Does Teaching Bible in Schools Make Kids More Moral and Mentally Healthy?

By Selwyn Duke

While talking about “raising and training children” and “implanting” the proper “moral code,” a prominent politician had an interesting prescription. “The fundamental basis of this Nation’s law was given to Moses on the Mount,” he said. “The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings which we get from Exodus and St. Matthew, from Isaiah and St. Paul. I don’t think we emphasize that enough these days.”

Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s state education superintendent, certainly must believe the above, too. Last year, in fact, he mandated that the Bible should be taught in all his state’s K-12 schools. Only, truth in advertising, while Walters certainly would embrace the quoted words, he didn’t utter them.

Rather, they were spoken by Democratic president Harry S. Truman in 1950. And, no, this wasn’t while speaking to the Southern Baptist Convention, either. He was instead giving an address before the Attorney General’s Conference on Law Enforcement Problems.

Well, pop goes another stereotype.

Truman was merely reflecting an American norm, too. In fact, teaching the Bible in schools was very common in the United States for most of our history. It’s as American as apple pie.

More importantly, it’s also prudent, says Dr. Stephen Cutchins, author and executive director of the Center for Innovative Training. Echoing Walters — and vindicating American tradition — he cites research showing that regular Bible reading improves moral decision-making and mental health.

The Power of the Word?

Writing Sunday at American Thinker, Cutchins begins by pointing out an irony. It may be impossible to find a school today that doesn’t teach fairly extensively about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words. Yet educators usually aren’t allowed to teach students about the book that inspired those words.

That would be the Bible — which King quoted from frequently.

Cutchins then mentions what he called Scripture’s “power to change lives” and writes of the aforementioned study:

Research from the Center for Bible Engagement’s Power of 4 study, which examined over 400,000 people, found that casual Bible reading doesn’t change lives. But engaging with Scripture four times a week or more does.

… While the study analyzed individuals of all ages, its findings suggest that younger people — who are increasingly grappling with depression, anxiety, and identity confusion — would likely experience similar benefits.

The research found that individuals who engage with the Bible regularly experience 30% less loneliness, 32% fewer anger issues, and a 60% decrease in feelings of spiritual emptiness. Additionally, pornography use declined by 62%, substance abuse by 57%, and gambling by 74%, while participation in faith-sharing increased by 228%.

If a secular program yielded these results, every school in America would adopt it. However, since it’s the Bible, they are compelled to ignore its benefits.

And here’s the key takeaway: engaging with Scripture four times a week isn’t just helpful — it’s essential. Anything less, and people see no measurable difference compared to those who never read the Bible.

Which Came First?

In fairness, there is a causation-vs.-correlation question here. That is, is it the Scripture reading that led to the better outcomes? Or is it that when people become serious about faith, they both read the Bible more and enjoy better outcomes? (After all, imbibing Scripture four times or more weekly reflects impressive devotion.)

Most likely, perhaps, the general growth in faith, and the Bible reading attending that, both were instrumental. The point is that as anyone who has experienced faith will tell you, it’s a wondrous phenomenon. It’s far broader than what reading or preaching or hearing or even reasoning alone will yield. It is in a way, though this term has an un-Christian connotation, magical. For, believers will tell you, God can and does give you the grace — His transformational power — to overcome sin and lead a better life.

This said, there are also other good reasons to incorporate the Bible into schooling. Just consider, for example, a secular study by the American Political Science Review on our Republic’s founding era. It showed “that 94% of the documents that went into the Founding ERA were based on the Bible,” relates BibleinSchools.net. Furthermore, “34% of the contents were direct quotations from the Bible.” So question:

How can Americans be considered educated if they’re ignorant about a work so central to our civilization’s creation?

The Next Question

As for Cutchins, he has his own question. Given the study he cites and the Bible’s historical significance, why are American schools required to restrict access to it?

Answer: The “separation of church and state” myth and anti-religion biases. Due to space constraints, I won’t address these topics now. But I have frequently in the past, such as here, here, and here. Also, I recommend reading my philosophical argument against the anti-theistic “separation” mentality. It’s found in this article’s final section, which bears the subtitle “From Law to Logic.”

As for faith leading to better “life wellness” outcomes, this isn’t indicated just by the Power of 4 study. As I illustrated in 2014, there’s much research showing that “religious” people are happier, better adjusted, more charitable, and generally enjoy better personal and social outcomes than secularists do.

And no one has to tell this to research psychologist Allan Bergin, mind you. Just consider how he summed up religion’s impact while accepting an American Psychological Association award in 1990.

“Some religious influences have a modest impact,” he said, “whereas another portion seems like the mental equivalent of nuclear energy.”

Only, this nuclear energy is the cleanest around, a fusion of man and Maker that cleanses the heart, mind, and soul.

                   This article was originally published at The New American.