Baptist News Publishes: “Sunday Schools in Public Schools?”

Recently, Baptist News reported on a coordinated effort by some religious groups to reinstate the Bible in public schools. There are many who are openly advocating for a Bible-based curriculum in public education as a way to combat the trend toward secularism and preserve Christian moral values. According to Baptist News, these initiatives are an attempt to convert public schools into Sunday schools.

On November 26, 2024, Baptist News published an article called “Sunday Schools in Public Schools” and stated the following in part:

• “Among many reasons for the continuing attempt to introduce ‘Bible curriculum’ in American/Southern public education, the decline in Sunday school attendance is surely prominent. Supporters of such endeavors seem to be asking the public schools to do the church’s job for them, Christianizing a generation who know not Sunday school.” [1]

• “Oklahoma and Texas are at the forefront of that movement.” [1]

• “Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters ‘emailed state school superintendents a ‘Mandatory Announcement’ linked to a video titled ‘Prayer for the Nation.’ Walters demanded all Oklahoma schools play the video for their students and ‘send it home to their parents.’ Walters led in requiring the Bible curriculum in Oklahoma schools and requires all teachers to be prepared to teach such courses.” [1]

• “On Nov. 22, the Texas Board of Education, by an 8-7 vote, approved the ‘Bluebonnet Learning’ curriculum for public schools grades K-5, surely the first stage of bringing a Bible curriculum into all Texas public schools. The program is optional, but the state sweetens the pot by providing $60 per student to the schools that acquiesce, a kind of governmental indulgence selling.” [1]

Even though Baptist News describes these developments, they also warn that these kinds of religious mandates could very well lead to a return of persecution and tyranny. The article gives the following forewarning about trying to Christianize society through state-sponsored education.

• “When a 21st-century government official ‘mandates’ prayer or other religious observances for the general public, that person already has trespassed, indeed, violated the First Amendment. We might remember that refusing state-mandated ‘prayers by the book’ got early Baptists jailed, even beaten, in colonial Puritan New England and Anglican Virginia.” [1]

Yes, many Christians were persecuted in colonial America due to differences in religious beliefs and practices that often clashed with the dominant religious groups that were in power. While many colonists came to America seeking religious freedom, that freedom was many times only limited to those who were in the majority groups, with dissenters facing discrimination or punishment. In communities dominated by the Puritans, many Quakers, Baptists, and independents were harshly persecuted, fined, imprisoned, and even executed.

In the 1880s, Seventh-day Adventists faced significant persecution due to their observance of Saturday, the biblical Sabbath, in contrast to widespread Sunday laws, known as blue laws, which mandated Sunday rest and church attendance in many parts of the United States. These laws, rooted in Protestantism, criminalized work and recreation on Sundays, and Adventists were fined, harassed, or even jailed for engaging in routine activities or refusing to cease their livelihoods on Sunday.

The modern societal trend to revive Christianity through government mandate is a call to return to a time of religious tyranny and persecution, where the freedoms of conscience and worship become severely diminished. According to Bible prophecy, specifically Revelation 13, Protestant America will unite with our nation’s political powers to enforce religious observance, forming an “image to the beast.” This image represents a system of religious authority that mirrors the oppressive church-state union of the Papal Dark Ages, where dissenters were persecuted for their beliefs.

Any efforts to legislate morality, enforce religious observances, or undermine the separation of church and state are stepping stones toward this prophetic fulfillment. As these developments unfold, those who remain faithful to God’s commandments, particularly in keeping the biblical Sabbath, will face renewed persecution. The fires of intolerance, once thought extinguished, will ignite again, testing the faith of believers and ushering in the final events foretold in Scripture.

“God’s people will feel the hand of persecution because they keep holy the seventh day.” (Bible Commentary, Vol. 7, p. 975).

“If popery or its principles shall again be legislated into power, the fires of persecution will be rekindled against those who will not sacrifice conscience and the truth in deference to popular errors. This evil is on the point of realization.” (Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 712).

Sources

[1] https://baptistnews.com/article/sunday-schools-in-public-schools/