Bible in the Public School Update!
By Katherine Frazier, Boise, Idaho
For December 2008-February 2009 IMCNews Issue

“Calling out Men for a Transformed Life,’ a conference by Idaho Men’s Connection, will among other speakers feature Dr. Chuck Seldon, director of the project of Our Godly Heritage, returning elective Bible study to the public schools.

After more than two years of preparatory work, Dr. Seldon will be speaking of the initiative that will go to the Idaho voter. He notes that Idaho’s education Code has removed Bible study from the public schools of the state. More than 40 other states of the United States have determined to include elective courses in Bible as art, literature and history, Dr. Seldon says, and Idaho should now become one of that number.

At the conference January 17, 2009 at the Boise First Community Center in Meridian, Idaho, Dr. Seldon will bring an information table where petitions and the initiative can be collected. The initiative will require 45,000 signatures in order to be considered by the Legislature in 2011.

Further information concerning the conference may be found in this issue of InterMountain Christian News and by contacting Jon Harmon in Nampa, Idaho at (208) 461-2307.

Saturday January 17: 8AM-4:30PM Boise First Community Center 3852 N. Eagle Rd., Meridian, Idaho E-mail: jn.hrmn@gmail.com
For more information regarding our Godly American Heritage, call Dr. Chuck Seldon in Boise, Idaho at (208) 954-2788 and view the web site www.wallbuilders.com

Bible in the Schools Update
By Katherine Frazier, Boise
For August-November 2008 IMCNews Issue

Liberty and Justice for All. What a great theme for Boise's 4th of July Parade. Dear Reader, you won't be surprised that there is a connection between that event and its theme and our project of making Bible studies available to public school students

Dr. Chuck Seldon, project director, drove a float festooned with a banner calling for the restoration of Bible studies, challenging the 1000 or more viewers:

"Will we the people of Idaho allow the public school bureaucracies to ban the Bible from our schools, when 40 states have that choice?”

This is an issue of liberty and justice for all.

If you agree and want to help bring this about, call Chuck. He welcomes your response and will help you get petitions around to your friends. Five thousand signatures have come in, so keep them coming! More information is available at the web site for this paper (imcnews.org) – click on the banner ad for The Bible In Public Schools Update.

Chuck has been in touch with offers of grants to help finance this project, and he brought his "Freedom Train" to the God and Country event in July which was the largest ever, attended by 11,000 people. He gave out dvd's and literature to many interested Idahoans.

A new tool is now available on the internet from the ‘American Solutions for Winning the Future’ called the ‘Solutions Lab.’ The ‘Solutions Lab’ is an internet-based ideas exchange and collaboration platform. I would urge you to investigate this at americansolutions.com/SolutionsLab. If many of us use this tool, we can find team members for the project. General Chairman Newt Gingrich sees this as a citizen centric movement. Forget the upper levels; let's solve our problems right here as citizens.

When I mention the Bible project to folks, the usual response is, "We already have that." If that were true, offices such as the Idaho Department of Education would have said so, and that would, as we say, have been that. Think about a study of the first book, Genesis, for example; do you really think that is available? How far would the teaching of evolution have grown if our children could read for themselves even the first chapter?

Let's get the academic study, "The Bible and Its Influence" or a similar one to our children.

For more about our Godly American Heritage, call Dr. Chuck Seldon at (208) 954-2788 and view the following web site: www.wallbuilders.com

Bible in the Public School Update
By Robbie Robinson, Boise
For May-July 2008 IMCNews Issue

The Question of the Time

Will the political leaders of the State of Idaho, who should represent the will of the people, meet their responsibilities in clearing an antiquated, confusing and debated provision in the Idaho State Code?

Here is the problem. Some interpretations of Idaho Code 33-1604 deny the students in the public schools of Idaho the elective chance to compete, on an equal basis, with scholars in over forty of the other states in our nation on the knowledge required to understand the primary basis of history, art, literature and law in the United States of America.

It is critical for Idaho to produce thoroughly educated graduates for life in the 21st Century. For this reason, we the people must put pressure on the lawmakers in the State of Idaho to clarify or amend, Idaho Code 33-1604, in such a way that the students in the State of Idaho will no longer be denied the fundamentals of their needed educational experience.

Download the Bible in the Public Schools petition from the Treasure Valley Christian News web site by clicking on the Bible in the Public Schools Update banner ad at www.imcnews.org and mail your petition to Dr. Seldon whose name and address are at the bottom of the petition. He invites your calls to his telephone in Boise at (208) 954-2788.

The Bible in Public Schools Update
By Katherine Frazier, Boise
For February-April 2008 IMCNews Issue

Forty-five years ago opponents of the Bible succeeded in obtaining legislation removing the Bible from tax-supported ("government") schools in the United States.

This writer was not a believer at that time and couldn't appreciate the devastation that this action would bring to America, but many devout Christians must have been shocked and grieving over what they feared would result.

The first two Psalms tell how God regards such actions and how He will judge them.

For today, however, He seems to be bringing His grace and mercy to bear. Many states (36 of the 50) are approving the restoration of the Bible to their schools' curricula.

Dr. Chuck Seldon, leader of the project in Idaho, is gratified by Idaho petitions coming to him and he offers encouraging bits of news such as the following endorsements:

Associated Press: "Teaching the Bible as literature: Teachers say it can and should be done,” and "New public-school textbook on the Bible cleverly skirts trouble."

Education Week: "Teachers report need for grounding in Biblical knowledge."

Newsweek" "See you in Bible class."

Dallas Morning News" "Bible class doesn't have to be a holy war."

Los Angeles Times: "Why the Bible belongs in America's public schools: Without knowing scripture, kids can't understand literature or U.S. history."

The Bible Literacy Project, Inc., guide for teachers has been endorsed by the following organizations:

American Association of School Administrators
American Federation of Teachers
American Jewish Committee
National Association of Secondary School Principals
Council on Islamic Education
National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
National Council for the Social Studies
National Education Association

and several Christian organizations I haven't space to record.

Send in your signed petitions to Dr. Seldon. He invites your calls to his telephone, (208) 954-2788. For more help, see the web sites: www.bibleliteracy.org and www.wallbuilders.com

The Bible in Public Schools Update
By Katherine Frazier, Boise
December07/January08 Edition of TVCNews

The organizations, Our Godly American Heritage and Idaho Values Alliance, are asking for help in the project of offering Bible courses in the public schools.

A powerful thing, your signature, would show your support for the course when your signature is put to the accompanying petition.

Parents and students in junior and senior high school may sign the petition shown in today’s Treasure Valley Christian News. This petition will be brought to the Idaho Legislature next session for their approval. Click on the following link to download the petition – please have as many people as possible to sign and return to Dr. Chuck Seldon:
http://www.imcnews.org/downloads/Misc/BibleintheSchoolsVoteForm.pdf

Project director, Dr. Chuck Seldon, invites questions at his telephone, (208) 954-2788.

Check out the following web sites about the importance of “The Bible and It’s Influence” and our Godly American Heritage: www.bibleliteracy.org or www.wallbuilders.com

Watch for continuing reports on GETTING THE BIBLE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL.

Monday, October 1, 2007
The Bible in Public Schools Update
By Katherine Frazier, Boise

Question: What is the most widely printed and distributed book in the world? The Gutenberg press was the first printer. Question: What was the first book printed on this machine? Answer: for both questions, the Bible, of course.

This collection of books compiled for some 35 centuries is the subject of "The Bible and Its Influence," copyrighted in 2006 and edited by Cullen Schippe and Chuck Stetson. Published by The Bible Literacy Project, it is a 373 page students’ elective course. It offers a tour of the whole Bible.

As the authors tell their readers, "...Knowledge of the Bible can be a key to unlocking other subjects...especially literature, art, music, and social sciences.....Every well-educated person needs to have a basic knowledge of the Bible."

Schippe and Stetson have given students a fine, scholarly and highly readable work that will further their literacy and prepare them for their years after school. They have joined with others in promoting the study of the Bible after years of neglect. To some who would say that parents should teach the Bible, this reviewer would ask if the parents should also be the only teachers of mathematics, science and foreign language? Parents are grateful for teachers who are prepared to lead young learners in the many disciplines necessary for life.

"The Bible and Its Influence" is available at public libraries.

Another major work aimed at getting the Bible into schools as an elective is being carried out by Dr. Chuck Seldon, Boise educator, in the organization "Our Godly Heritage." Dr. Seldon travels throughout the Northwest visiting legislators, principals, churches and others. In September he will be in Texas, at New Braunfels High School, working with Jennifer Kendrick who teaches Bible literacy there.

Her story was featured in the April 2, 2007, issue of TIME Magazine in an article entitled, The Case for Teaching the Bible. This issue can be read at the Boise Library. It also quoted pollster George Gallup who dubbed Americans as "a nation of biblical illiterates" yet in a survey of English teachers, there were no requirements of Bible texts. Shakespeare alludes to Scripture some 1300 times, but who of us could identify them?

Recently Dr. Seldon was invited by Calvary Church to present materials concerning the project. Over 2000 signatures have been collected in several churches and he encourages all churches to consider joining the project. He can be reached by phone at (208) 954-2788 (Boise, Idaho).

Check out the following web sites about the importance of “The Bible and It’s Influence” and our Godly American Heritage: www.bibleliteracy.org or www.wallbuilders.com

Watch for continuing reports on GETTING THE BIBLE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL.

Wednesday, March 29, 2007
Time For Bible To Be Returned To Public Education
By Bryan Fischer, Executive Director - Idaho Values Alliance, Boise
www.idahovaluesalliance.com

The cover story on the April 2, 2007 edition of Time magazine is about the demonstrable need to return the study of the Bible to America's public schools. When a magazine that tilts as far to the left as Time recognizes the problems caused by biblical illiteracy, perhaps it's time everyone in America, including educators in Idaho, did something about it.

Idaho's 114 school districts already can offer the literary study of the Bible as an elective, but to my knowledge, none do so. Georgia last year became the first state in the union to offer funding for high school electives on the Old and New Testaments using the Bible as the core text. There is no reason Idaho can't become the second.

There are currently two curricula available for use in public schools, one developed by a graduate of Chuck Colson's Wilberforce mentoring program. Currently 460 school districts in 37 states are using one curriculum or the other. Polling data indicates that over 60% of Americans favor teaching about the Bible in public education settings.

The chair of Boston University's religion department has written a new book, "Religious Literacy," that makes the case for Bible-literacy courses. Beginning in the 1970s, he points out, "religion rushed into the public square. What purpose could it possibly serve for citizens to be ignorant of all that?"

It's a simple fact that a working knowledge of the Bible is necessary for anyone to be a full-fledged, well-rounded, thoroughly-educated American. The writer points out that there are some 1,300 allusions to Scripture in the Shakespearean canon, and numerous references even in Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" to the passion of Christ.

Biblical ignorance makes many key elements of American history impossible to understand. For instance, the phrase "the shining city on the hill," first uttered by a Puritan leader and re-popularized by Ronald Reagan is actually drawn from the teaching of Jesus as found in the gospel of Matthew.

Martin Luther King, Jr. deliberately emulated the Old Testament prophet Amos when he spoke of "Justice rolling down like waters" in his "I Have a Dream" speech.

As Time's religion editor points out, "The Bible is the most influential book ever written. Not only is the Bible the best-selling book of all time, it is the best-selling book of the year every year."

Even the American Jewish Congress supports Bible classes in public schools. "Take creationism," says a representative. "Unless you are literate in the first two chapters of Genesis, you have no idea what people are fighting about."

Yet even though nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the Bible holds the answers to "all or most of life's basic questions," pollster George Gallup has labeled the U.S. a "nation of biblical illiterates." Only half of American adults know the name of even one of the four gospels, and most cannot name the first book in the Bible.

Contrary to popular belief, there is no constitutional impediment to the literary and historical study of the Bible in the public system of education. In a pivotal 1948 Supreme Court Case, Justice Robert Jackson said, in a concurring opinion, "One can hardly respect the system of education that would leave the student wholly ignorant of the currents of religious thought that move the world." To put all references to God off limits in the classroom, he went on, would leave public education "in shreds."

In 1963, the majority opinion of the Court in another case explicitly declared, "Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment."

Even the general counsel for the American Jewish Congress agrees: "It is beyond question that it is possible to teach a course about the Bible that is constitutional."

The author of the Time story concludes, "In the end, what is required in teaching about the Bible in our public schools is patriotism: a belief that we live in a nation that understands the wisdom of its Constitution clearly enough to allow the most important book in its history to remain vibrantly accessible for everyone."

Reference: The Case for Teaching The Bible | TIME
http://www.time.com:80/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1601845,00.html

Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Returning The Study Of The Bible To Public Schools
By Bryan Fischer, Executive Director - Idaho Values Alliance, Boise
www.idahovaluesalliance.com

In a one-woman argument for returning the study of the Bible to public schools - as a necessary part of any thorough education - Barbara Walters admitted on the TV talk show, "The View," the she herself lives in virtually total ignorance of the Bible. The portion of one show was dedicated to a recently published article in which a professor at Boston University contends that we must, in the name of cultural, historical, and literary literacy, return the study of the Bible to public school classrooms. This professor points out, for instance, that there are over 1,300 allusions to the Bible in Shakespeare alone, all of which are incomprehensible to anyone unfamiliar with the dominant themes of the Scripture. Said Walters tellingly, "I know nothing about the Bible, and I think most people don't." (The Bible: Rosie O'Donnell Studies It, Barbara Knows Nothing, Joy Says Teach It As Fiction | NewsBusters.org – reference: http://newsbusters.org/node/11659)

March, 2007
By Dr. Chuck Seldon, Boise

I have Good news for Bible believing Americans! God is still on the throne and we win in the end.

I listen to many great leaders in our country, who, first of all, know our American history, second, they learn from it, then they study world history and compare it to Bible History, Literature and Art. They are all basically saying the same thing. America must wake up to its spiritual heritage, and many of these same spiritual leaders are also saying that they are beginning to see the sparks of a third or fourth Great Awakening in our country. That is Good news!

Rev. Craft spoke here in Boise back in April on Morality and Freedom “America’s dynamic duo,” and he asked the question “Does morality really matter?” Media and special interest groups often tell us two lies they want us to believe.

Lie #1: “We must preserve separation of Church and State.”
Lie #2: “Morality and performance in office are separate matters.”

Our Founding Fathers had a great deal to say on these issues.


Independence Hall (Philadephia, Pennsylvania), where the Declaration of Independence was authored.

In Independence Hall where our Founding Fathers first declared an ndependent nation and later created a Republic, John Adams said, “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

It was interesting to watch and listen to C-Span about a month ago. Our Ex-President Clinton was speaking to a large group of reporters and Democrats in Washington, D.C. He pointed his finger at them and said, “If you don’t think morals are important to the American people, you better think again!” Possibly, just maybe, he learned something in office. There is hope for him and for our country.

I just returned from Texas where I visited my grandchildren and family. While I was there, I checked into the progress of “Putting the Bible back into the Public Schools” project and they are making great progress! They are up from fifty school districts to fifty five that are teaching the Bible in public schools as History, Literature or Art. Praise the Lord.

For more information, call me at (208) 954-2788 or E-mail Tammy Seydel at heritagehouse@qwest.net
Reference web sites for history of our Godly American Heritage:

WallBuilders
National Council On Biblical Curriculum in Public Schools
Bible Literacy Project

Other Links
New TV Special Connects Darwin to Hitler

Our Godly American Heritage Update - The Bible in Public Schools.
For more information, call Dr. Chuck Seldon in Boise at (208) 954-2788.