Five Reasons Bible Literacy Classes in Schools are a Bad Idea
By Rod Dreher
Rawlings School of Divinity
CLED 720: Biblical & Theological Foundations of Education
Genevieve Hamer
June 1, 2022
Five Reasons Bible Literacy Classes in Schools are a Bad Idea
I love the Bible and strongly agree that more people should be biblically literate, but I don’t
believe that literacy should be obtained in a public school setting. Aside from the fact that our
constitution separates church and state, there are a number of reasons why it’s just a bad idea–
no matter what your faith is or isn’t.
1. Biblical Literacy has no agreed-upon definition. Is it just about teaching kids what is in
the Bible and asking them to take a Bible content exam much like one of my denomination’s
ordination exams? Or is it about applying what’s in the Bible to our lives? Is it about delving into
who wrote the Bible and looking at the contradictions and inaccuracies in translations? There’s
no agreed-upon definition out there of what exactly a Biblical Literacy class would look like.
2. There would most likely be discussion about what the content of the Bible means—and
that is very subjective. A Bible literacy class taught by me, one taught by Franklin Graham and
one taught by your local Catholic bishop would be very different classes indeed. So which one
would it be?
3. That brings us to the question of just whowouldteach the class. I was unable to find any
university who offers a secondary education degree in Biblical literacy or even religious studies.
Would we tap the atheist English teacher for the job? The math teacher who’s been teaching
Sunday school at her church for years? Does the school call in a local clergy member or bring in
various clergy people throughout the year?
4. Many schools have had to drop classes like music, art, journalism and other valuable
classes due to budget constraints. Why would we add something that is available for free in any
community around our country to further stretch our school districts’ limited finances?
5. If we’re going to study religion in school, it would be far more valuable to do a survey of
world religions so that our knowledge and understanding of other faiths goes beyond what
people share in memes.
Most importantly, let’s not allow the issue of Biblical literacy, prayer in schools and other
religious issues distract us from more important issues–adequate teacher pay, access to quality
education for all of our children and safety in our schools.
