Posted on 10/09/2015 12:13:23 PM PDT by Kaslin
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.
I have a Bible on my desk. HR chick gave me a look about it one time and told her it leaves when I do. Nothing else has been said.
Atheist teachers unions want God out of the schools. They have gotten their way for about 40 years. But people are increasingly fighting back. This is a CHRISTIAN republic, so schools need to return to what used to be seen as their primary duty — teaching children to grow up to be good servants of Almighty God.
The Bible should be the primary textbook used in all schools. It applies to virtually every subject. Kids should be wearing out their Bibles.
The reason we have a “gun problem” is actually because we have a “morals problem”.
Unfortunately no liberal can admit the truth.
Yeah, I got to feel for the young kids. When you are older you just don't give a 'rip' about the criticism. We are here to warn people and point them to Christ. Without Him it is eternal damnation. Another soul won by Satan - and we don't want Satan taking away any of our fellow men. But alas, most aren't going to listen.
When you are younger, though, peer pressure is real, and you want to be liked by 'one and all'. The only solution I can see for this increasingly God-hating society is to pull the kids out of the Government schools. Either homeschool or send them to Christian schools.
The prior conditions before the start of the end times will be conditions of progressive moral and spiritual decay in the culture and in society.
They can’t admit the truth because all they do is lie
Our ancestors led much bleaker lives, naterially, but seemed much happier and less prone to despair.
Somebody ought to organize classes for kids to be taught religion. Maybe churches could volunteer a room or two and conduct lessons on Sundays. We could call it Sunday School.
Nah, who’m I kidding?
But people are increasingly fighting back
No they’re not...Public education, as run by the collusion of teachers unions and complicit administators, is stronger than it has ever been...
Ping
I wonder how much influence parents have on the curricula of private schools. I’m guessing the bigger the school the less influence.
At least private schools have competition, public education largely does not (and even private and home school parents pay into the public edu systsms).
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Peer pressure was one of the top reasons we decided to homeschool. When our daughter was in preschool there were only three girls and the rest were boys. I couldn’t believe how preschool girls were like mini teenagers with cliques. After struggles and tears our daughter ended up as the queen bee. That did it for me-I didn’t want her picked on and I absolutely didn’t want her to be the mean girl, compromising to fit in.
‘God bless the military’ sign at Marine base in Hawaii is staying put
By Rob Shikina
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Published: October 11, 2015
HONOLULU (Tribune News Service) — A “God bless the military” sign is staying up at the Marine base in Kaneohe, despite cries from a religious freedom group that the message is unconstitutional.
Col. Sean C. Killeen, commander of Marine Corps Base Hawaii, announced his decision Friday in a letter to the group, Military Religious Freedom Foundation.
“This sign will remain in its present location and not be altered in any way,” Killeen said in the letter. He explained that “God bless” is commonly used in Western culture and that there are numerous references to God in the country’s symbols, songs, mottos and oaths. “This sign has the secular purpose of conveying a message of support, does not advance or inhibit religion or any particular faith, nor does it foster excessive government entanglement with religion.”
He added that the sign was erected after Sept. 11, 2001, to support service members who were deploying in response to the attacks and has served as “a secular symbol of general support and encouragement” for more than a decade.
The sign under fire is located at the intersection of E and 2nd streets and says in full: “God bless the military, their families, and the civilians who work with them.”
MRFF claims the message shows a preference for those who hold religious beliefs over those who do not.
Few people realize just HOW HARD and for HOW LONG the liberals have been working to eradicate the Biblical world view and replace it with the loosey-goosey “everything is relative and there are no absolutes” mantra of the far left.
Why take Bibles out of the schools? Simple. If students know the Word of God and realize moral absolutes exist, they might ask uncomfortable questions when presented with the Cult of Secular Science views pushed upon them by teachers.
Science teaches (falsely) that God’s Creation is merely an ever-changing, ever-evolving environment in which species come and go and humans are just a part of that continuum. Not ONLY that, they also teach the idea that even the very PHYSICS of the universe is based on “relativity.” Not even TIME and SPEED is fixed! They assert that such things can vary according to who is observing them. It’s crazy and defied common sense, but that is what is taught.
The only constant they admit to is the speed of light, and even that is being eroded because the liberal mindset cannot abide ANY absolutes. Everything has to be based on “perceptions” and “feelings.” Everybody’s point of view is equally valid.
It’s time for Christians to reclaim public schools and science education in particular. REAL science leads directly to a Biblical worldview every time. There are constants. There are absolutes. The Word of God and the Will of God are the two most important ones.
Coastal School Ministries works in partnership with Horry County Public Schools to expose youth to Biblical Principles through Released-Time Bible Education.
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