The vast majority of Americans believe that parents should be able to opt their children out of gender and sexuality-related curricula that violate their religious beliefs, according to a new survey shared with The Daily Wire.
Data from the Becket Fund’s annual Religious Freedom Index found that 77% of Americans believe parents should be able to opt their children out of curriculum violating their religious beliefs, up from 74% the previous year. Just 23% said they didn’t think parents should be able to opt their kids out for religious reasons.
“Parents don’t take a back seat to anyone when it comes to raising their children,” Lori Windham, vice president and senior counsel at Becket told The Daily Wire. “This year’s Index shows that a vast majority of Americans believe in this commonsense principle and in every parent’s right to excuse their children from classroom lessons that violate their faith.”
“Our nation is best when we empower parents, not the government, to decide what’s best for their children,” she added.
Becket has requested the Supreme Court to hear a case featuring a coalition of Maryland parents, including both Christians and Muslims, who want to be able to opt their elementary school-aged students out of instruction on gender and sexuality. The parents argue that the Montgomery County School Board is violating their religious beliefs by forcing children as young as three to read books about transgenderism, pride parades, and preferred pronouns.
The case is expected to be reviewed at one of the Supreme Court’s upcoming conferences.
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The responses were gathered after Becket asked survey respondents if they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: “Parents should be able to opt their children out of public school curriculum on gender and sexuality that violates their religious beliefs or that they believe is not age appropriate.”
The data were shared with The Daily Wire ahead of the publication of Becket’s Religious Freedom Index, which measures American attitudes toward the First Amendment. This year’s survey featured answers from a representative sample taken from an online poll of 1,000 adults.
In previous years, the index has asked Americans about their attitudes toward religion in the workplace and whether they think religion can help solve America’s problems.
Across the country, there is broad support for parents to have increasing control over their children’s education. A recent poll from Parents Defending Education found that 75% of parents do not support teachers providing instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity to elementary school students.
