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Submitted by Steve Abramowicz of Heartland Journal –
The Biden administration has found yet another frontier for ideological battles, and this time, the target is clear: faith-based institutions.
In an era where bureaucratic mandates are wielded like ideological cudgels, the Department of Education’s overt and disproportionate enforcement actions against Christian and career-focused schools represent a sobering attempt to reshape America’s educational landscape.
The inconvenient truth is that under the guise of “progress”—a word that, much like “diversity” and “inclusion,” has become a euphemism for rigid conformity—the Biden administration has weaponized the Department of Education against institutions that do not toe the line of the prevailing Marxist orthodoxy.
This is a deliberate assault, not merely against these schools, but against the very idea that education should foster diverse values and worldviews. A recent report from the American Principles Project (APP) paints an alarming picture of the extent of this discrimination.
Despite faith-based and career schools constituting less than 10% of the student population, nearly 70% of the Department’s enforcement actions targeted these institutions. Christian universities such as Grand Canyon University (GCU) and Liberty University were handed record-level fines, dwarfing those faced by public institutions, even in cases involving public scandals and egregious misconduct.
These numbers make it increasingly difficult to dismiss the notion that there is an agenda at work—one that seeks to stigmatize and financially cripple institutions that refuse to bend to the demands of the radical Left. Consider the glaring discrepancy: at least a dozen Christian colleges were slapped with severe penalties or barred from federal student aid, while none of the Ivy League universities, despite their own myriad controversies, faced similar punitive measures.
One can only marvel at the audacity of a system that preaches “equality” and “fairness” while enforcing policies that clearly discriminate against institutions based on their moral and religious convictions. The penalties for these Christian institutions averaged nearly four times those levied on secular schools, making it abundantly clear that the Department’s actions are not just overreach—they’re targeted persecution. Grand Canyon University’s struggle for nonprofit recognition is a prime example of this administrative capriciousness.
Despite approval from multiple regulatory bodies affirming its nonprofit status, the Department of Education denied it, applying standards that, according to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, were not only incorrect but unlawfully applied. This Kafkaesque legal entanglement reveals more than bureaucratic incompetence; it exposes a calculated effort to obstruct faith-based institutions from accessing the privileges and resources available to others.
The ultimate goal seems clear: marginalize faith-based education until it becomes a fringe option, unaffordable and inaccessible for the vast majority of American families. The Department of Education, under Biden’s watch, has become a convenient tool for appeasing the most extreme fringes of the progressive movement. This isn’t about education, fairness, or “protecting students”—it’s about enforcing ideological conformity.
The modern-day Marxists running the show have co-opted the machinery of the state, embedding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) mandates in every corner of the public square. Their agenda is simple: undermine any institution that dares to uphold traditional values, especially those with a religious foundation.
Faith-based schools, with their emphasis on moral character, personal responsibility, and the sanctity of the individual, stand in direct opposition to the collectivist ideology that the Left is so desperate to propagate.
To understand this, one must look at the bigger picture of how “woke” orthodoxy has infiltrated every aspect of our cultural and governmental institutions. DEI mandates have become the secular catechism of our times, and the Department of Education is its enforcement arm. We’ve seen this phenomenon unfold across corporations, media, and even the military, but its incursion into education—especially religious education—is perhaps the most dangerous.
After all, as the late William F. Buckley Jr. once observed, the purpose of education should be to teach students how to think, not what to think. And yet, today’s Department of Education appears singularly focused on ensuring that every student receives the latter.
The campaign against faith-based schools is not isolated—it’s a feature of the Biden administration’s broader war on traditional American values. Vice President Kamala Harris and her allies in the administration have made it clear that they view institutions rooted in religious conviction as obstacles to their vision of a new, “equitable” America.
In this vision, freedom of religion is tolerated only so long as it remains a private matter, devoid of any public influence or benefit. Hence, the systemic targeting of institutions that educate young people within a framework of faith and morality—principles that stand in stark contrast to the moral relativism that characterizes the Left’s social agenda. It is not enough to simply criticize this weaponization; we must also understand why it is happening.
The Left has come to view the institutions of civil society—churches, religious schools, family units—as obstacles to the full realization of their ideological project. Faith-based schools, by their very nature, present an alternative model of education and community—one that emphasizes not just academic rigor, but also moral development rooted in timeless truths.
This is antithetical to the identity-based indoctrination preferred by those who see every human relationship through the lens of power dynamics. In a country where religious freedom is enshrined in the First Amendment, the treatment of Christian schools by Biden’s Department of Education is not only unjust—it’s unconstitutional. In targeting Christian schools, the Biden administration reveals its true priorities: to pander to the DEI and LGBTQ lobbies that increasingly dominate the Democrat Party.
These groups are not interested in a pluralistic society where diverse views can coexist. No, their goal is ideological hegemony, and they have found a willing partner in the Biden-Harris administration. The relentless pressure on institutions like Grand Canyon University to conform, or else, is part of a broader attempt to eliminate dissent and ensure that no educational space remains untouched by the Left’s radical vision for America.
This approach recalls the darker moments of American history, where government overreach sought to stifle dissent and impose a singular worldview. It was not that long ago that the Democrat Party stood in staunch opposition to school integration and civil rights. Today, the faces and slogans have changed, but the impulse to use government power to impose an ideological uniformity remains very much alive. Instead of racial segregation, we now see ideological segregation—where conservative, Christian, or otherwise non-conforming institutions are targeted for elimination from public life.
In response, the path forward is clear. Faith-based schools must continue to resist, both in courts and in the court of public opinion. This is not just a battle for funding or legal status; it is a battle for the soul of American education. The right to educate children according to one’s values is fundamental, and any effort to undermine this right is an affront to liberty itself. We must also hold our elected officials accountable, ensuring that those who purport to represent us do more than offer platitudes.
It’s time to demand real action against the bureaucratic overreach that seeks to dismantle the institutions that have long been the backbone of American civil society. The Biden administration’s assault on faith-based education is more than a policy dispute—it is a moral crisis. It is an attempt to extinguish the light of tradition, faith, and community from American education, to replace it with the cold, bureaucratic apparatus of ideological conformity. But as Ronald Reagan famously said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”
If we are to preserve the freedoms that make this nation great, we must stand with those institutions that, against all odds, continue to champion the values upon which America was founded.
About the Author: Steven M. Abramowicz is CEO and Editor of Heartland Journal.com and host of the Heartland Journal podcast.
