Our religious groups are a creative bunch. They have invaded our school boards and forced religion into our textbooks in states like Texas, and they have been finding numerous ways to fight for things like school prayer for decades. However, one way in which religious groups have been able to push their ideology on our children that often goes unnoticed is currently happening inside our charter schools.

In 2013, The New York Times ran a story about a Texas woman named Latisha Andrews. She had attempted to run a private school out of a church for some time but eventually lacked the funding necessary to continue. What did she do? She did what so many Americans have done in recent years; she asked Uncle Sam to foot the bill. As the story notes, there are many charter schools in Texas that operate inside churches. So much for the separation of church and state.

In 2008, the Minneapolis Star Tribune found that a school run by Muslim-Americans was having students participate in daily prayer, despite saying they did no such thing, and the school was eventually shut down. In 2014, it was found two charter schools in Arkansas were teaching creationism.

The nonprofit educational organization Americans United for Separation of Church and State is currently involved in a lawsuit against a charter school group called Heritage Academy, which is operating in three Arizona cities. The charter schools run by Heritage teach that people who are not religious have mental health issues, that religious ideology is necessary in government and more religious nonsense. "Without religion the government of a free people cannot be maintained," the coursework reads.

Eric Rothschild, senior litigation counsel at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told me charter schools inserting religion into teaching is quite common. He said many private religious schools that are struggling with funding will become charter schools to receive government aid but won't adequately change the curriculum to teach more secular lessons. He said instead of schools like those in the Heritage system simply teaching about religion, they regularly appear to be promoting religion.

This kind of teaching, paid for by our taxes, would appear to be a clear violation of the First Amendment. Our government is not to get involved in the promoting of religious ideals, despite what those who claim this is a Christian nation might try to tell you. However, due to poor state oversight in places like Arizona, schools like these are allowed to operate as they please with little intervention.

"The reason you see it happening relatively often is, I think, due in large part to the fact that there is insufficient oversight over charter schools," Rothschild told me.

What makes this all more concerning is that we now have a very religious secretary of education who thinks charter schools are the greatest invention since Christian rock. Betsy DeVos and her family have spent millions trying to get politicians to push for charter schools, and they have been loud supporters of somewhat extreme religious organizations like the Foundation for Traditional Values. Their efforts have been largely successful, as the money has drained out of Detroit's now atrocious public school system and found its way into the charter school system.

With charter schools across the country finding ways to get religious thought into the minds of the young, a secretary of education who passionately supports religious groups and the charter schools committing these crimes is dangerous. It is the duty of our federal education system to make sure these schools are operating within the confines of the Constitution, and I fear someone like Betsy DeVos will put little to no effort into assuring that.

"I'm concerned that charter schools that want to endorse religion might feel more empowered as a result of who's in charge of this at the federal level," Rothschild said.

Another concerning aspect of this issue is that charter schools also frequently discriminate when it comes to which students they accept. Charter schools in many places are not prohibited from discriminating against a student based on their religion or sexual orientation. Not only do these schools teach religion, they use it as a defense for prejudice. DeVos will likely do nothing to correct this.