kids but then clearly seems to wanna put out a civics class in which he鈥檚 indoctrinating kids.鈥�

Not everyone sees the civics training as a red flag yet.

Bob Holladay, an adjunct professor at Tallahassee Community College, told the Phoenix that 鈥渉e is not worried about what he has seen so far鈥� regarding the civics training PowerPoint slides.

鈥淯nless, and let me emphasize, unless K-12 teachers actually start getting penalized in some way for teaching, for emphasizing something different here. If that starts happening, you know, then there鈥檚 some concern,鈥� Holladay said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 really see much evidence of that yet.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Diane Rado for questions: [email protected]. Follow Florida Phoenix on and .

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