New polling finds that Americans are divided on the role religion should play in public schools: 34% say that religion doesn't play enough of a role, 26% say its role is about right, and 26% say it plays too much of a role.
Americans who say religion is very important to them are especially likely to say religion doesn't play enough of a role in public schools (56%), as are people who identify as Christians (45%).
Views are also mixed on which religions, if any, public schools should teach students about. 38% of Americans say public schools should teach about all religions equally; 12% say they should teach about all religions, but give more emphasis to Christianity; 9% say they should only teach about Christianity; and 28% say they should not teach about any religions.
Among Christians, only 11% say that public schools should only teach about Christianity; a larger share, 20%, say they should teach about all religions but give more attention to Christianity, and even more (34%) say they should teach about all religions equally. The vast majority of people who are atheist, agnostic, or no particular religion say schools should either teach about all religions equally (40%) or not teach about any religions (41%).
Majorities of Americans are supportive of allowing certain expressions or acknowledgements of religion in schools, including allowing students to wear clothing or jewelry with religious symbols (70% strongly or somewhat support), requiring schools to accommodate students' religious holidays (67%), allowing student-led religious clubs to meet on school property (60%), and allowing time for student prayer or religious reflection (55%).
In terms of curriculum, most (68%) are in favor of requiring social studies classes to teach about world religions, and about half (49%) support allowing religious texts — such as the Bible, Torah, or Quran — to be used in literature classes. A majority (59%) of Americans think parents should be allowed to opt their children out of lessons involving LGBTQ+-related topics on religious grounds. Americans are far more likely to support teaching about contraception in sex education classes (75%) than they are to support requiring sex education classes to be abstinence-only (37%). There is also far more support for science classes teaching about evolution (68%) than there is for teaching creationism alongside evolution (40%).
More Americans oppose than support requiring classrooms to display the Ten commandments (50% vs. 31%) — a policy that is part of a law passed in Texas this year and that a judge recently halted. Opposition also is higher than support for allowing public charter schools to be operated by religious organizations (43% vs. 30%), allowing school staff to lead students in Christian prayer (43% vs. 38%), and allowing teachers to express their personal religious beliefs to students (56% vs. 29%). But opposition is far greater than support for allowing teachers to criticize religion to students (68% vs. 16%).
Christians are more likely than people who belong to other religions or to no religion — people who are atheistic, agnostic, or of no particular religion — to favor allowing school staff to lead students in Christian prayer and requiring teaching about Christianity as part of required social studies curricula. People with no religion are more likely than people who belong to a particular religion to support teaching about LGBTQ+ people in sex education classes and to support allowing students to wear clothing or jewelry that are critical of religion or that promote atheism.
While many Americans disapprove of requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms, a majority of people (71%) strongly or somewhat agree that they are relevant to how people should live today, and 67% attempt to follow them in their daily lives. A majority (54%) believe they were directly given by God to Moses, and 61% think they are a direct expression of God’s will for how people should behave. Few (17%) think the Ten Commandments have done more harm than good, and only 21% say they are outdated and no longer relevant to modern society.
Christians are far more likely than Americans with no religion — and somewhat more likely than people who belong to other religions — to agree that the Ten Commandments are relevant to how people should live today. A majority of Christians believe they were directly given by God to Moses. Few Americans, including those who don’t belong to a religion, think the Ten Commandments have done more harm than good.
— Carl Bialik contributed to this article
See the results for this YouGov poll
Methodology: This article includes results from an online survey conducted August 11 - 13, 2025 among 1,163 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
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