We’ve all heard the term, “The separation of church and state.” This principle is a fundamental tenet of American democracy. Its function is to prevent any one religion from dominating American political life. Understood differently, it also prevents the realm of culture from dominating that of legal rights. However, this boundary should go both ways. A modern extension of this foundational American principle is the separation of school and state. Should governments have a say in what schools teach? A recent Supreme Court case highlighted this issue. In Mahmoud v. Taylor, a group of parents in Maryland wished to excuse their children from certain lessons containing LGBTQ-themed storybooks. The Court upheld their right to do so on the grounds of exercising their religious freedom.
Religion and education are highly synonymous, whether we like to admit that or not. There is always a worldview behind what we teach children; let’s not pretend it weren’t so. That being said, whether you agree or disagree with the Court’s decision is not the point here. The point is whether or not the government should even have a say in the matter.
How The Human Being Functions
Let’s face it, American Society is not well. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that, and it’s because it’s not functioning in accord with its own true geometry. The same would be true in your own body – if you’re living out of sync with your nature, you’re going to get ill. So, let’s first examine how society should function by comparing it to the human being, and that will give us insight into the separation of school and state.
A human is a threefold being of head, heart, and limbs, aka, the nervous, circulatory, and metabolic systems. The function of the brain and nervous system as the bearer of conscious thought is to guide the human being through life. We do this through our ability to sense the world and make sense of it. Our heads must be free to think. They must also be supported by the circulation and metabolism, for they cannot provide these for themselves. However, those other systems cannot interfere with the head’s functioning, only support it. The circulatory system has a different function than the head: maintaining health and balance. By circulating nutrients, it delivers exactly what is needed where in the body. Thereby, it maintains health. Finally, the metabolic system provides energy for the whole system to function.
How Society Functions: The Cultural Realm
Human society is nothing but a macrocosmic picture of the individual as just described. Its “head” is the cultural realm. This is where education, religion, art, science, literature, music, research, etc. function. The cultural realm must operate in freedom – freedom to think, inquire, discover. Culture should lead society. Can you imagine what would happen if teachers were mandated to teach only one religion, or if medical researchers were not free to research novel cures for illness? Indeed, this was the case during COVID. Or, what if bookstores could only sell “approved” books? When you realize the nightmares that can, and in some cases have, happened when the cultural realm is not allowed to function freely, you understand the need for freedom in this area.
How Society Functions: The Rights Realm
Society’s “heart” is the rights realm. This is where government, law, police, military, and various regulatory agencies function. Their job is a lot simpler than modern American society makes it. It is simply to protect everybody’s rights and access to getting their needs met. That’s it. Just as the heart and lungs aren’t here to publicly promote the needs of the liver over the kidneys, neither is the government here to promote the interest of one or another group within society. Gay marriage is a great example of this. It is legal in all 50 States, and state governments must uphold this. Legal marriage is the purview of government, not religion (culture).
That doesn’t mean a specific church or pastor is legally obligated to perform the rite for same-sex couples – that remains up to them. It only means if two same-sex people want to legally marry with all its attendant benefits, they may do so. At the same time, it’s not a government’s job to promote gay marriage – nor heterosexual marriage, for that matter – only to protect both.
The work of the rights realm must be governed by equality – all are equal under the law. We see what happens when certain individuals use their wealth to buy their way out of accountability. No less should a president be subject to the law than a homeless beggar.
How Society Functions: The Economic Realm
Finally, society’s “limbs” are the economic realm. This is where businesses, farmers, industry, transportation, trade, banking, etc. function. Its task is to make sure everybody’s needs are met. Thereby, the economy’s governing value must be brotherhood. That’s not the same as economic equality, which is what Communism strives for (in its misguided and impossible dream of establishing a material utopia). Brotherhood doesn’t mean everybody gets the same because not everybody needs the same. At the same time, it means nobody gets left behind. There is a seat at the banquet table for all.
It also recognizes the reality that you and I work to meet each other’s needs. I teach your child and you grow my food. Acknowledging this suggests we should stop treating the economy as a cutthroat game of domination and submission, and instead become far more collaborative than competitive. Let battles happen in the cultural realm. Let people prove the superiority of some ideas over others and in the meantime make sure everybody’s bellies are full.
Why This Matters
Can a body function if the heart tries doing the brain’s job, or the stomach the heart’s? Can society function if the government usurps teacher’s jobs?
There is no separation between an individual and the collective. If we therefore understand human health, we will understand social health. We must name this if we are to understand properly the separation of school and state.
Our task must be to establish a proper threefold social order so that each thing is in its proper place doing its job. Then, we can reestablish the proper balance in society.
The Separation of School and State
When the government tries to influence school curricula, they overstep their bounds. The influence of big business and agendas in government only exacerbates this problem (and demonstrates intrusion of the economic realm into the rights and cultural realms). We should rather leave teachers free to teach what they see as right and parents free to send or not send their children to a particular school or homeschool program. Why don’t we trust teachers and parents to make the right decisions for the children in their care?
The government’s job with respect to education is to make sure each family has access to whatever type they choose for their children. Full stop. Whereby, as a society we must provide public funding for all schools and homeschool options. Many people wrongly think public funding of private schools and homeschools violates separation of church and state. However, that is only because they have an incomplete view of the situation or simply don’t know how to think a thing through. When you realize that education functions like religion – because there is no such thing as value-free education – you realize that when public funding only supports government schools, we are already violating the separation of church and state.
To the naysayers, hear this: the only way to uphold a true separation of church and state (and separation of school and state) is a public voucher system with absolutely no strings attached. Every family gets the same amount of money to choose where to send their children. Seth Jordan’s Substack is a wonderful place to read more about this.
So, What Do We Do?
The only way to remedy the social health of a society is to establish a threefold social order that establishes the right governing values in the right spheres, and to allow enough sovereignty of each sphere from the others so each can do its job without interference. My way of doing that is to start teaching children about this in middle school. It’s a hallmark of our curriculum not found virtually anywhere else – even in most Waldorf schools, where it should be! However, there’s also many things we can do on the adult level. Check out this yearlong course starting in October 2026: https://thewholesocial.substack.com/p/foundations-of-a-healthy-society
How to Connect
Enkindle Academy offers prerecorded and live lessons for students in grades 5-9. We teach all academic subjects plus fine arts, creative writing and language arts, and empowerment groups for teens.
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