Whether it's trying to put Bibles in classrooms or posting the Ten Commandments in the lunchroom, scores of bills have been introduced in state legislatures in recent years hoping to bring Christianity back to schools. A recent Idaho bill may have them all beat.
Pro-Christian activists in the Gem State recently introduced a bill which would require every public school district in Idaho to ensure the Bible is read to students, in its entirety, over ten years of their public education.
You’ve heard of Christianity in schools. What about all of Christianity in schools?
State-Sponsored Faith?
Penned by the Idaho Family Policy Center and sponsored by Idaho State Rep. Jordan Redman, House Bill 162 would create mandatory "school-sponsored Bible reading" in public school classrooms across the state.
“The Bible is the most important book in the world, molds public morality, impacts history, and contains unequaled literary value,” reads the bill. On those grounds, excerpts from the Bible will be read to students every day so that the entire Bible is read to them over ten years.
Instructors who object to reading the Bible may opt out, though the passage will be read by another instructor in the school. And students who object to hearing the Bible may exempt themselves from the readings – with a note from a parent or guardian.
Bill authors say Idaho’s history of public school Bible readings make the readings legal. The bill points to a 1925 policy requiring the Bible be read in public schools, which the bill says is part of “the historical practices of early Idaho and other American states."
It’s because of that historical precedent, bill authors say, which would also close the door to other religious texts being read in school, like “the Quran or the Satanic Bible.”
The Backlash Begins
The bill immediately prompted backlash both from politicians and secular advocates who say it goes way too far.
"This country was settled by people that weren't moving to religion, they were moving away from state-mandated religion," said Idaho State Rep, Jack Nelsen. "To me, this picks a particular religion's Bible, and I am not for advancing this."
“This is nothing short of government-mandated indoctrination,” stated Freedom From Religion Foundation’s Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “This bill tramples on the First Amendment, disregards decades of Supreme Court rulings, and would turn our public schools into religious battlegrounds.”
Tradition or Indoctrination?
Critics pointed out that the bill’s primary justification – that Bible readings in school are justified because it is part of state tradition – could put it on a potentially shaky legal foundation.
“I can’t speak for all Black people, but ‘history and tradition’ tests just really make me nervous,” said Idaho State Rep. Chris Mathias, pointing to historic mistreatment of African-Americans. And others pointed out that Idaho’s legislature also passed a “Board of Eugenics” in 1925 alongside the law to find and forcefully sterilize the “feeble-minded, insane, epileptic, habitual criminals, moral degenerates, and sexual perverts.”
Their argument is clear: just because something was commonplace in the past doesn't mean it was right (or worth returning to).
However, the bill’s proponents seem confident that not only will it pass, but that it will hold up to legal scrutiny. They say that Idaho’s lengthy history of Bible readings in schools, combined with recent pro-Christian rulings at the Supreme Court, provide ample legal cover.
What is your reaction? Should the future of public education include reading the Bible front-to-back?
23 comments
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James Mounts
Sunday School ... maybe. Public School ... NEVER
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Tom Thackrey
I don't think it's OK to try to turn public schools into religious ones. The people who want this will be very unhappy if the religion pushed in public school doesn't match theirs. It is far better for everyone to let us each choose our religion and how to practice it.
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Chris
Absolutely not. You want your kid brainwashed into your religion, teach them at home. Take them to your church. My kid doesn't need to be listening to your religious propaganda. If you demand your kids be taught your bible in school, send them to a religious school, not a public one.
And if you believe you're acting as a good Christian, I would recommend you take a look at your book you keep thumping and see what Jesus said about such things.
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Rev. BH
Here we go again.
Let the kids read the short and sweet Golden Rule, then get back to the Three Rs.
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John Alex Paxson
Too bad humanity does not follow that.
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Juan Rolón Rosario
Certainly the Bible is an important book that can guide us spiritually, but forcing students to read it is not healthy, why? Because first they would not have an objective approach to its teachings, let's see, how many versions of the Bible are there? Clearly many. If we start from the premise that the book comes from the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) it has definitely had many changes in its translation, by the way how many religions are there based on it? Many that in turn clash in teachings with each other. Its reading is definitely advised but no, absolutely not in an obligatory way. We follow God Almighty by our own will, not because we are forced to do so.
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Merlin
Which version? KJV, ASV, NIV, NKJV, NRSVUE, ESV, NABRE, CSB, NLT, CEB,AMP, MSG,HCSB, NAB, NJB,TNIV, NCV, NLT, GNT, CEV, TLB ? At least they will teach them about porn, how to treat your slaves and when you can beat your wife.
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ServantOfJudgement
Good question about the version merlin. Id choose none of the above for public schools.
That said, two liberal, woke lgbtqia++map chicks raping their drunken father really isn't porn, it's a picture of the sad state Sodom and Gomorrah was in and were in now. We got gas station boner pills and bathroom condoms for everybody around every corner and the sex diseases to prove it.
I wish we'd treat our slaves the way the bible taught the Israelites how to treat their indentured servants. I'll bet the slaves you rely on for all your junk wish it too.
The Bible's pretty clear on the treatment of a wife by her husband. I'm not calling you an idiot by any stretch but what you said about wife beating is something an idiot would say. Like an actual idiot. You've not read anything of the sort in the document and I expect your mouth is similar to that which Jesus described, that is an open sepulcher, putrid and vile. Sorry to quote the bible on y'all but it fits.
Oh how the Lord knows His critics does he not?
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Religion as a Weapon is Wrong
Idaho has lost its mind. It's a great place to live if you are a fan of the Inquisition. To those residents that don't go along with what is happening in their state, you have my condolences. Florida and Texas are not any better.
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James Riggle-Johnson
This bill is nothing more than government-mandated religious indoctrination, forcing Christianity onto public school students regardless of their beliefs. The First Amendment exists to prevent exactly this kind of state-sponsored religious coercion. Christians constantly complain about so-called LGBTQ 'indoctrination' in schools, yet they have no problem forcing their own mythical beliefs onto children. Public schools serve a diverse population, not just Christians, and no child should be compelled to sit through daily Bible readings as part of their education. If Christianity can’t stand on its own without government enforcement, what does that say about its strength?
Conveniently, this bill ensures that no other religion gets the same treatment—just Christianity. If this were about teaching religious history, we’d see equal time given to the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, or other sacred texts. But that’s not the goal. Instead, it’s a blatant attempt to turn back the clock 50 to 100 years, forcing everyone into the mold of 'God-fearing' folk, as if we’re living in a theocracy. America is supposed to stand for religious freedom, not Christian dominance.
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Reverend Paula Copp
It seems to me that “render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s” is pretty much in line with Separation of church and state… the bible doesn’t belong in the classroom.
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Cynthia Mandello
GREAT! Maybe this will educate students on the total hypocrisy of the Evangelical, White Christian Nationalist movements. Let students engage in debate on why Evangelicals cherry pick which "laws & rules" to follow and which to ignore. Let them refuse to eat pork (that will go over well with the Pork Producers). Let them read where JESUS said he came to replace the Old Testament. Yep, READ the WHOLE Bible and learn how Eve was Adam's SECOND wife, how godly monks begged God to take retribution on CHILDREN just because they were teasing his baldness, how "King David" was a peeping Tom and sent a woman's (he lusted after) husband off to war in hopes he'd die, how Lot offered his daughters to drunken men so they would quit banging on his door (so he could sleep), how Abraham slept with his maid then rejected their son. Sure, I think this is a GREAT idea.
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Keith D
A straight-up bad idea. Unconstitutional, and for very good reason.
This is how 'Conservatives' do a faceplate and garner animosity and the moniker, 'narcissistic,' and rightly so.
Public schools need to focus on respectatable academics and practical skills. Reading ANY religious text cover to cover is simply not within that description.
If parents want their kids in seminary, its quite available.
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Robert Gagnon
First off that is a violation of religious freedom. Second, social media has shortened kids attention spans to a minute. If King James it is in an English format most can't follow. Sounds like an excuse to purchase 50.00 Chinese bibles with tax dollars.
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Nicholas J Page
I have said before religion of any type should never be forced onto anyone let the children or adults choose religion not what other states want
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Najah P Tamargo
Najah Tamargo-USA
Religion comes from the family. NOT from the school boards!!!!
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Axcella Maria Zed
As a Minister of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and this community I am absolutely appalled at the things some religions and religious fanatics think that they can control others. In the past few months I have seen religious people talking about hating others based on their religious beliefs. I find it hypocritical to say that it’s okay to to remove protection of the LGBTQ rights and freedoms based on their book yet now you are not in favour of the bible being read in schools which is more control I think that the church needs to get it’s hands off of that which is not theirs to control If you are religious be so and show it by your actions I am one who believes that the Flying Spaghetti Monster is just as valid as the other religions Sorry but the purpose of religion is not to punish others but to care for them not to force others into doing what they don’t want to do
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Patricia Sydney Solis
Stop degrading Christ by merging him with The State! Let what is Caesar’s be Caesar’s for Christ is not of this world. Teach kids not Christian mythology but Latin and Greek instead, as Thomas Jefferson said, so they can understand the roots of western civilisation, learn English better by understanding the roots of words like democracy and economy, and speak with others of other languages and cultures.
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Michael Arthur Lueras
"Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's." (Jesus in Matthew 22:21) This was the ORIGINAL source of The Doctrine of The Separation of The Church and The State. But Tommy Jefferson bought more slaves and stole more land after writing "All men are Created Equal." And MANY of those Slaves were offered Christianity or Death. Idaho House Bill 162 was written by the same Evil Spirit that Tommy Jefferson and The Founding Fathers followed as they began to build a Nation called The U.S.A. based on Black Only Slavery on Stolen Land Protected and Served by The Police and The Military. TODAY the name of that Evil Spirit is Jordan Redman. "Let there be no compulsion in Religion..." (Quran 2:256) AGAIN this IS The Separation of the Church and The State. If you take The People's Money in the form of taxes and build and fund schools where the students have to listen to the reading of The Bible or go somewhere else or get permission from their parents to go outside of the classroom so that they cannot hear it THAT is coercion which is a VIOLATION of The Doctrine of The Separation of The Church and The State. You cannot FORCE someone to BELIEVE. You CAN exploit someone's FEAR OF PAIN AND DEATH in order to FORCE THEM to SAY they believe. But THAT is not LEGAL. But MANY in U.S.A. History and the Prehistory of The U.S.A. were offered PAIN and/or DEATH if they would not give up their Land and/or their Religion and/or accept Slavery to a human being. This is an example of Satan at work in The World according to the The Reprieval that he got from Allah 6000 years ago.This is HISTORICAL FACT not a Theory Critical or Otherwise. This Evil Coercive Spirit that MADE AMERICA GREAT is the same Evil Spirit that authored this work of Satan called Idaho House Bill 162. "Kill Infidelity wherever you find it." (Quran 2:191)
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Stewart Newall
Jesus Christ will bring his sheep without forcing them to read the Bible we are not Muslims who push our beliefs children will come praise be to God amen.
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Yanel Jay Laroche Jr.
I am Archbishop Yanel Jay Laroche Jr.. Students should not be required to read the Holy Bible entirely while in school. Lord Jesus Christ and LORD God his heavenly Father wants people to decide on reading the Holy Bible daily and to meditate on it according to Psalm 1:1-3. It should not be mandatory to read the entire Holy Bible in school in 10 years. Lord Jesus Christ wants Christians to love reading the Holy Bible. He will never force Christians to read the Holy Bible daily. It should be in your heart to love reading the Holy Bible.
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Rudolph M Garza
If the voters like it? I guess they'll be happy with it. And if not? They'll know how to vote next time.
And the world goes on. Hmm. It hasn't really changed much. It's just one squabble after another. I really liked that Roman fella, Caligula. He caused quite stir! Then some religious war started by the Vatican. And Moors just had to show up with their opinion.
I hear Asia is nice place. Buddhists and Taoist don't fight about anything. But I don't like the food. So, I will just stay put and sit outside watching the squirrels play.
Take care!
That is the BEST way to create atheists!