Politics

Trump Turns His Attention To States’ ‘Great’ Bible Literacy Class Bills

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images and Shutterstock image via igorstevanovic

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Evie Fordham Politics and Health Care Reporter
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President Donald Trump espoused “Bible Literacy classes” as a “turn back” for the nation in a tweet Monday morning.

“Numerous states introducing Bible Literacy classes, giving students the option of studying the Bible. Starting to make a turn back? Great!” Trump wrote on Twitter Monday morning.

Kentucky passed a Bible studies bill in 2017, and similar bills have been introduced in Florida, Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia in 2019, reported USA Today on Wednesday.

“The Bible is an integral part of our society and deserves a place in the classroom,” Republican North Dakota state Rep. Aaron McWilliams, who co-sponsored his state’s Bible studies bill that would apply to public high schools, said according to USA Today. (RELATED: Man Booted From School Board Meeting For Naming Teacher Who Called Covington Boys ‘Hitler Youth’)

But for many states, passing bills like Kentucky’s is very difficult. Well-organized groups like the ACLU oppose the legislation. Bible literacy bills in Alabama, Iowa and West Virginia were brought up by state lawmakers in 2018, but they were not able to pass them.

Many on Twitter used the president’s message as an opportunity to pounce on his uneven record discussing religion, including his referral to a book of the Bible as “Two Corinthians” on the campaign trail in 2016.

A child sits in a classroom. Shutterstock image via user wavebreakmedia

A child sits in a classroom. Shutterstock image via user wavebreakmedia

“The President who openly admitted to having never asked God for forgiveness for anything, who called a book of the Bible ‘Two Corinthians,’ and who had an affair with a porn star and a playmate while his third wife nursed his fifth child….is excited about Bible literacy,” Robert Maguire of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington wrote in response to Trump’s tweet Monday.

Trump’s Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos attended a regular White House Bible study alongside Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and other department heads as of 2018.

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