Irony of ironies. There was an attempt to ban the Bible from school libraries in a conservative state because of a law against risqué content in school books.
The Mirror out of the UK reports: “A Texas school district has reportedly been forced to remove copies of the Bible after a new state law banned books that were ‘sexually explicit.’ It was revealed in an email from Canyon Independent School District Superintendent Darryl Flusche, that the holy book had been deemed unsuitable due to ‘sexually explicit material.’"
It clearly appears that school officials are trying to play “gotcha” with opponents of sexually explicit schoolbooks. The Mirror added, “Several parents were reportedly furious with the news. During a school board meeting earlier [in December 2024], Canyon ISD parent Regina Kiehne told school officials it ‘seems absurd to me that the Good Book was thrown out with the bad books.’"
The blowback was so strong, school officials retreated from their guileful position in the face of widespread opposition.
I’m glad to hear that some of the school districts in Texas allow the Bible on school property at all. But it’s a shame that ever since the Supreme Court ruled in the Abington v. Schempp case of 1963, many school districts have banned the Good Book altogether from the schools (while at the same time often allowing all manner of LGBTQ pornography).
In Schempp, the court declared as unconstitutional use of the Bible for devotional purposes in the classroom. But they added that the Bible has its place in a well-rounded education.
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Said the majority of the justices: “It certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment.”
For decades, many public school systems have systematically gone way beyond what the Supreme Court decided. Personally I think many of those Supreme Court decisions, such as Schempp, were wrongly decided. They grew out of a bias in favor of secularism and opposed to religion. Frankly, this country was founded by Christians for religious freedom, which they generously offered to other groups.
The irony of the Bible being controversial in the schools is that this is the book that helped create the educational system in America.
When you trace back education in our country, you see the Bible was the chief motivating factor. It was so that people could read the Bible for themselves that schools were started in the first place.
The first law regarding education in America is nicknamed “the Old Deluder Satan Act.” The Puritans, the founders of Boston, wanted their children to learn how to read so they could read the Scriptures for themselves.
The act explicitly states that this was a counter-measure against the devil, who wants people to remain ignorant of the Word of God.
This 1647 Act states: “It being one chief project of that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures…and that Learning may not be buried in the graves of our fore-fathers in Church and Commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavors: it is therefore ordered… [that every township] shall then forthwith appoint one within their town to teach all such children as shall resort to him to write and read.”
The children even learned their ABCs with Bible lessons. The widely used New England Primer taught: “A-In Adam’s fall, we sinned all. B-thy life to mend, the Bible tend. C-Christ crucified, for sinners died.”
The original colleges and universities were started to train ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Harvard’s original motto (in Latin) was “Truth for Christ and the Church.” The first president of Princeton, Rev, Jonathan Dickinson, said, “Cursed be all learning contrary to the cross of Christ.” Except for Cornell (founded 200 years after Harvard), all of the Ivy League schools were explicitly Christian.
And on it goes.
Founding father and Declaration of Independence signer Dr. Benjamin Rush declared, “The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in RELIGION….Without this, there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments. . .. the religion I mean to recommend in this place is the religion of JESUS CHRIST.” [emphasis his]
Dr. Rush also warned of the consequences when schools ignore teaching the Bible: “I lament that we waste so much time and money in punishing crimes and take so little pains to prevent them.”
We need more Bible in the schools, including the public schools, not less.
Dr. Jerry Newcombe is the executive director of Providence Forum, a division of Coral Ridge Ministries, where Jerry also serves as senior producer and an on-air contributor. He has written/co-written 33 books, including (with D. James Kennedy), What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? and (with Dr. Peter Lillback), George Washington’s Sacred Fire.
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