Freedom of speech is not one of the Ten Commandments

Multiple times prior to the election people asked me this question… when we succeed in stopping abortion from being used as back up birth control in South Dakota, will you then turn your energies to fighting homosexuals? My answer surprised each person who asked. No. Obviously we lost the abortion battle and contending for the unborn here continues. But even if we had won… my answer is still no.

The follow up question is typically, what then? (Sibby will like my answer to this second question.) I think it's high time we get the Bible back in public schools. One cannot consider themselves educated if they are Biblically illiterate. I laugh at those coming out of universities who think they are "enlightened" but they have no grasp of the Book that is the bedrock of Western civilization.

We need to do this in South Dakota. That link explains why we need to do this in South Dakota…

Reports and studies released over the last few years indicate that leading high school English teachers, as well as university level literature professors, believe that students should possess a strong familiarity with the Bible in order to attain a well rounded education.  It is extremely difficult to understand western thought including history, politics, and social interaction without an understanding of the content of the Bible.

A couple years ago I was floored to see this Time magazine cover story - WHY WE SHOULD TEACH THE BIBLE IN PUBIC SCHOOL (But very, very carefully). The article made a splended case for teaching the Bible to every young person in America. The subheading of the article reads;

Should the Holy Book be on the public school menu?  Yes. It's the bedrock of Western culture.  And it's constitutional - as long as we teach but don't preach it.

A month after this Time article came out I met with some folks in DC who introduced me to a NON-DEVOTIONAL high school Bible curriculum - "The Bible and its Influence."  The curriculum is now being used in 40 states. I spent a couple hundred bucks and came home with the textbook and accompanying teachers edition and shared it with others in our church and city. Let's talk if you sense a nudge to look into this further.

This curriculum was reviewed by 40 scholars — Evangelical, Catholic, mainline Protestant, Orthodox, and Jewish — it acknowledges the respect the Bible deserves as sacred text for faith traditions. It's constitutionally sound because it meets legal standards set by the National School Boards Association. To those who have concerns about the separation of church and state the writers of the curriculum say;

There is a big difference between belief and knowledge. Increasing knowledge about the Bible is part of a good education; but teaching what to believe belongs in the home. We advocate providing a well-rounded, thorough education that includes the basic information students need to fully understand literature, as well as art, music, history and culture. However, the great authors of literature assumed that the general population understood the basic themes of the Bible. Our study, the Bible Literacy Report, released in April 2005, reveals that we are raising a generation that teachers say is “clueless” about the context for some of the most basic phrases in our common language. These phrases show up on the front page of the nation’s newspapers, like “road to Damascus experience,” “walking on water,” “seen the promised land,” and the like.

Students without knowledge of the Bible are limited in understanding the meaning and importance of the great works of Western and American art. The teachers we studied said these students have more difficulty in their English classes. They will also be disadvantaged on major standardized tests. In one of the popular study workbooks for the Advanced Placement Literature and Composition exam, more than 60% of the allusions recommended for test-takers are from the Bible.

In Abington v. Schempp, the Supreme Court explicitly decided that the academic study of the Bible in public schools is constitutional and a vital part of a good education. In that decision Justice Thomas Clark wrote:

It might well be said that one’s education is not complete without a study of …the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization. …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.

Today most people are misinformed because they think the Bible can't be in a public classroom. This court decision noted the great difference between the devotional use of the Bible in a public classroom and the academic teaching of the Bible in a public classroom.

The Founders of our nation were reared on the Bible - many of them even mastering the original languages of the Bible by the early ages of 5, 8, and 12. Yet today kids only know about Sponge Bob Squarepants. My wife was a public school history teacher for years - we vacilate between sad and sickened by what kids don't know.  Kids today think the one swallowed by the whale is Pinnochio. When asked to name one of the Ten Commandment they cautiously answer… freedom of speech?? Can you fault them? Many of you reading this are Biblically illiterate too. Many who go the church each week have no idea what's in the Bible. If that's true of you, do yourself a favor, make a decision to dive into the Bible yourself in December! There is no better time of the year to dive in.