School administrators in Texas face a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of three students, accusing the school district of refusing to allow children to carry or read the Bible.
The lawsuit, filed in Houston, alleges that a teacher pulled two sisters from class after discovering that they were carrying Bibles and threatened to have them picked up by child-welfare authorities.
Another teacher told a pupil he was not allowed to read the Bible during free reading time and forced him to put it away, the lawsuit alleges. The boy also was required to remove a Ten Commandments book cover from another book, the lawsuit states.
"My daughters called me, were hysterical, and said, 'Mama, they took our Bibles and called them garbage and threw them in the garbage and then threatened to call Child Protective Services,' " said Deborah Bedenbender, 37, a Willis homemaker.
Not only do actions by teachers and administrators described above hurt Christians, they also send a message to non-believing children and parents that there is something wrong with believing in a saving Jesus Christ, and that such expressions of faith should be hidden from public view. In essence, these government officials are telling Christians that they should be ashamed of their beliefs and they should cower in their homes secretly reading Scripture. However, there is a new movement within the Body of Jesus that couples Bible-reading Christianity with modern communications. Beginning Monday, March 1, individuals from the United States and the world can participate in the first-ever online video Bible. They can simply film themselves reading or quoting Scripture passages and then upload their videos to the new “I Am Not Ashamed” campaign web site, (www.iamnotashamed.org).
The campaign launches simultaneously on the Internet and on television, with commercial spots featuring participants quoting Bible verses. These individuals come from all walks of life – different backgrounds, nationalities, political affiliations, ages, gender and culture – but hold in common a respect and appreciation for the relevance of God’s Word in today’s culture. These commercial spots will run nationally on the Fox News Channel, FoxNews.com, and MSNBC.com March 1 – April 25.
Iamnotshamed.org is an evangelistic arm of the successful AnswersInGenesis.org, an organization that strives to carry the word of God to every corner of the earth.
"To facilitate our desires and goals, we have chosen the top 12 spoken languages in the world, and we are traveling with Ken Ham to translate his most relevant talks into those languages. The top 12 languages are Chinese, English, Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, Bengali, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese, German, French and Punjabi," state their officials who include Dr. David Crandall and Diana Crandall.
"Since our early days, Ken Ham’s presentations have been available in the English language. We then traveled to Mexico to translate into International Spanish and then Taipan for the Chinese translations. In 2008 we will travel to India to translate into Hindi and in 2009 to Tokyo, Japan, to translate into Japanese. In 2010 we will journey to a Russian speaking country. Each year we will add one more new language. These DVDs will be provided free of charge on the mission field to the people who speak that language," say the Crandalls.
Their latest project will include a national print and billboard component of the campaign that will quote specific Bible verses that address the issues of the day. These will begin running in the national newspaper “USA Today” on March 1. Stand-alone Scriptures on the topics of abortion, marriage, and the place of faith in God in the public sphere will be quoted following the introduction, “The Bible speaks for itself . . ., “ concluding with a link to the campaign’s Web site for more information.
The theme for the campaign is “I am not ashamed of the Word of God” (2 Timothy 2:15; Romans 1:16). The focus will be on the authority of the Bible, which speaks for itself. The campaign will highlight the mutual respect and appreciation that the large majority of the public has for the Bible as the Word of God. Participants will read from the NASB version of the Scriptures to create the world’s first online video Bible in a very clear and understandable format.
Drawing on the promise in Isaiah 55:11 that God’s Word won’t return void, iamnotashamed.org hopes to renew Americans’ trust in Scripture as a foundation for their lives. Built around a common belief in the Bible, the campaign is designed to promote grassroots participation in the social media space. More information and instructions for participating are available online at iamnotashamed.org.