After the Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools was passed earlier this month, Oklahoma’s state superintendent Ryan Walters ordered that schools teach the Bible from fifth through 12th grade. Whether and how Walters’s mandate will be implemented, The order has raised concerns regarding the educational efficacy of incorporating the Bible into school curricula, the separation of church and state, and the protection of children’s religious freedoms in public schools. Such concerns are complicated by the increasing prominence of so-called “Christian” nationalism, a political ideology seeking the power to govern so as to guide America’s values, preserve its heritage and renovate its culture. In using “Christian” as a descriptor of this sort of nationalism, one might assume that “Christianity” is in view rather than American civil religion.
Recognizing the Bible’s influence on America’s founders and founding documents is a matter of historical observation rather than religious conviction. For instance, Benjamin Franklin, who is generally recognized as a deist rather than a Christian, proposed the image of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt for the national seal. In doing so, he was not seeking to evangelize a nation, but to frame the American experience in terms reminiscent of a story with which many Americans at the time were familiar. While Americans today may believe in any number of gods (or no god at all), recognizing the Bible’s influence in Franklin’s recommended national seal doesn’t require one to adopt any specific religious convictions.
The Bible is a part of America’s history, so what’s the problem? In part, the problem seems to center on the motivations associated with incorporating the Bible in schools. For instance, while Walters’s statement that the Bible “is essential for a historical understanding of the country’s history” is defensible on historical grounds, he has also noted that “radical leftists drive God out of schools, drive the Bible out of schools” and ties “American values” to the decision to make the Bible a required text. As opposed to teaching the Bible as literature or investigating its influence on the thoughts and beliefs of early Americans, the Bible is often used to encourage a certain set of values rather than belief in Jesus Christ, which is essential to Christian teaching.
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It seems unlikely that Oklahoma’s order will be an effective means of introducing students to the Christian faith. That may seem strange since the Bible is Christianity’s sacred text; however, many American uses of the Bible draw out generic principles detached from the exclusive claims of Christianity. The Bible is used to explain, legitimize and mobilize Americans to be good citizens by emphasizing certain morals and values. Whether or not those good citizens happen to be Christians isn’t of any particular concern. Used in this manner, the Bible is no longer the authoritative word of God, but a text with selective utility for advancing American civil religion.
In his analysis of American civil religion, sociologist Robert Bellah acknowledges the “biblical archetypes” underlying American civil religion, but recognizes that America has not made the biblical religion its own. Instead, American civil religion has developed “its own prophets and its own martyrs, its own sacred events and sacred places, its own solemn rituals and symbols.” Legislative and political actions to incorporate the Bible or portions of it in public schools constitute American (not Christian) prophetic speech. They are attempts to push the nation to become, as Bellah states, “a society as perfectly in accord with the will of God as men can make it, and a light to all the nations.”
Phrases like “in accord with the will of God” and “a light to all the nations” are parodies of Biblical language that do not reflect Christian teachings. In Bellah’s treatment, we recognize an attempt to adopt biblical language to form good citizens who are, at some level, disciples of the state. The Bible’s use in American civil religion is not used to make disciples for Christ, but, as George Will writes, to make “ladies and gentlemen…social artifacts, works of political art.” He goes on to note that “statecraft is, inevitably, soulcraft.”
Time will tell whether Louisiana’s law or Oklahoma’s order stands. Even if they do, Christians and non-Christians alike need to recognize that using the Bible in public schools is unlikely to lead to a mass conversion to Christianity because Christianity isn’t being taught. Yet, from the perspective of historical literacy, some knowledge of the Bible seems warranted. It does make numerous appearances in America’s historical literature. It is also the case that some students who read the Bible may come to recognize it as God’s authoritative word. Yet, it would seem that the way the Bible is taught (and the people teaching it) will condition the way students receive it.
For instance, in the book of Acts, the apostle Philip approaches an Ethiopian Eunuch reading the scroll of Isaiah. Philip asks the Eunuch if he understands what he is reading. The Eunuch responds, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” After Philip explains the scriptures to him, the Eunuch asks to be baptized by Philip as a sign of the Eunuch’s commitment to Jesus Christ. Would this story have resulted in the Eunuch’s conversion if Isaiah had been explained through the lens of American history? It seems less likely (though certainly not impossible). Whereas Philip proclaims, “the good news about Jesus,” American civil religion tends to leave out that part.
Dr. James Spencer currently serves as President of Useful to God and President of D. L. Moody Center. His newest book titled “Serpents and Doves: Christians, Politics, and the Art of Bearing Witness” is available on amazon.com. He previously published “Christian Resistance: Learning to Defy the World and Follow Jesus,” “Useful to God: Eight Lessons from the Life of D. L. Moody,” “Thinking Christian: Essays on Testimony, Accountability, and the Christian Mind,” as well as co-authoring “Trajectories: A Gospel-Centered Introduction to Old Testament Theology.”
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