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Bring Your Bible to School Day, October 5th, 2017

Biblica partners with Focus on the Family

When prayer and Bible reading were “removed” from American public schools (U.S. Supreme Court cases in 1962 and 1963), many people falsely assumed that religion had been banned. In some cases, officials mistakenly believed the rulings gave them the authority to unfairly infringe on a student’s right to free speech.

In the years since those cases, Bibles have been confiscated, young people have been told not to bow their heads in prayers before eating lunch, and sharing Bible verses has been met with punishment. (See recent examples of this at http://www.bringyourbible.org/religious-freedom-campus-students-can-cant/.)

That’s why Bring Your Bible to School Day was launched in 2014: To counteract the misperceptions created by student being denied their rights – denied the opportunity to pray and read their Bibles. The event provides students with a fun, positive way to celebrate their basic religious freedom rights.

In reality, both of these activities are allowed in public schools. As long as a student doesn’t disrupt class or harass other students, they can freely express their faith.

Bring Your Bible to School Day was started as a way to empower students and allow them to participate in a visual reminder of their First Amendment rights.

And boy, did it! In 2014, 8,000 students participated. By 2015, 155,000 young people were involved. In 2016, that number jumped to 356,000, with every state in the nation represented. Bring Your Bible to School Day resonated with both students and parents.

This year, Biblica is partnering with Focus on the Family with a goal of seeing at least 500,000 kids from kindergarten to college take their Bibles to school on October 5.

While Bring Your Bible to School Day is a new initiative, the idea of encouraging kids to take Bibles to school is not. Soon after it was founded as the New York Bible Society in 1809, Biblica began seeking ways to help young people engage with the Bible and recognize its relevance in their lives. One way was a take your Bible to school program.

Two hundred years later, with the Bible “banned” from schools, getting children to appreciate the power of Scripture and share it with their peers is even more critical.

As Focus on the Family notes on their Bring Your Bible To School website (http://www.bringyourbible.org/), participation in this important event can include taking Bibles to school, sharing verses with friends, wearing T-shirts and putting up posters to promote the event, and posting pictures on #BringYourBible.

It’s all about equipping the next generation of leaders to understand their religious right to unashamedly bear witness to the gospel.

Encourage your children to participate in Bring Your Bible To School on October 5, 2017. To find out more about how you can get involved, go to http://www.bringyourbible.org/.

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Biblica Staff
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