ICC Note: The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) recently stated that the Bible is a “violent, racist book” when the governor of Kentucky publicly spoke in favor of Bibles being used in public schools. The group went on to say that the Bible is used to justify slavery, in the wake of racial tension and violence that recently took place in Charlottesville, VA. The governor’s remarks follow a recent bill which he signed, called the “Bible Literacy Bill,” which offers a course in public schools about the Bible’s role in American history.
By Heather Clark
08/24/2017 United States (Christian News Network) – A prominent professing atheist organization characterized the Bible as a “violent, racist book” in scolding the governor of Kentucky over his recent remarks lamenting the ramifications of removing the Bible from public schools.
Gov. Matt Bevin appeared on the Tom Roten Morning Show on Aug. 15, where he discussed the public unrest in Charlottesville, Virginia, as well as a recent bill he signed dubbed as the “Bible Literacy Bill.”
“When you go back a couple of hundred years, in most instances the only textbooks that were in our public schools were the Bible,” he said. “And so to that end to pretend, again, to scrub history and pretend that that wasn’t reality, I think is a dangerous precedent.”
“And it’s interesting, the more we’ve removed any sense of spiritual obligation or moral higher authority or absolute right and wrong, the more we’ve removed things that are biblically taught from society, the more we’ve seen the kind of mayhem that we were just discussing,” Bevin stated.
However, the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) soon fired off a letter to Bevin to take issue with his words, which they characterized as being “inflammatory.” It asserted that the Bible is rather a “violent, racist book” that was used to justify slavery in American history.
“The Bible is a violent, racist book that has inspired violent, racist organizations,” wrote Co-Presidents Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Ironically, the Bible that you want to unconstitutionally interject in public schools encourages violence and racism. Inculcating more American children in the ways of the Bible would not have prevented Charlottesville.”
