More than 500,000 students from across the United States will join the Bring Your Bible to School movement on Thursday, Oct. 4. The annual student-led event, now in its fifth year, provides a unique opportunity for young people to share about their faith by highlighting its source – the Bible.
Throughout the day, children and teens will share their experiences via social media using the hashtag #BringYourBible.
A Constitutional Guarantee
Though the First Amendment guarantees students the right to discuss their beliefs and read the Bible at school, many feel unspoken pressure to remain silent about their faith. Others report overt efforts to silence them from presenting their biblically based viewpoints in class discussions or assignments.
“For countless kids and teens, faith is at the center of everything they do. But when it comes to sharing the joy and peace they find through reading the Bible, some young people fear the consequences of doing so at school,” said Focus on the Family President Jim Daly. “Fortunately, our Founding Fathers foresaw the need to guarantee individuals the ability to express their beliefs, and that’s exactly what students who participate in Bring Your Bible to School Day every year are celebrating.”
Meet Sadie Robertson in Person
This year, Focus on the Family is proud to partner with Sadie Robertson, honorary chair of the 2018 Bring Your Bible to School Day event. Through her New York Times best-selling books and her Live Original Tour, Robertson shares her heart for empowering this generation to boldly walk in the freedom of who they were created to be in Christ. Robertson, who starred in A&E’s “Duck Dynasty,” shares, “The Bible has gotten me through everything in my life. I want students to know they can freely live out their faith at school.”
Individuals who sign up to participate for Bring Your Bible to School Day at BringYourBible.org will have a chance to win a free trip for four to meet Sadie Robertson in person.
Finally, Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, which recently won a big religious liberty case at the Supreme Court, is again partnering with Focus on the Family to offer students free legal representation if their rights are violated at school.
Courage to Speak
Focus on the Family may sponsor the event—but it’s children and teens like Isabella, age 13, a public school student in Minnesota who lead it. About 20 students joined Isabella for the event at her school last year. “This is a new thing for me because at our school, it’s not normal to see kids praying or doing that type of stuff. People keep it to themselves if they do pray. So this is a very public thing for us to do.”
Ethan, a 16-year-old student in Colorado, said Bring Your Bible to School Day opened up the opportunity to have more conversations about God with his friends. “You don’t know the person you’re sitting next to,” he said. “You don’t know their past, you don’t know what they’ve been through. Maybe they’re in a cry of desperation to try and find some hope, and it just so happens to be that day where you actually bring your Bible to school and they start asking you questions.” Ethan said he wants to share the hope of God’s love that he read about in the Bible—because it was that love that helped him survive the loss of his father to a drug addiction. “I’ve had a lot more people ask me questions about my faith and what I believe. It’s opened up a lot of opportunities for ongoing conversations.”
Other elementary kids shared how they organized a bilingual #BringYourBible event at their school.
Students can find more information, including the official video and stories from students and parents, at BringYourBible.org, where they can also sign up to participate and get free, downloadable guides. Elementary, teen and pastor/parent versions are available.
Students can also follow “Bring Your Bible to School Day” on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The official hashtag is #BringYourBible.
To learn more about Bring Your Bible to School Day or to coordinate an interview with Focus’ education issues director and #BringYourBible spokesperson Candi Cushman, please contact Michael McGonigle at news@fotf.org or 719-548-5743.
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