Public School Students Recite Bible Verses, Pray, and Worship

Three thousand public school students in 11 Pennsylvania counties are memorizing Bible verses, praying, and singing worship songs during school hours despite federal prohibitions.

Greencastle, PA (PRWEB) May 9, 2005 -- Three thousand public school students in 11 Pennsylvania counties are memorizing Bible verses, praying, and singing worship songs during school hours despite federal prohibitions. The number of students practicing religion during school hours is growing rapidly throughout the state, and the concept of freedom of religion for public school students is spreading nationwide.

Pennsylvania public school students are able to exercise freedom of religion because of a state law that allows students to receive up to 35 hours of religious instruction per year. A tiny ministry in central Pennsylvania has been taking advantage of this state statute since 1967, and has committed itself to expanding its program statewide.

Joy El Ministries, Greencastle, Pa., found a way around federal prohibitions when it discovered a dormant state law that permits students to be released from public school classrooms to receive religious instruction. Unbeknownst to many, other states have similar laws that circumvent the federal governments decree that students may not pray or read the Bible in government-run schools.

Students who receive parental permission may be released from public school classrooms and receive religious instruction off-campus. Joy El Ministries, using a fleet of buses, picks up students at school and transports them to a nearby church. There the children spend an hour singing, praying and memorizing scripture in small groups. Volunteers teach Bible lessons, listen to the students recite, and offer an open ear to the youngsters. Then students are returned to campus.

It gives me great satisfaction to realize the heavy-handed and wrong-headed laws enforced by the most powerful government in existence are being undone by volunteers, mostly mothers and grandmothers, who believe its good for students to learn about God, the Bible, and the power of prayer," said Jim Curtis, a grandfather who teaches Bible lessons to 4th and 5th graders in the Shippensburg Area School District for Joy El Ministries. I tell the kids to pay attention because the Bible is the most important subject theyll study all year."

Despite the rigid restrictions applied to make sure public schools strip away any mention of Christianity in their classrooms, public school teachers and administrators embrace religious training. They are desperate to find ways to bring discipline, morals and values into the schools. A classroom is easier to manage when the students are loving, kind, considerate, respect adults, and adhere to a code of absolute morals," Curtis said. We teach the Ten Commandments, then send the kids back to a building where its against the law to display them."

One reason Joy Els program is growing is that students get excited about the Bible and its truths, then return to the classroom and recruit other students. It is evangelism at its best, according to Aaron Ziebarth, executive director of Joy El Ministries.

One student, when told she could share her new-found faith with her family, exclaimed, Oh, my mommy will be so happy to hear this. Then she stated, I need to talk to my sister to tell her she has sin and she needs Jesus, too!"

A Hispanic child received Jesus into her life during Bible class, and while walking back to the school told her friend in Spanish what she had done. Before reaching the school the child reported to the chaperone that her friend wanted to receive Jesus, too.

Ziebarth is convinced there is great opportunity to expand throughout Pennsylvania and into other states. We believe we have an unbelievable opportunity to influence boys and girls during the school day with the permission of their parents and the federal government. We need people who are willing to volunteer their time and give of their resources to advance this program into your school."

Persons interested in learning if a Bible-based, off-campus program is possible in their states and communities should call Ziebarth at 717-369-4539 or write to info@joyel.org.

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