The Bible should not be a tool for bullying

A recently passed state laws allows school districts to offer elective Bible study courses. No one version of the Bible can be required and material from both the Old and New Testaments can be taught.

The material is to be taught from a historical perspective, illustrating the contribution of these documents to Western culture and/or from a literary perspective, but not as the basis for preaching or theological instruction.

An amendment was offered to enlarge the list of texts that could be studied to include basic texts of other major religious traditions, but this amendment was defeated. As enacted, this law clearly favors the Christian religion.

The same was clearly true of Gov. Matt Bevin’s effort to get public school children to participate in the “Bring your Bible to School Day” on Oct. 5.

His stated motive was to heal wounds and bring people together. “You look at all the division, all the vitriol and all the animosity that’s striking us in this nation, how fragmented people are,” Bevin said. “If we followed biblical principles like treating others as you would want to be treated, loving your neighbor like yourself, simple stuff. This is the kind of thing we should celebrate.”

But things are not this simple.

Many people may not be aware of the problem of bullying and harassment that Kentucky children of some religious and ethnic backgrounds have experienced increasingly over the past year, particularly since last November. In early December, some of us testified before the Fayette County school board on this uptick of hate-based bullying in school. Since then, a group of high school student leaders has been speaking out on this and related issues.

While we are sure it is not the governor’s intention to increase the level of such bullying, promoting a “Bring your Bible to School Day” can easily have that effect. And the desired effect could be achieved better by focusing on basic values shared in almost all religious and moral traditions.

Let’s go back to the biblical command the governor quotes to love your neighbor as yourself. According to any reasonable interpretation, this does not just refer to the family next door who shares the same version of the Christian Bible as you do. It includes the family around the block who centers its life around a different translation or a different holy book.

It also includes the family who tries to raise their children to live as upstanding members of the community but that follows no organized religion. Loving your neighbor as yourself would also include those who live on the other side of the city, or the other side of the world.

In fact, the admonition to love one’s neighbor as oneself is a variant of what is called “The Golden Rule,” which appears in similar forms in most the world’s major religions.

The formulation in the Confucian Analects reads: “What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.” The Hindu version reads: “One should always treat others as they themselves wish to be treated.”

It is a sacred obligation not to make our neighbors of different faiths or backgrounds feel unwelcome or disrespected, since we clearly would not want to be made to feel that way ourselves.

Let’s teach our children to bring good, solid, loving, neighborly values to school every day. Let’s help them learn the importance of living together and working together to build a sound and loving community. Bottom line: the only way to do that is to honestly strive to practice those values ourselves, day in and day out.

This story was originally published November 3, 2017 at 7:50 PM with the headline "The Bible should not be a tool for bullying."