Bible returns to Idaho's public schools

IDAHO CHARTER SCHOOL INCLUDES BIBLE IN CURRICULUM

Expect to hear much bloviating and screeching from the forces of secular fundamentalism as a new Idaho charter school includes the Bible in its curriculum. (Remember that charter schools are public schools.)

We certainly will hear ad nauseum that the school – Nampa Classical Academy – is violating the mythical wall of separation by studying the Bible as primary source material in its curriculum on the history of Western civilization.

But in point of fact it is impossible to understand the development of Western civilization, including the founding of the United States, without understanding the themes, stories and concepts found in the Old and New Testaments.

The Founding Fathers often cited outside works in their speeches and writings. When they did so, 34% of the time that source was the Bible. The next most often cited source clocked in at a scant eight percent.

The Bible is central to a well-rounded education, secular or otherwise. Several years ago, a survey of English professors at top-tier schools – Harvard, Yale and Stanford among them – was conducted, in which they were asked what works of literature were necessary for an individual to be familiar with to be considered a literate, educated American.

A strong consensus gathered around four works: the Bible, Shakespeare, the founding documents (the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution) and the classic Mark Twain novel, Huckleberry Finn.

By weakly yielding to those who want to scrub all mention of God from the public square, we have systematically created a generation of students who are functionally illiterate, whose education has been impoverished by a lack of exposure to the Bible’s impact on history, literature and art.

You cannot, for instance, understand the works of Shakespeare without a working knowledge of the Scriptures, since his canon of plays includes over 1,300 allusions to biblical themes.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the Bible is a legitimate topic of study in an academic curriculum, so there is no constitutional impediment.

Much will be made of the Idaho constitution’s prohibition of “sectarian” literature in our system of public education, but this is a bogus complaint since the Bible itself, being the foundational document of all Christian “sects,” or denominations, is not itself a sectarian piece of literature.

State Superintendent Tom Luna has often said that the academic study of the Bible is a perfectly legitimate subject of study in public education, and that any school district in Idaho may include it in the curriculum if it so chooses.

As headmaster Val Bush correctly said, those who oppose the academic study of the Bible are “bigoted,” and founder Isaac Moffett points out that the values that undergird the new school – values such as character, charity, excellence, integrity and patriotism - are not “Christian values” but “Western values.”

The beauty of a charter school is that students don’t have to go there. So let the complainers send their kids somewhere else, and stop their neurotic meddling in the lives of others. And let’s all ask the religious bigots and secular fundamentalists to honor freedom of choice in education for those parents who want their children to receive a thorough, well-rounded education.

Publicly funded charter school in Nampa to use Bible as textbook | Idaho Statesman

INITIATIVE LAUNCHED TO RETURN BIBLE TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

On a related note, my good friend Chuck Seldon and his organization, Our Godly American Heritage, has launched an initiative which, if successful, will modify Idaho law to make it clear that the Bible is a proper subject of academic study in Idaho’s public schools.

The signatures of 50,000 Idahoans will need to be gathered by this time next year for this initiative to

go on the ballot in the fall of 2010.

Most Americans – speaking of historical ignorance – are unaware that the first Bible published in America was published at the direction of Congress, in 1782. (The war for our independence had cut off the supply of Bibles published in Britain.)

In 1781, Robert Aitken presented a petition to Congress offering to print "a neat Edition of the Holy Scriptures for the use of schools."

Congress granted his petition, and Aitken's Bible was published in 1782.

It’s time to return to the vision the Founders had for our country, and by joining Chuck’s efforts, you can do something about that. Please donate to the effort and become a signature gatherer yourself.

If everyone who receives this Daily Update were to collect just 40 signatures, we could do it all by ourselves.

For more information about the project, including directions for signature gathering and online donations, visit the following website:

www.ourgodlyamericanheritage.com