Should the Bible be taught in Public Schools? 

As a Christian, my answer is a vehement “No.” I believe this answer is straightforward and uncontroversial, but some would disagree. 

In June of this year, Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana signed a law requiring all public schools in the state to display the 10 Commandments in classrooms. Texas also quickly followed suit, as they approved a curriculum of Bible-based lessons for K-5 schools. A couple of weeks later, Superintendent Ryan Walters of Oklahoma issued a memo requiring all public school teachers to teach the Bible, and teachers who do not comply could lose their license. Walters then opened a bid to purchase 55,000 Bibles for public schools in the state. Not just any kind of Bibles, but they have to include copies of the Pledge of Allegiance, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights — specifications that, out of the thousands of Bibles on the market, are only met by “God Bless the USA” Bibles, also known as the “Trump Bibles,” which also happen to include a $60 price tag. Aside from violating the separation of church and state and prioritizing Christianity over all other religions, Walters and other governors clearly have far-reaching goals with these abrupt policy decisions — why do Oklahoma public schools need the “Trump Bible” instead of the King James Version that sells for $2.99? Because Walters is using his superintendent position as a stepping stone in politics, or simply as an appeal to MAGA ideologies, as he also recorded a video of him praying for Donald Trump and his team and demanded teachers play it in their classrooms. By performing such political gymnastics, Walters signals to Trump that he as a state superintendent is in full support of his “education” agenda, which ironically includes dismantling the Department of Education. In the process, he also sells a skewed version of American ideals and Christian values, as the Trump Bible conveniently leaves out Amendments 11–27 of the Constitution, which includes the abolition of slavery, voting rights for women, the equal protection clause and due process, as well as term limits, just to name a few. 

These changes are part of a larger phenomenon in modern American politics: Christian Nationalism. Roughly speaking, Christian Nationalism in the United States asserts that the U.S. was founded by and for Christians. It represents a “pervasive ideology and discourse that advocates a fusion of identitarian Christian identity and cultural conservatism with American civic belonging.” Texas State Rep. James Talarico summarized it best: “There is nothing Christian about Christian Nationalism.” I completely agree with him. When I see images of Jesus wearing a MAGA hat or Christian messages inscribed over political flags at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, I do not see my faith reflected. I believe in Christianity and that the faith should be shared in the world, so why would I, as a Christian, reject the teaching of my faith in schools, or other methods of state-sponsorship that promote my faith? Because this is not what Jesus would have wanted. What specific values does Jesus teach us? I believe Christianity teaches us to love our neighbors, give our possessions to the poor, practice humility and turn the other cheek. However, these are not the values that Christian Nationalists want students to learn. Donald Trump Jr. once proclaimed that turning the other cheek “has gotten us nothing.” Christian ethics is extremely difficult to practice because it asks us to strive to live like Jesus. However, the ethics of Christian Nationalism are completely misaligned to it. 

In an interview I conducted with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, an assistant director at Yale Divinity School’s Center for Public Policy and Public Theology, he expressed that the responsibility of Christians in a democracy like America is to “understand we are called to love God and love our neighbors, consider the policies that are hurting our neighbors, make an assessment of which political leaders are most open to hearing the Gospel’s call for justice.” Jesus called for individual choice to decide whether one wants to follow God or not. He said in Matthew 16:24 that “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me,” which is an invitation to humans to make a choice. The Golden Rule would also apply here: how would Christians feel if other religions did the same to our public schools?

Christianity is a faith that demands the individual to develop a relationship with God and is redeemed through one’s faith in Him, not through one’s support of any political figure. Apostle Paul famously outlines in Romans 3:28 that “one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” This concept of faith must be done individually and honestly, as it is not a relationship that can be indoctrinated upon others, or else it would not be true faith, but rather a disingenuous belief out of fear or obedience. Does the imposition of faith upon children in schools, backed up by clear political motivations, actually lead to true belief or genuine faith? I don’t think so. The Bible is a religious text and teaching it in schools means that students are exposed to its religious messages in a coercive manner. The early Christians, such as the Apostles and Saint Paul preached the Gospels through martyrdom, suffering and sacrifice, and opened up to non-believers through their Christ-like virtues, rather than using political force. If Christians want to spread the message of the Gospel, then we must do it out of example: let people who do not know Christ see his image and love reflected in our actions.

What about the Christian Nationalist argument that teaching the Bible in public schools could help students understand America’s founding mission and values? The U.S. Constitution does not outline if our rights came from one God over another. John Locke, an Enlightenment philosopher who provided many philosophical roots for the Constitution, advocated for religious liberty. His theory of religious liberty outlines that human beings as rational creatures are entitled to think for themselves and have the utmost freedom to dictate our own beliefs, and as part of the social contract, our human reason would not give up such religious liberty because we hope to obtain eternal happiness through our own minds by seeking the truth. Any infringement on such religious liberty is an infringement on the idea of liberty itself. It is through thinkers such as Locke that values such as diversity, equality and freedom of religion and speech became fundamentally entrenched in American democracy. Some of the founding fathers were indeed Christians, but many were Deists — a philosophical belief in human reason as a reliable means of solving social and political problems — which included figures such as Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison and Monroe. America’s founding itself was a radical mission, and partially what made it successful was the diversity of beliefs amongst the founders. This is still true today. America thrives through its diversity, which also includes religious diversity.

I want my fellow brothers and sisters to choose to learn about the Bible in churches and community gatherings. But I also want my Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Agnostic, Atheist and other non-Christian friends to go to school without the interference of a Christian Nationalist agenda that blends the necessary line between religion and politics. I want Bibles to be out of public schools. 

THOMAS LIN is a first year in Morse College. He can be reached at thomas.lin@yale.edu.