Navigating Faith in Public Schools
By Guest Blogger: Kori Pennypacker, CEO of Bible2School
Does your child go to public school? If so, are you familiar with HOW their faith can be part of their school day? With phrases like “separation of church and state” being thrown around, it can be confusing to know where faith and school come together.
According to the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics, 53 million students attend public school in the United States. That’s a lot of kids — and ALL of them need Jesus! And, Jesus is shared through relationships. But how can your children live out their faith in school and develop these relationships if everyone believes the falsehood that children can’t express their faith in school? In this blog, we want to kindly educate you so that your children can feel comfortable expressing faith in public school.
What does the law say?
The misconception of separation of church and state came from a comment taken out of context that Thomas Jefferson wrote. In reality, what Jefferson said is the state can not dictate to or establish a church. The First Amendment in our Constitution states that students are free to exercise their religion voluntarily before, during, and after school. Therefore, the public school’s role in faith is solely to protect religious freedom of students and not prohibit it.
According to our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom , children in public school CAN:
Can your child FREELY express their beliefs?
YES, they can! Anyone who says that students can’t freely express their religious beliefs is mistaken and not following the law of our land — the U.S. Constitution & The Bill of Rights. Our founding fathers designed our government to protect religious freedom with the First Amendment! They put it first for a reason —it’s important for our well-being and our children’s well-being.
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God was NOT taken out of public school!
Many people believe that God was taken out of school. But the truth is that He was NOT. There are 3 legal ways that public school children can hear about God:
In the current culture, Released Time seems to be the most impactful because we are able to reach all children, DURING their public school day, during school hours? — making it convenient for parents. This is why programs, like Bible2School , exist — to serve parents who want their children to learn about God through His Word. Bible2School provides free Bible classes to elementary school children DURING their public school day, typically over lunch and recess. It’s a fully legal elective program that can happen anywhere, in any state. The children walk or are bused to a nearby church or partner location where trained volunteers engage the children in lively worship, Bible stories, lessons, activities, and prayer.
Seize the Opportunity
As parents and caretakers, it’s important that we educate ourselves and kindly educate others so that we can confidently make sure our children enjoy the freedom given to them by the Constitution to learn about God and share their faith in the public school environment. Remember, your children do NOT need to leave their faith at the school door. Instead, they can confidently bring their faith into the public school and respectfully share and defend their faith.
Kori Pennypacker is the CEO of Bible2School , where she oversees the mission and speaks to businesses, churches, and community leaders on the topic of the importance of spiritual training for children in our communities nationwide. She has over 20 years of experience in children’s ministry and leadership.
Bible2School equips communities across the nation to provide free elective Bible classes to elementary school children DURING their public school day. Their vision is that every public school in the nation would have a dynamic Bible program taught during their school day as allowed by national released time court rulings.