During the month of June Louisiana’s governor Jeff Landry signed a bill which required all public school classrooms within the state to display the Ten Commandments. Later that month Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters, decided to raise that ante and issued a memo which stated that, “all Oklahoma schools are required to incorporate the Bible, which includes the Ten Commandments, as an instructional support into the curriculum across specified grade levels, e.g., grades 5 through 12.”
After the start of the 2024-2025 school year, a survey was sent out to school districts to gauge how the memo’s directives have been implemented. Generally speaking, the Directive has been viewed merely as a “political gimmick.” Some school districts have reported that they have no plans to change their curriculum, while others have said that the directives are somewhat superfluous, since they already allow students to use the Bible in their classwork.
Speaking as a pastor who, at best, sees children with a 40:1 ratio time advantage in favor of the schools, these are definitely steps in the right direction. If the values we cherish as a society are rooted in Biblical teaching, then it makes sense that we should, teach the Bible in numerous settings and throughout many areas of life. If indeed we are a Christian culture, then Biblical instruction should be far more ubiquitous than it currently is today.
After all, there is no such thing as neutrality when it comes to values. In fact, even the “secular” values that often permeate public schooling reflect a distinct worldview. Every textbook that assumes the theory of evolution as being proven and as scientifically correct, every Pride flag in the classroom, and every comment that blames modern white men for slavery, all communicate something specific and serve to indicate a particular “side” is being taken.
After becoming tired of seeing where the whole secular education bureaucratic complex was headed, conservatives have started, albeit rather clumsily, inserting the Bible back into public education. It’s a good first start, but in order to ensure that adding the Bible to public school curriculum is not seen or treated like a passing “gimmick,” it would be helpful to ask what a more streamlined Christian curriculum would might look like. As it turns out, we have some pretty good examples from the past. Here are some dos and don’ts that have a proven track record of working in a public school setting.
1. Don’t Just Stick a Bible in a Classroom.
Have you ever just sat down and tried to read the Bible? Maybe a Bible-in-a-year campaign? If so, you know the Bible can be an incredibly difficult book to read. I have a Master’s degree and I still find it among the hardest reading I do on most days. It references battles, names, nations, and events with which I still have almost no familiarity. The Old Testament comprises about seventy percent of the Bible and many of those passages, not to mention their historical settings, are completely foreign to the average American. There are parts of the Old Testament that are definitely applicable, but they often require a comprehensive setup. The most common issue is usually which laws still apply today, and which do not.
Even displaying the Ten Commandments in the classrooms raises some interesting theological questions. Sure, we all agree that we shouldn’t steal, kill, and lie. But why is it wrong to take the Lord’s name in vain? Or what do we make of having to observe the Sabbath in our 24/7 reality?
The biggest problem that arises from mandating a Bibles in classrooms is the same one for mandating Bibles in hotel rooms– they simply are often there to merely collect dust. And if someone consults one in a pinch, the odds that they– especially a school age child– will find something immediately helpful is not guaranteed. In many cases, the Bible may need to be broken down into bite-size pieces for adults, much less for children.
2. Assume the Truth of the Bible.
If The Bible is going to be worked into the curricula, it should not be presented as merely one option to consider, but rather seen as legitimate from the start. Now I understand that even within Christianity, there are different views involved in interpreting the Bible such as young earth/old earth, the flood narrative, the parabolic nature of some Old Testament stories, etc. But if the point is to say that we are unashamedly a Christian culture, then let’s assume as much and present the competing Biblical worldviews, which can then be debated or discussed. “Evolution is crazy, am I right?”
3. Treat the Bible as a Serious Book, not a Sentimental Book.
Christianity has become so sentimentalized. For whatever reason, we appear to want to reduce Christianity to a lifestyle self-help book or a therapeutic vehicle. This is, ironically, not very helpful. It turns out that we can get self-help from anywhere, whether it comes from society, school, our family/friends or the internet, quite often it is all pretty much horrible. On the other hand, the Bible presents reality, which represents the only possible reality, as there is only one God and the Bible is where and how He has revealed Himself to us.
Living in line with reality (as opposed to merely our feelings about reality) is the best– and only real– self-help of all. Plus, let’s be honest here, the sentiment play has clearly run its course. Reducing Christianity to the pursuit and coddling of one’s feelings has actually moved people (and most of our entire society) away from God and the truth of His revelations. In other words, the Bible should be presented as a serious book of culture, history, morality, and so much more!
The Bible could also be taught as great literature, history, and legal scholarship. This is, in fact, done at excellent, private, and ridiculously expensive Christian schools today. Let’s see if the public schools have the will to do the same.
I am not a curriculum expert, but I would suggest that there is more than enough material in the Bible to adapt to different age groups. Indeed, Sunday schools have been doing this for generations. For the youngsters, they learn basic Bible stories and moral lessons. In the Middle School years, they expand their Bible knowledge and start to ask harder questions. As they age, they learn about metaphysics and apologetics.
One final thought. If you aren’t familiar with the New England Primer, I urge you to check it out. In it, you will find a comprehensive symbiosis in basic instruction (ABCs) with Biblical instruction. This is how intuitive and cross-threaded it once was in our American schools. This should be the goal for Oklahoma and Louisiana, as well as any other state that is looking for a conservative renaissance in their public schools. Merely having the Ten Commandments on a wall or a Bible in a room is a nice first step. However, unless the content of the Bible is integrated at face value, and assuming its truth, it probably won’t make much of a dent.
Photo Credit- The Conversation