Teaching Civilization Means Teaching the Bible

Western civilization owes much of its success to Christian principles and institutions, and schools should teach students about these influences as part of a rigorous social studies curriculum.

The argument: Students cannot fully understand American institutions, Western Civilization, or the origins of many of our most important beliefs about human nature, objective truth, human dignity, freedom of conscience, and the rule of law without studying the Bible.

WHY IT MATTERS

Biblical principles and Christian ideas shaped Western culture in critical ways. Many of our laws, moral assumptions, ethical commitments, and social practices trace their origins to biblical teachings and the Christian tradition. The resulting civilization has been remarkably successful. Well-educated citizens should understand the ideas, stories, and teachings that shaped the civilization in which they live.

Sadly, few Americans read or understand the Bible and its cultural significance. According to the American Bible Society’s 2026 State of the Bible survey, only 17 percent of Americans are “Scripture Engaged.” The same survey reported that 62 percent of Americans read the Bible only “once or twice a year” or “never.” Those with more education are less likely to be frequent Bible readers. This biblical illiteracy has serious consequences. A society increasingly disconnected from the sources of its own moral and political assumptions risks losing sight of the foundations on which it rests.

As Tom Holland explains in Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World, “Assumptions bred of Europe’s ancestral faith continue to structure the way the world organizes itself.” Holland enumerates many examples. Among them, he notes that the ideas of freedom of conscience and that conscience should dictate law come from the Bible, and that even our generally accepted ideas of right and wrong derive from Christian teachings. America’s founding documents explicitly state that rights come from God, not government. E.D. Hirsh’s New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know states unequivocally that, “The Bible is…essential for understanding many of the moral and spiritual values of our culture,” regardless of current religious belief. The Bible, Hirsh says, is “embedded in our thought and language.”

Contrary to modern assumptions, teaching about the Bible in public schools does not violate the First Amendment’s establishment clause. The Supreme Court has repeatedly condoned—and even praised—academic study of religion. In School District of Abington Township v. Schempp (1963), Justice Tom C. Clark famously stated that although using the Bible for worship or religious indoctrination in schools is unconstitutional, “the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment.” The Bible can and should be incorporated into courses on history, philosophy, and government.

The Bible remains the most influential book ever written. With its teachings on human dignity, equality, individual moral responsibility, universalism, and limits on power, the Bible profoundly shaped Western culture, politics, and institutions. Today, we benefit from the legacy of Christian values embedded in our laws and jurisprudence. But deference to tradition and the echoes of our Christian past are inadequate to sustain this system. To do so, it is essential to revive knowledge of the Bible and the moral vision it helped create.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Schools should ensure that students understand the Bible and Christianity as major historical forces. At a minimum, school curricula should include the Bible’s central teachings, Christianity’s influence on the Roman Empire, the Church’s role in medieval education and science, the impact of the Protestant Reformation, and Christianity’s role in the American Founding. The American Birthright K-12 Social Studies Standards, created by the Civics Alliance, are a good place to start.