Christian Witness in the Public Schools

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Our youth still have freedom of speech, and they can share the Christian witness in the public schools. The Lord Jesus is recorded in Matthew 18: 3 as saying. “…Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”  Isaiah 11:6 speaking of God’s kingdom says “…and a little child shall lead them.”  Maybe in a sense these scriptures can be an illustration of this, and the Gideons International are utilizing this avenue, Christian youth witnessing, in the public schools.

Anti-Christian forces have been increasingly seeking to dominate in public schools of America, and witnessing to saving grace in Christ has become increasingly difficult for adults to do in the public school setting, but with the Christian witness of Christian evangelical youth there is one truly effective area of true mission work, in the public schools. God’s call goes out to all who know him through Jesus Christ to witness to the salvation known in Christ, and Christian youth in many cases are leading the way.

In this same context there is the call to affirm the Christian lifestyle and morality in contrast to that of the world. Matthew 28:19-20 says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”   Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” In I Timothy 4:12 the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy to “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”  Here is witness in action, not just in word!

Not only did the Bible in the early days of our nation contribute to the linguistic habits of the people, but it provided root strength to their moral standards and behavioral patterns.”  As Daniel Webster stated, wherever Americans went, “the Bible came with them.”  Then he added:  “It is not doubted, that to the free and universal reading of the Bible, in that age, men were much indebted for right views of civil liberty. The Bible is a book of faith, and a book of doctrine, and a book of morals, and a book of religion, of especial revelation from God; but it also a book that teaches man his own individual responsibility with this fellow man. – (The Works of Daniel Webster—Vol 1, p 102)

De Tocqueville found that the schools, especially in New England, incorporated the basic tenets of religion right along with history and political science in order to prepare the student for adult life. He wrote:   “In New England every citizen receives the elementary notions of human knowledge; he is taught, moreover, the doctrines and the evidence of his religion, the history of his country, and the leading features of its Constitution. In the states of Connecticut and Massachusetts, it is extremely rare to find a man imperfectly acquainted with all these things, and a person wholly ignorant of them is a sort of phenomenon. (Democracy in America, by Alexis De Tocqueville, p 327).

Ben Franklin said, “I think general virtue is more probably to be expected and obtained from the education of youth, than from the exhortations of adult persons; bad habits and vice of the mind being, like diseases of the body, more easily prevented (in youth) than cured (in adults). I think, moreover, that talents for the education of the youth are the gift of God, and that he on whom they are bestowed, whenever a way is opened for the use of them, is strongly called as if he heard a voice from heaven…”  (Quoted in Adrienne Koch, ed., The American Enlightenment-N.Y. George Braziller, 1965,  p. 77.)

The establishment has forbidden adults from giving out Gideon New Testaments or bibles in the public schools, as the Gideon’s once did, “proselytizing,” as the secularists call it. This apparent subduing of the Christian witness was just one part of the attempt to forbid teachers, administrators, counselors, or any adults from teaching about the salvation message in Christ, and the anti-bible, as the anti-prayer crowd have made many cases against any Christian witness in the public schools.

However, they cannot stop elementary or high school students from sharing material with other students or sharing their testimony in witness to what they have experienced in Jesus Christ. And since January 2010, more than 2 million classmates in 47 states have already been given The Gideon Life Book during school, with the involvement of more than 75,000 Christian students.

The United States Supreme Court removed devotional prayer and Bible reading from public schools in the 1960’s with a series of cases in which students challenged these religious activities. Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962); Abingdon v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963). Other cases followed in which the Supreme Court eliminated religious adornments from classroom was and official prayers from graduation ceremonies. Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39 (1980); Lee v. Weisman, 112 S.Ct. 2649 (1992). These decisions led to a misguided emphasis in public schools on “the wall of separation between church and state,” a phrase Thomas Jefferson used written to the Baptists of Danbury, Connecticut describing the effect of the newly written Constitution, which was quoted by the Supreme Court in Reynolds v. U.S., 98 U.S. 145, 162 (1878).

Between 1960 and 1990, the pendulum had swung too far towards the “wall of separation” as teachers and school district personnel, perhaps fearful of disobeying the law, tried to purge public school classrooms of everything religious. The Christian Law Association began to hear of public school students being reprimanded for reading their Bibles in school, praying over their lunch, and sharing their faith with other students. All of these activities are clearly constitutional.

But it is possible that in recent years both Congress and the Supreme Court have been bringing some balance back to this area of the law. Congress passed the Equal Access Act in 1988 to stop the censorship of private religious activities that occurred in public schools in the aftermath of the Supreme Court school prayer cases. Court decisions since then have emphasized free speech rights of students in public schools, even in the controversial area of religious expression.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution, contained in the Bill of Rights, says that there may be no establishment of religion by the Government. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” The government may not favor one religion over another, or as now interpreted by the courts, may not favor religion over non-religion. This provision of the Constitution is applied to states as well as to the federal Government.

The 2001 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Good News Club v. Milford Central School ruled that keeping religious groups out of schools was a violation of their free speech, and it was affirmed that the public schools could not curtail the right of students to confess their faith in the public schools. The court held that religion is nothing more than speech, and therefore all these religious activities are protected by the First Amendment. Here is a glimmer of hope!

Our Christian youth can witness, but as long as the liberals and the progressive thinking controls the Supreme Court, attacks against Christianity will continue in the United States, and Christian witness in the public schools will be continually be threatened. Religious liberty in respect to public education is a very fragile thing, but it is essential to freedom in our land.

Nothing in the First Amendment converts our public schools into religion-free zones, or requires all religious expression to be left behind at the schoolhouse door. While the government may not use schools to coerce the conscience of students or to convey official endorsement of religion, they also may not discriminate against private religious expression during the school day.

There are many things Christian students might do as legal and valid witnesses. 1.) A student may use a pencil or notebook with a Christian slogan or with a Bible verse printed on it.
2.) A student may a student wear a tee-shirt or button with a religious slogan, Bible verse, or anti-abortion message printed on it. 3.)  A student may give out Gospel tracts or religious literature to his classmates. 4.)  A student may witness to his classmates about Jesus or pray with other students on the school campus. 5.) A student may say grace before eating his lunch. 6.) A student may read the Bible during the school day. 7.)  Students may organize Bible clubs in public school. 8.) Students may write book reports or English themes or do oral assignments based on religious subjects. 9.) Christian students may be excused from participation in activities they find objectionable. 10.)  Student graduation speakers, valedictorians or salutatorians, so long as they compose their own speeches, may witness to their Christian experience or read from the Bible. 11.) Baccalaureate services may still be held if they are sponsored by a private group rather than by the school. 12.)  While public schools may not directly provide religious instruction on the school campus, school officials have substantial discretion to dismiss students to participate in off-premises religious instruction provided that they do not encourage or discourage participation and do not penalize students who choose not to participate. (“Do Christians have rights in public schools?” – Independent Baptist. org)

There is an open door for students in our public schools to be on mission field, not “proselytizing,” as the secular humanists or avid progressives would see it, but to share the glorious good news of Christ from one student to another. Evangelism is not proselytizing, as it is the process through which the Living God speaks to people, not just a program of human change or conversion, but initiated and accomplished by the Holy Spirit. This is good news. This is a glimmer of hope for our land!

by Joe Renfro, Ed.D., Educational Columnist, Radio Evangelist, Retired Teacher and Pastor, 5931 West Avenue, Lavonia, Georgia 30553,  706-356-4173, joerenfro@windstream.net