Religious Liberty Commission Hosts Third Hearing on Religious Liberty in Public Education

WASHINGTON - Yesterday, the Religious Liberty Commission held its third hearing to discuss religious liberty issues in education from the perspectives of teachers and coaches, as well as religious liberty issues in school funding and educational choice, including testimony from school leaders, families, and experts impacted by religious liberty issues in school funding. The hearing's objective was to understand the historic landscape of religious liberty in the educational setting, recognize present threats to religious liberty in education, and identify opportunities to secure religious liberty in this context for the future.

The hearing opened with a special panel on violence against people and communities of faith. The panel included testimony from friends of Charlie Kirk, who spoke of his commitment to faith and free speech and advocacy for religious liberty.

"Charlie Kirk was an American hero whose love for God, country, and family guided every step of his life," said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. "Our Religious Liberty Commission will continue to uphold his legacy of advocating for religious liberty, particularly at our educational institutions that too often seek to suppress free speech."

"Physical violence and murder are the ultimate deprivations of religious liberty. We have seen a tragic rise in such violence targeted at communities and individuals of faith, including our friend Charlie Kirk," said Commission Chairman Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. "This behavior is un-American and threatens every state in the nation. The Department of Justice Religious Liberty Commission stands with the Trump Administration in condemning it, finding the root cause of this violence, and doing everything possible to end it. We will not rest until we do."

The hearing continued with scheduled programming on religious liberty issues in education, hearing from teachers, coaches, clergy, and other faith leaders on the grave challenges facing people and institutions of faith.

Chairman Patrick added: "In our hearing, we had heartbreaking testimony from great teachers and coaches who were bullied and threatened by the education system to choose between keeping their faith or keeping their jobs. Even after winning at the Supreme Court, the hateful attacks on them by the schools continued. No American should have to endure the grief and pain of being targeted by religious discrimination. Our Commissioners left with renewed conviction in the urgent need to restore First Amendment protections for our public and private schools and their staff."

Panel on Violence against Faith Communities

Dr. Hutz Hertzberg : Chief Education Officer, Turning Point Education

Hutz Hertzberg has served as the Chief Education Officer for Turning Point Education since July 2022 and previously served as President of Christian Heritage Academy in Northfield, Illinois. Hutz's organizational leadership experience includes serving as President of Christian Union, Director of the Orchard Network, and Executive Pastor of The Moody Church in Chicago. Hutz has also served for two decades in higher education administrative and faculty positions, including at Trinity International University, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Wheaton College, Judson University and the College of DuPage. Hutz is a licensed and ordained minister who served as a Chaplain in the United States Naval Reserve and continues to give leadership to the Protestant Chaplaincy at Chicago O'Hare and Midway Airports.

Eric Metaxas : Religious Liberty Commission Member

Writer, speaker, and radio host, Eric Metaxas has written dozens of books, including the national bestseller, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. The story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer was so beloved by readers that it was made into a major motion picture. Metaxas has testified before Congress on the global rise of anti-Semitism and been awarded the Canterbury Medal by the Becket Fund for Religious Freedom.

Pastor Jentezen Franklin : Religious Liberty Commission Advisory Board Member

Pastor Jentezen Franklin is the Senior Pastor of Free Chapel, a multi-campus church based in Gainesville, Georgia. He has written multiple books including the bestseller, Fasting: Opening the door to a deeper, more intimate, more powerful relationship with God.

Guest Speaker:

Dr. Larry Arnn : President, Hillsdale College

Dr. Arnn is the 12th president of Hillsdale College, where he is also a professor of politics and history. Dr. Arnn is on the board of directors of The Heritage Foundation, the Henry Salvatori Center of Claremont McKenna College, the Philadelphia Society, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, and the Claremont Institute.

Panel II: Teacher and Coach Perspectives

Coach Joe Kennedy : Former Bremerton High School (BHS) Football Coach

School officials at BHS suspended-and later fired-football coach Joe Kennedy because he prayed a brief, quiet prayer after football games. A lawsuit was filed against the school district, arguing that banning coaches from quietly praying, just because they can be seen by the public, is wrong and violates the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit sided with the school district. The case eventually landed in the U.S. Supreme Court. In January 2022, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case and has since ruled in favor of Coach Joe.

Monica Gill : History Teacher at Loudoun County High School

Monica took a stand against her school district's secret gender transition policy - Policy 8040 - that required teachers to lie to parents about their child's identity and force them to use pronouns requested by students, even if it meant denying their religious beliefs. ADF filed suit, and in December 2021, the school board agreed to a permanent injunction prohibiting retaliation against teachers who opposed the policy. In December 2023, the school board changed its position on the policy, and in July 2025, the Loudoun County Circuit Court officially recognized the change, allowing teachers to avoid using pronouns that violate their religious beliefs.

Marisol Arroyo-Castro : Connecticut Public School Teacher

While teaching in the New Britain School District, Marisol placed a crucifix by her desk along with other personal items, such as student artwork and a church calendar. In December 2024, school leadership abruptly told Marisol to remove the crucifix or be charged with insubordination. Marisol was later suspended without pay, placed on administrative leave, and involuntarily transferred to a non-teaching position for objecting. Attorneys have intervened on Marisol's behalf in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

Keisha Russell : Former special education teacher, constitutional lawyer with First Liberty Institute

Keisha Toni Russell is a constitutional lawyer with First Liberty Institute in Texas, a non-profit law firm that specializes in religious liberty litigation. Keisha graduated from Emory University School of Law and was a 2017 Emory University Graduating Woman of Excellence. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Keisha was a special education teacher in an elementary school in Atlanta, Georgia.

Panel III: Protecting the Religious Identity and Autonomy of Faith-Based Schools

Rabbi David Zwiebel : Executive Vice President of Agudath Israel of America, RLC Advisory Board member

Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel is the Executive Vice President of Agudath Israel of America, an American organization that represents Orthodox Jews. In 2020, he helped organize one of the largest gatherings of Orthodox Jews in U.S. history.

Fr. Robert Sirico : Pastor Emeritus, Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Parish

To preserve its Catholic identity, Sacred Heart requires students, parents, and teachers to sign a doctrine upholding catholic principles regarding marriage and sexuality. In 2024, Sacred Heart Academy joined parents in suing the state of Michigan in federal court demanding a reprieve from the state's sweeping "anti-discrimination" law, after lawmakers amended the state's Civil Rights Act to cover sexual orientation and gender identity without a general religious exemption.

Dr. Todd J. Williams : President, Cairn University

Cairn University, a small, private, Christian school in southeastern Pennsylvania, made a strategic institutional decision to eliminate its School of Social Work and all related degrees and programs due to multiple factors, including declining enrollment, revenue disparities, and issues related to the program's accrediting body, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) deemed incompatible with the school's religious and theological commitments. Following Cairn's decision, CSWE posted a press release on its website and social-media platforms publicly criticizing the university.

John Bursch : Former Michigan Solicitor General, Senior Counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom

John Bursch is senior counsel and vice president of appellate advocacy with Alliance Defending Freedom. Bursch has argued 13 U.S. Supreme Court cases and three dozen state supreme court cases, and he has successfully litigated six matters with at least $1 billion at stake. A recent study concluded that among all frequent Supreme Court advocates who did not work for the federal government, he had the 3rd highest success rate for persuading justices to adopt his legal position. Bursch served as solicitor general for the state of Michigan from 2011-2013.

Panel IV: Faith-Based Schools and the State

Carroll Conley : Former Headmaster of Bangor Christian Schools, Executive Director of the Christian Civil League of Maine

In June 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that Maine cannot prevent parents from using the state's publicly funded tuition assistance program to send kids to private religious schools. The case, Carson v. Makin, was brought by two families in rural Maine who did not have access to public schools. Maine banned parents from using the money to send their kids to schools that provide religious education. The families successfully challenged that rule, alleging it violated both the religion clauses and equal protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

Laura Wolk Slavis : Speaking on behalf of Chaya and Yoni Loffman

Chaya and Yoni Loffman were forced to discontinue speech therapy for their son because of requirements under California's Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that prohibit funding from being used at religious private schools. Now, the Loffmans and other religious Jewish parents of students with disabilities are plaintiffs in a lawsuit, Loffman v. California Department of Education.

Jason Bedrick : Research Fellow in the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation, Author, Adjunct Scholar with the Cato Institute

Bedrick is a Research Fellow in the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation, where he focuses on policies that promote education freedom and choice, religious liberty, classical education, and restoring the primary role of families in education. His research on education policy has been published by numerous national and state-level think tanks and media publications.

Prof. Nicole Stelle Garnett : Professor of Law and Associate Dean for External Engagement at University of Notre Dame

Garnett's teaching and research focuses on education law and policy, religious liberty, and topics related to property law. Garnett received her B.A. with distinction in Political Science from Stanford University and her J.D. from Yale Law School. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Morris S. Arnold of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and for Associate Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States. Before joining the law school faculty in 1999, she worked for two years as a staff attorney at the Institute for Justice, a non-profit public-interest law firm in Washington, D.C., where she helped to defend the constitutionality of the nation's first private-school-choice programs.

Closing Remarks:

Dr. Francis Beckwith : Professor of Philosophy and Church-State studies at Baylor University, RLC Advisory Board member

Dr. Beckwith teaches and publishes in the areas of religion, jurisprudence, politics, and ethics. A graduate of Fordham University (Ph.D. and M.A. in philosophy) and the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis (Master of Juridical Studies), he has published over 100 academic articles, book chapters, reviews, and reference entries.

Watch the hearing HERE.

The next hearing will be held in Dallas, Texas on November 17, and will consider religious liberty in the U.S. Military. Members of the public can learn more about registration at https://www.justice.gov/religious-liberty-commission/upcoming-hearings.

The Religious Liberty Commission was established by President Trump under Executive Order 14291 and is tasked with producing a comprehensive report on the foundations of religious liberty in America, increasing awareness of and celebrating America's peaceful religious pluralism, highlighting current threats to religious liberty, and developing strategies to preserve and enhance protections for future generations.