Bible Teaching in Public Schools

I was really excited to see that this Texas school district was going to allow a Bible course to be taught in it's school district. I know that a class like this was very important in my life. I live in Kannapolis, NC and we had Bible taught in our local, public schools. It was taught once a week in 6th grade, then when you got to high school, you could take it as a history elective. The school offered Bible I and Bible II, so you could actually take 2 years in high school. I was saved at 13, and I learned a lot of Bible facts in these courses. The courses could only teach the Bible as History, and we did not get into any discussions on Baptism, Communion, Sovreignity, Free Will, etc. It was also during this time that the Lord begin to call me into ministry, and the influence of my Bible teacher, Mr. Hazeltine, would lead me to attend the same college that he did.

I know that there will be liberal groups (ACLU, People for the American Way, etc) who will try to scare this school system with lawsuits. I hope and pray that they will not give into this pressure and allow the seed of God's Word to be planted in the lives of our young people. It would also help people know more about the Bible. I taught Bible in Christian schools for 12 years (one a non-denominational and the other SBC) and since becoming DCE in Jan 2004, I'm amazed at the lack of Biblical knowledge the average young person has. I dont want to turn this into a Sunday School debate, and the programs that we have for our young people, but a class in a public school could help our congregations know the stories that we preach about as ministers.