Jonathan Zimmerman

Opinion contributor

The Supreme Court barred devotional Bible reading and recitations of the Lord’s Prayer in public schools in 1963. But the ruling also said courses about the Bible were permissible, so long as they were “presented objectively as part of a secular program of education.”

Evangelical Christians promptly began a full-court press for Bible classes, which were hardly objective or secular. As I noted in my 2002 book, "Whose America?: Culture Wars in the Public Schools," a Florida teacher of “Bible history” said his class had helped recruit more than 100 new members into an after-school “Youth for Christ” course. And in South Carolina, a graduate of her own school’s “Bible survey” said the course had persuaded her to become a missionary. “I want everybody to have what I have,” she told her teacher, “And I’d like to spend my life sharing it with them.”

Both of these accounts appeared in the evangelical press, which didn’t disguise the purpose of the Bible classes: to spread the Christian Gospel. And that seems to be the same goal behind a recent round of state legislative proposals to enhance "Bible literacy" in our public schools.

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As reported last month in USA TODAY, lawmakers in at least six states have introduced measures that would require or encourage elective classes about the Bible. Unlike their forerunners a half-century ago, who were explicit about their evangelical aims, supporters of the new bills insist that the classes seek only to inform people about a central text in American and world history.

Yet the “information” these courses present is obviously biased towards evangelical Christianity, as proponents’ own rhetoric reveals. “A study of a book of creation by its creator is absolutely essential,” said Florida Rep. Brad Drake, a co-sponsor of Florida's bill. "It’s the book that prepares us for eternity, and there’s no other book that does that.”

Does that sound objective and secular to you? The lawmaker has every right to his beliefs about Bible. But he and his fellow evangelicals have no right — none — to require that those beliefs be taught as facts in our public schools.

'Would you like to place your trust in Jesus?'

Or consider schools in Texas, which already has a law requiring them to teach about the Bible’s influence on history and literature. Although the 2007 measure stated that this information should be presented objectively, in accord with the Supreme Court’s 1963 ruling, day-to-day instruction reveals a clear evangelical bias.

According to a 2013 investigation by Texas Monthly, several schools presented the Bible as the inerrant word of God. “The Bible is written under God’s direction and inspiration,” read one PowerPoint slide shown in classrooms. The slide didn’t say some people believe the Bible is inspired by God, which is a statement of fact. It said the Bible is divinely inspired, which is a statement of faith. It has no place in a public school.

Other Texas students learned that Africans descended from Noah’s son Ham, who supposedly had a curse placed upon him by his father. As the schools correctly noted, that biblical passage was used as a rationale for slavery. But the descent of Africans from Ham was presented to students as a fact, not as a belief.

Dispensing with any pretense to neutrality, finally, some schools flat-out evangelized in their classes about the Bible. “A true relationship to God is ... the personal responsibility of each individual citizen,” read a pamphlet used in one school district. “Would you like to place your trust in Jesus Christ and receive Him as your Savior from Sin?”

Trump shoutouts to evangelicals and the Bible

Now Bible courses have received a boost from President Donald Trump, who tweeted out his support last week. “Numerous states introducing Bible Literacy classes, giving students the option of studying the Bible,” Trump wrote. “Starting to make a turn back? Great!”

Never one to sweat the details, Trump seemed to think that the Bible bills had already passed. The real point was to give a shout-out to conservative evangelicals, a key part of his electoral base. Like the ban on late-term abortion he proposed in his State of the Union address and his assurance Thursday to faith leaders at the National Prayer Breakfast that "I will never let you down," his Bible-literacy tweet reminded evangelicals that he’s on their side.

But that leaves out anyone who isn’t an evangelical Christian, which is the heart of the problem. Attending public elementary school in rural Ohio, the National Public Radio reporter Linda Wertheimer received Bible instruction from a teacher who led the class in openly Christian prayers and songs. “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so,” the class sang.

But Wertheimer was Jewish, and the Bible told her something else. Her parents complained, and she was placed by herself in a small room during Bible class. They complained again, and she was sent to the library. Other kids started to ask why, and she told them. Within a few years, they were telling her that Jews would go to hell.

Starting to make a turn back? Let’s hope not. Of course all of our students should learn about Christianity and other world religions, which have been hugely important forces in human history, politics and culture. But no public school should bias students towards any particular faith, which was the aim of these classes from the start. God forbid we turn back to that.

Jonathan Zimmerman teaches education and history at the University of Pennsylvania. He is co-author of “The Case for Contention: Teaching Controversial Issues in American Schools.”