The
Degeneration of American Schools: From Revering the Bible to Reviling
the Bible
townhall.com
by Michael Brown [/] http://j.mp/0BibleVsBigEd
or
http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbrown/2015/10/09/the-degeneration-of-american-schools-from-revering-the-bible-to-reviling-the-bible-n2063517/page/full
Did
you know that in 1647, early American settlers passed the “Old
Satan Deluder Act” to encourage children’s education so they
could learn to read the Bible?
According
to Christian educator Tim Hoy, “One of the earliest education laws
in our country was passed by the early settlers in 1647, called the
‘Old Satan Deluder Act.’ The settlers came to America to escape
religious and political persecution in Europe. They believed that the
persecutions (acts carried out under Satan’s delusion) were allowed
to take place because of the populace’s illiteracy in general and
biblical illiteracy in particular. To combat a possible repeat of
history in the new land, the settlers mandated that communities with
at least 50 families must sponsor a teacher; they must establish a
grammar school when the population reached 100 families. The purpose
of the school was to teach the children to read, particularly to read
and understand the Bible.”
Not
only so, but, “The 1690 Connecticut Illiteracy Law was passed with
the same motive in mind: in order to equip the citizenry for ‘reading
the Holy Word of God and the good laws of this (State).’”
But
when Focus on the Family sponsored a national “Bring Your Bible to
School Day” on October 8, the idea was met with concern in some
school districts. The Bible, brought to our schools? How could this
be?
It’s
no problem to advocate every kind of godless philosophy in these same
classrooms.
It’s
no problem to teach every kind of profane sex-ed curriculum to these
same students.
It’s
no problem to exalt Islam and other world religions (but not
Christianity) in their religion textbooks.
It’s
no problem to distribute condoms, to advertise Planned Parenthood,
and to promote homosexuality in these same hallways.
But
to bring the Bible to school and talk about it?
How
dangerous!
As
reported on the Sacramento Bee website, the real rub was that parents
in the Folsom Cordova Unified School District were upset that the
district “would send information to their inboxes publicizing
‘bring your Bible to school day.’,” even though the email
“included a disclaimer that said the school district was not a
sponsor of the program.”
Indeed,
“some parents were furious that the district had allowed a
religious entity to promote itself via the district email system,”
with one parent claiming that, “It’s unbelievable the district is
supporting something that blurs the line between public education and
religion.”
But
according to Daniel Thigpen, spokesman for the district, “the
district has a policy that allows the distribution of some fliers by
email from organizations that want to publicize activities for
students and families.”
Why
all the uproar over this particular event?
One
vocal protester, Ashley Slovak (a Jewish woman married to a
Christian), kept her daughter home that day, saying that school
“should be a safe place. She would feel ostracized. She would feel
like an outsider among her peers.”
Really?
But
how do committed Christian kids feel every day in school districts
across America when their views are ridiculed, when they are called
bigots and haters because they cannot endorse the latest PC trend,
when carrying a Bible with them is considered a sign of fanaticism?
Young
people – and I mean pre-teens – have said to me (with tears), “We
are under so much pressure at school!”
A
15-year-old tweeted me and said, “Thank u for helping me walk
through the valley of the shadow of death with your wisdom and
teachings! . . . There aren't many of my generation who agree with
our beliefs so it's a mental battle everyday at my school. U help!”
No
wonder it has become so controversial for a school district to
announce a “Bring Your Bible to School Day.” The Word of God has
become toxic to our children’s “education.”
It
was the exact opposite in the beginning.
As
Hoy notes, “Shortly after establishment of our country, the
founding fathers passed a federal law that required all existing and
incoming states to establish schools that will teach ‘religion,
morality, and knowledge.’ Many of the founding fathers advocated
that the Bible be the primary text in these schools.”
Hoy
explains, “As our country continued to grow, so did our schools.
The American school system was the best in the world, and the Bible
was central to its curriculum. In the early 1840s, an attempt was
made in Philadelphia to establish a school that would be free of the
Bible and any Christian influence. A legal battle ensued that would
reach the highest court in the land.”
What
was the result of this legal battle? “In a unanimous decision, the
US Supreme Court upheld the centrality of the Bible in US schools,”
penning these remarkable words:
“Why
may not the Bible, and especially the New Testament, without note or
comment, be read and taught as a Divine revelation in the
(school)—its general precepts expounded…and its glorious
principles of morality inculcated?...Where can the purest principles
of morality be learned so clearly or so perfectly as from the New
Testament? Where are benevolence, the love of truth, sobriety, and
industry, so powerfully and irresistibly inculcated as in the Sacred
Volume?” (US Supreme Court, Vidal vs. Girard’s Executor, 1844)
Today,
instead of the Bible being read or taught in our schools, our young
people are addicted to cell phones, not just texting mindlessly
through the day but sharing the most vile gossip, the most hateful
(and even murderous expressions), and engaging in sexting (sharing
naked pictures of each other) as early as Middle School.
Yet
the same parents who let their kids run wild on social media and the
internet are concerned about Bibles being brought to school.
May
God have mercy on America, and may Christian kids be encouraged to
bring their Bibles to school every day, to talk about the Word and
pray with one another, and to be bold and unashamed witnesses for
Jesus.
This
is just what our schools need most.
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