This sure beats having a President suing nuns over birth control, doesn’t it?
Trump has been pretty clear on his support for the rights of Christians to live according to their faith.
And some States have been warming to the idea.
Donald Trump made a bid to re-energize evangelical supporters on Monday by stating his support for ‘Bible literacy’ classes in U.S. public schools.
The move comes at a fraught political moment for the president, as the White House is stinging from a lost battle over his long-promised border wall – and some conservatives are doubting whether he can win the longer border war with Democrats.
‘Numerous states introducing Bible Literacy classes, giving students the option of studying the Bible. Starting to make a turn back? Great!’ the president tweeted.
Numerous states introducing Bible Literacy classes, giving students the option of studying the Bible. Starting to make a turn back? Great!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2019
Cue the outrage by the Separation of Church and State people… but we’ll come back to that in a moment. First, here’s more detail on what’s happening.
USA Today reported on Sunday that lawmakers in at least six states are pushing back, with bills that would nudge the study of both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament back into high schools.
‘The Bible is an integral part of our society and deserves a place in the classroom,’ Republican state Rep. Aaron McWilliams of North Dakota told the paper.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which opposes official mentions of religion in public institutions, has identified Bible literacy bills this year in Florida, Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia.
Legislatures defeated similar measures last year in Alabama, Iowa and West Virginia. Tennessee passed a weaker version, and Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin signed a ‘Bible studies’ bill in 2018. That law gives schools guidelines for teaching the Bible as literature, but doesn’t require it.
Source: Daily Mail
Cue shrieks, “…But the Establishment Clause!!!!…”
First, a rudimentary knowledge of the Bible is key to understanding many, if not most, of the great works of literature and culture — including non-fiction like Philosophy, not to mention certain important Founding Documents.
Second, we’ve all heard plenty of stories about kids coming home and learning how they’ve been taught about other religions — usually Islam — for reasons of tolerance and understanding. Yet nobody has given a reasonable argument why many of these same students — from far-flung parts of the world — might not benefit from a reciprocal understanding of the historical American faith and traditions.
Third, in the early days of public education, religious instruction WAS the foundational part, even of the reading curriculum. Have you heard of The New England Primer? It taught students such ‘scandalous’ material as:
In Adam’s Fall, We sinned all / Thy Life To Mend, This Book Attend … and so on.
Strangely, the Framers didn’t object to this ‘breach’ of any ‘Wall of Separation’. (And do we REALLY need to debunk THAT chestnut again?)
Lastly, have we forgotten that the reason we have a word such as ‘AntiDisestablishmentarianism’ is because there once was a time that the Federal government did not recognize official religious demonimations as primary… but individual states DID?
Establishment survived in New England well into the nineteenth century. Disestablishment came to Connecticut in 1818, but not until 1833 in Massachusetts. New Hampshire enacted a toleration act in 1819, but authorization for towns to support Protestant ministers remained on the books, unenforced, for the rest of the century.
Source: The Atlantic
With so much pseudo-religious secular moralizing from the left already happening in the schools under the guise of ‘education’ even the secular objections to this teaching being offered could boomerang.
Who could have guessed that it would be the billionaire playboy Donald J Trump that would be overseeing the cultural pendulum swing back towards more traditional American morality?
Get Doug Giles’ new book:
Rules For Radical Christians is not a survival devotional designed to help the young Christian adult limp through life. Rather, it is a road-tested, dominion blueprint that will equip the young adult with leadership skills and sufficient motivation to rise to a place of influence in an overtly non-Christian culture. Rules For Radical Christians gives the reader the keys to become strategically equipped to move into an anti-theistic environment and effectively influence it for the glory of God.
You can choose either the classic Paperback to trigger your college professors and quasi-communist classmates, or the Kindle edition to always have it on hand.
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