Does the Bible Belong in the Classroom?

In this episode of Wake Up, Look Up, Pastor Zach discusses a recent Texas education proposal that would include selected Bible stories in public school curriculum alongside classical literature. He explores the debate over whether the Bible belongs in the classroom, engaging arguments about cultural influence, worldview, and constitutional concerns. He then makes the case that the Bible has deeply shaped Western civilization and argues that true wisdom begins with recognizing God as the source of knowledge.

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Creators and Guests

Host

Zach Weihrauch

Follower of Jesus who has graciously given me a wife to love, children to shepherd, and a church to pastor.

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Check out new episodes of our daily podcast, Wake Up, Look Up, with Zach Weihrauch as he interprets what's happening in our world through the lens of the gospel.

Hello everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode we're asking the question, does the Bible belong in the classroom? This is prompted by an article I read on CNN's website by Elizabeth Wolf about the recent vote of the Texas State Board of to require millions of students to study, among other things, Bible stories. Let me give you a little background. Texas recently approved a K through 12 reading canon, meaning a list of books that they expect every Texas public education student to have read by the time they graduate. Among that list were things like a few Bible stories, David and Goliath, Adam and Eve, and passages of the Bible alongside classical literature. Literature. It's not exclusive to the Bible. It's a pretty robust list, that will affect, more than five million public school students beginning in the 2030, 2031 school year. now supporters argue that the Bible is indispensable for understanding Western literature, that American history and the nation's founding, that it's really impossible to tell the story of America or American ideals without connecting them to the source material, and that many of those ideas come directly from the Bible. Of course, other people are raising constitutional concerns, saying this is an endorsement of Christianity, which of course the government is not allowed to do. The vote does follow a number of Texas education reforms expanding the role of Christianity in public schools, including the display of the Ten Commandments and optional Bible infused curriculum. And again, what critics are saying is that this is limiting teacher autonomy and parental choice. and I would just say to that, here we go again. Because as I've always said on this podcast, I'm okay with Christians living by the rules if the rules are clear and followed by everyone. But of course they're not. The public school system in America has long been a hotbed of secular indoctrination. You can walk through your local public school and see, for example, pride flags displayed everywhere. And no one goes, oh, hold on a second. That's a worldview that's being imposed on our students. No one says, what about parental involvement? Or what about the teacher who doesn't wanna participate? What about teacher autonomy? No one ever says that, because those are the dominant cultural ideas of our day and anyone who opposes those is regressive and a Neanderthal and should just stay out of education. But when a state like Texas says, well, okay, if you're saying that you can impose a worldview and a culture on people. Well, then we'll play by those rules, and we will make sure the biblical worldview is represented in our classrooms. Of course, the minute Christians do this, everybody cries foul and says, you cannot push religion onto students. But you can't have it both ways. As I've said here before, and I know the YouTube comments blow up when I say this, worldviews are religions. They're synonymous. Atheism is a religion. It is a cosmology, a comprehensive set of understanding beliefs that help you make sense of the world. You can say it's not a religion because you don't think of yourself as religion. Buddhism doesn't have a God, but it's a religion. it's a worldview. And if you can promote worldviews in the public school classroom, well, then guess what? A lot of states like Texas don't buy into the secular ideology. And they're not gonna want a Californian worldview in a Texas classroom. And I don't blame them. But let's set that aside for a second because there are two other things I wanna say here. the second is that I think they're right in saying you cannot understand Western civilization or Western morality absent of the Bible. Like, for example, most classrooms in high school are gonna read To Kill a Mockingbird. It's a fantastic book about the idea of true equality and the efforts we must be willing to take as a society to pursue it. But let me ask you a simple question. Where did we get the idea that people are equal? They didn't believe that in ancient Rome. They didn't believe it in Greece. They didn't believe it in ancient Eastern cultures. They still don't believe it in Eastern cultures. You know where we got that idea? From the Bible, which said that people were made in the image of God and it didn't matter what color their skin or how tall or how handsome, or how athletic. They were made in the image of God and they mattered. You can't tell the story of To Kill a Mockingbird without the idea of equality rooted in the Bible. I know secular people love to think that the idea of equality fell out of the sky and hit them in the head like a lightning bolt. And to them, I would say, I'll tell you what, you don't need to read the Bible until you read a history book, because that isn't true. The Bible shaped Western civilization. It's still shaping Western civilization. And I don't blame educators for wanting to make sure kids understand where their ideals come from. That's not the same thing as saying a kid has to make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. That would be promoting religion. But the truth is, like it or not, Christianity has helped form our country. And that brings me to my third point, which is to say, as an unabashed evangelical Christian, I'll tell you this. the Bible says in Proverbs 17, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but the truth is true wisdom and knowledge is only found when you begin with this point. I am a creature who has a creator, and wisdom only comes through knowing him. And I think what Texas may find is that his students are exposed to the scriptures and maybe even do respond in faith, not because of the curriculum, but because the power of God's word. They just might find that wisdom begins increasing in the classroom. I don't cede this ground to secular ideology, secular worldviews, or secular people. You decide. Is the classroom a place for worldview advancement? And if it is, then we're going to compete in that space, just like you are. And the truth will win in the end. Hey, thanks for checking out Wake Up, Look Up. For more content, be sure to visit the Christ Community Chapel app or website ccchapel.com.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at [e-mail]!