“Education without the Bible, where does it lead?”

In 1844, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Stephen Girard—a French immigrant who settled in America prior to the Revolutionary War—played a significant role in shaping education for orphans. Upon his death in 1831, Girard left a considerable endowment to establish Girard College, a school for orphaned children. His will included explicit directives that prohibited religious instruction within the institution. Specifically, he required the teaching of "pure morality" without the involvement of clergy, missionaries, or ministers from any denomination, thus deliberately excluding formal religious teachings, including the use of the Bible, from the curriculum.
At the time, this caused significant controversy because many believed that Biblical Christian principles were essential for teaching and maintaining morality. Without the Bible, it was widely thought, society would become immoral.
This sparked a case that went before the United States Supreme Court. The case was Vidal v. Girard’s Executors in 1844. Daniel Webster, arguing for the plaintiff, said that excluding Christianity from education was “repugnant” to American principles, asserting that the Bible, especially the New Testament, was the ultimate source of moral instruction. Many parties argued that education without the Bible was “obnoxious and untenable. The majority opinion from the Justices of the United States Supreme Courts said, “Why may not the Bible, and especially the New Testament … be read and taught as a divine revelation in the [school]—its general precepts expounded … and its glorious principles of morality inculcated? … Where can the purest principles of morality be learned so clearly or so perfectly as from the New Testament?”
The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision delivered by Justice Joseph Story, ruled that Girard's school could not entirely exclude Christian principles. The Court held that while Girard's will barred clergy, the Bible—specifically the New Testament without note or comment—could still be read and taught as a source of Divine revelation and moral principles. The ruling emphasized that the "purest principles of morality" were found in the Bible and excluding it entirely would be contrary to the public interest. Thus, Girard College was permitted to operate, but with the understanding that Christian moral teachings, derived from the Bible, should be included in its curriculum.
Our judicial system has slipped greatly in its conviction about the Bible, morality, and the principles that will help shape a moral society. Two landmark Supreme court decisions entirely changed the fabric of moral society.
In 1962, the Court ruled in Engel v. Vitale that state-sponsored or school-mandated prayer in public schools violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. That case involved a non-denominational prayer composed by New York state officials and recited daily in classrooms.
In 1963, the Court ruled in Abington School District v. Schempp (combined with Murray v. Curlett) that mandatory Bible readings and recitation of the Lord's Prayer in public schools are also unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause. This extended and reinforced the 1962 decision.
What has this done to the moral fabric of our society, and especially among school-age teens (15-19 years of age)? From 1991-2023, between 32%-51% of teens of that age bracket have admitted to engaging in sexual activity.
I sat in a JLARC (Joint Legislative Audit Review Committee) committee meeting the other day and normally they are just about money and budgets, but the beginning of that meeting was very interesting. They were talking about the number of school systems that had removed books from their public-school libraries of a sexually explicit nature. They were particularly talking about §22.1-16.8 of the Code of Virginia which has to do with each school board adopting policies to notify parents of any sexually explicit material in the library or classroom and then giving the parents the right to choose another book for their child’s assignment. The VAIB feels that the legislators did not go far enough, they should have (while they had the majority in the House), enacted legislation that would totally remove those books.
This section in the Virginia Code (§22.1-16.8) was brought into the statue by the passage of SB656 in the 2022 session of the Virginia General Assembly. It was passed by a 52-46 vote. Would you all be surprised to hear every Democrat that voted, voted against the passage (two Democrats did not vote at all)? Are the Democrats revealing to us that they do not want parents to have the right to decide what their children read? That is exactly what they are telling us (that is what Terry McAuliffe said in Fairfax in his failed bid for Governor in 2021).
During this meeting, the left was bemoaning the fact that school systems were just pulling sexually explicit material off their bookshelves because, “that is not what we intended,” said Delegate Charniele L. Herring (D), from Virginia’s 4th district in Alexandria and the patron of HJ1, the “Right to Reproductive Freedom”. The fact is, Ms. Herring, if you had your way, the parents would not even be notified, you voted against the passage of the bill.
Senator Adam Ebbin (D), from Senate District 39 and patron of SJ249, the same-sex marriage Amendment, stated, “You know, I’m alarmed, I’m alarmed and maybe not surprised, but alarmed that schools are eliminating authors like Kirk Vonnegut (known for his books of dark humor), Judy Blume (known for her books on things of an explicitly sexual nature)….award winning authors or books that are a part of our popular culture nowadays, like ‘Wicked’”. Again, Senator, you voted against the passage of the bill that would let parents know what their children are reading.
It seems that this is the process of the left; teach your children about sex at an early age, give them unrestricted access to contraceptives so that they can live out what they have been taught, and then (in case they do not use or the contraceptive fails) give them the unrestricted freedom of an abortion without, again, the notification to the parents. The left wants the parents out of the equation.
This, my friends, is where we have come by taking the Bible out of the equation with respect to the education of our children. It started with thinking that we do not need the Bible to teach morality, now we just do not worry about morality at all. Teach them early about the things that should remain on a personal level between a husband and wife, then give them the tools to fulfill their lustful desires, and the bailout when a child conceived is the product. That is the Democratic Party of the Commonwealth of Virginia, they must be stopped this November.
Each believer MUST vote and MUST vote Biblical principles in this election.
We would love to come and share with you all the things that are happening at the Virginia General Assembly and VAIB. To get on our schedule, please call 804-960-4015. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Yours for the Master,
Dr. Michael Huffman
Executive Director