On Monday, U.S. Senators Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, and Katie Britt, R-Alabama, joined 25 of their Republican colleagues in introducing a resolution to designate October 5-11, 2025, as “Religious Education Week.”
In addition to its formal recognition of “Religious Education Week,” the resolution also asks the Senate to affirm “the importance of religious education in the civic and moral development of the people of the United States” and to celebrate “the schools and organizations that are engaged in religious instruction of the children of the United States to aid those children in intellectual, ethical, moral, and civic development.”
Additionally, the resolution calls on each state and territory of the United States to accommodate school release programs for students who wish to attend religious classes outside of public school. State officials in Alabama are already pushing for such accommodations, with state Senator Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, sponsoring a bill for the 2026 legislative session to require local boards of education to grant elective credit for such religious “released time.” Meanwhile, Governor Kay Ivey continues to divert public funds to private education through the controversial CHOOSE Act.
Both Sens. Britt and Tuberville released official statements Monday highlighting the new resolution and applauding religious educators. Tuberville, however, specifically touted the resolution’s commingling of “Judeo-Christian values” with American education and government, even though the resolution does not explicitly mention Christianity and is ostensibly aimed at celebrating all forms of faith-based education.
“It’s truly a blessing that so many children across our country are able to attend schools where they can deepen their faith alongside their other studies. Safeguarding religious education and religious freedom is fundamental to our core American values,” Sen. Britt said of the resolution. “Ahead of Religious Education Week, I applaud all schools, churches, teachers, and families who make faith-based learning possible.”
“As Republicans, we believe that parents, not the government, should be in charge of a child’s education,” said Sen. Tuberville. “Our country was rooted in Judeo-Christian values, and private religious schools are a great option for many Alabamians. There’s a myth out there that our Founders wanted to keep God out of the public square. That just isn’t true. This country was built on love of God, love of country, and love of family.”
Contrary to Tuberville’s statement, it is widely acknowledged that the United States’ founding fathers intended to establish a distinct separation between church and state. That principle is legally codified within the First Amendment, which protects Americans’ freedom to practice religion however they so choose or to practice no religion at all.
Both Britt and Tuberville signed onto the same resolution last year during the 118th Congress, while Tuberville cosponsored it in 2023 as well.
