Do we still believe in the separation of church and state?

We don’t have enough problems trying to educate our 1 million school children in North Carolina, so our esteemed legislators decided they would throw another monkey wrench into things.

Hidden deep in the bowels of the 634-page, $34 billion budget lawmakers finally passed is a special provision that allows children to leave school for religious instruction during the school day.

Special provisions are disingenuous, devious, often dishonest codicils placed in budget or other legislation that prevents legislators from having an actual vote on the particular matter -bypassing legislative committees, floor debate and a vote. Instead, lawmakers are allowed to vote either for or against the entire budget. Maybe these special provisions are slipped into budgets because leaders know they couldn’t pass the regular legislative process. Maybe they are put into the budget because leadership doesn’t want us to know what they have done and figure we won’t bother to read the entire document. But more likely, especially with this codicil, it was attached so that no lawmaker could be personally identified with it. And we don’t often learn of these items until some time later.

Democrats did it for years. Marc Basnight was a master at the craft. When Republicans took control of our legislature there was initially the pronouncement they scorned such practices and pledged not to include special provisions in their budgets. That promise was quickly broken.

There are many special provisions in the recently passed state budget but perhaps the most grievous was the requirement that North Carolina public school districts and charter schools were required to give excused absences to students for up to four hours weekly for private religious instruction.

In our view this tramples on the 1^st Amendment codicil that, “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion.” While the new provision does not require any student be required to receive religious instruction, nor does it decree which particular faith that instruction should promote, the mere fact that it involves government and religioncomes dangerously close to violating the separation of church and state, even though the US Supreme Court has ruled it allowable.

There are few requirements or regulations for organizations offering the instruction. Parents must give written permission for their child to attend. There are no background checks necessary, no certification of instruction provided and no requirements for the safety of transporting students to and from the class. The instruction must be conducted off the school premises and the transportation must be provided by private sources. While students will be excused from class, they are still required to complete all academic work they might miss AND the schools are to provide makeup instruction for missed classes.

Some could declare witchcraft, communism, antisemitism, Marxism or other far-fetched notions a religion and insist students be given excused absences.

Other states offer similar programs and there is one provider, Lifewise Academy, that has operations in 34 states, providing Bible-based character education. This non-profit depends on contributions and volunteers to operate. The group boasts that they serve 100,000 students in the U.S. with an annual budget of $35 million. And now they are operating in our state.

There is mounting opposition to the movement. Pastors for NC Children is opposed on many fronts, starting with the lack of background checks on those providing the instruction or transportation; secrecy and lack of transparency surrounding the curriculum being used and the potential violation of church and state.

Others see this as another thinly veiled disguise by Christian conservatives to impose their will on society. They say this is but another extension of funding private school tuition through vouchers, forcing book bans and other curriculum restrictions in public education.

Are these accusations valid? Are Christian nationalists trying to control the moral and religious beliefs of our state and nation? How did Lifewise grow so large so fast? If other churches or organizations offer instruction, who decides which organizations and spiritual practices are allowable?

The potential for school disruption, lost instructional time, transportation problems, school privacy and safety issues, protection of parental rights and the difficulty in schools remaining neutral in administering the programs are concerning. More importantly, is there any chance this new provision will improve public education outcomes in our state?

Maybe this is just what our young people need but if true, why was this hidden without adequate public discussion and debate?

I’m all for moral and character instruction for our young people but religious instruction during school hours? What’s wrong with offering this outside school hours like many extracurricular groups have done for as long as I can remember?

Call me a doubting Thomas, but I see potential trouble coming our way…all cloaked in the name of religious freedom.

Tom Campbell is a Hall of Fame North Carolina broadcaster and columnist who has covered North Carolina public policy issues since 1965.  Contact him at tomcamp@ncspin.com