Jesus Goes to School

In a country that has a rich heritage of faith, and specifically Christian teaching, there are opportunities to freely share and demonstrate our love for Christ.  In our homes, our workplaces, even in the stores we shop, we can bring the pleasing aroma of Christ, which is spoken of in 2nd Corinthians 2 (ESV).  And, even in schools, there can be opportunities to testify to the glory of God.  That chapter to which I referred contains these words:
14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing...

That fragrance is spreading: from the annual event See You at the Pole, where school students gather at flagpoles, to Focus on the Family's "Bring Your Bible to School Day," there is a great awareness of the opportunity to bring faith into the school setting.  On college campuses, recently, another Unite event brought 7000 to a gathering at Grand Canyon University in Arizona, and students got together for an Audience of One event at the University of Alabama.  Christian speakers are fanning out to campuses across America in association with Turning Point USA, carrying on the legacy, and especially the faith legacy, of Charlie Kirk. And a film devoted to the concept of "released time," providing time for students to be transported off-campus for religious education, was in theaters last week.

So, you would think that Americans in general would embrace this mass injection of faith into the school setting.  But, a YouGov poll tells a different story, unfortunately.  The YouGov website reports: "New polling finds that Americans are divided on the role religion should play in public schools: 34% say that religion doesn't play enough of a role, 26% say its role is about right, and 26% say it plays too much of a role."  So, essentially three-fourths of those surveyed do not think religion "plays too much of a role" in public schools.

The article goes on to say: "Americans who say religion is very important to them are especially likely to say religion doesn't play enough of a role in public schools (56%), as are people who identify as Christians (45%)."  

And, while respondents seem to embrace teaching about religions in school; the results are mixed about which religions should be taught about; the summary says: "38% of Americans say public schools should teach about all religions equally; 12% say they should teach about all religions, but give more emphasis to Christianity; 9% say they should only teach about Christianity; and 28% say they should not teach about any religions."  Again, about 3/4 are OK with teaching about some form of religion in school.

Religious expression in schools does not seem to be a taboo, with 7-in-10 supporting wearing religious jewelry, two-thirds think there should be accommodations for religious holidays, and 6-in-10 support religious clubs on school property.  And, 6 out of 10 believe that parents should be able to opt their children out of classes with LGBTQ+ content.

The posting of the Ten Commandments is a hot topic in some states these days, especially in light of court action preventing the implementation of laws to allow such posting.   Almost one-third of respondents supports requiring the Commandments to be displayed, with half opposed.  But, when asked about the relevancy of the 10 Commandments, 71% said that they, "are relevant to how people should live today."  Slightly less indicated they tried to live by them.  So, there's a disconnect between personal opinion on the Decalogue and whether or not they should be publicly viewed.

So, this survey indicates that people desire to live by the 10 Commandments, think they're a good thing, yet don't think they should be displayed in public school classrooms.  I think this is a by-product of the thinking that church and state, or school and state, should be separate. There has been great misunderstanding, even with a student-led event such as See You at the Pole, about the legality of such an event.  But, it does seem that students - and even teachers and administators - have greater legal rights than many would have them believe.

And, in any sphere of life, we should take the Scripture to heart from Romans chapter 1, in which Paul declared he was not ashamed of the gospel.  We should always be sensitive to look for ways to demonstrate our faith and to inject Biblical truth into conversations - and that can be important for students on a campus.