Christian faith has been around for hundreds of years, and in the United States, freedom of speech to express your religion has been one of the most important ideologies that have made America so diverse and successful. One holiday that aligns with this ideology is Bring Your Bible to School Day, a day that convinces students to bring their bibles to school day in support of their faith.
History of Bring Your Bible to School Day
Bring Your Bible to School Day began in 2014 by Focus on the Family organization as a response to American school removing bibles from public schools. This event has grown in popularity since then when according to Biblica, 8,000 students participated in 2014, then 155,000 people in 2015, and lastly.that number jumped to 356,000 in 2016, with every state in the nation represented. The history of bibles being removed from schools started in 1962 and 1963, when the U.S Supreme Court declared bible readings in public schools to be unconstitutional, and hence took bibles out of the schools.
Since then, public schools have continued to confiscate bible books and restricted students ability to express their religion to others, according to Biblica. Focus on the Family, an American Christian organization which helps consult families and offer resources for those in the Christian lifestyle, founded this holiday to encourage students to bring their bibles to school as a right of their freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
Their main focus to have students not feel afraid to express themselves and read the Bible during their free time. However, if things turn for the worst for students in public schools, Focus on the Family encourages families to contact the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a legal alliance of Christian attorneys to defend the right to freely live out their faith as well as check out school policies and codes of conduct in their school district.
How to Celebrate Bring Your Bible to School Day
You can talk with your friends online through your social media websites about public schools and bibles and create a discussion forum about the topic, using #bringyourbibletoschoolday as a hashtag. You can distribute conversation cards to friends in schools and create games and challenges with your Christian friends about topics in the bible. Once you looked up those school policies, if you can, bring your bible to school and read it during recess. Share with people your personal stories about your faith and listen to your friends’ stories as well.
