Editor, Times-Union:

The recent controversy over allegedly reading Christmas stories in the Lincoln School in Warsaw is the latest attack on Christianity (Warsaw Times-Union “Pastors, Public Pray For Schools After Atheists Angered,” Jan. 7, 2020 1A).

It is ironic because we wouldn’t have our public education system without Christianity. John Calvin began public education in Switzerland so the public could learn the Bible (“Calvin and Calvinism” Sullivancounty.com). The Puritans took Calvin’s ideas to America and passed “the Old Deluders Act” (constitution.org) or “The Old Deluder Satan Law” (the foundersbible.com) so the public could learn the Bible to protect themselves from Satan’s wiles (Eph 6:11).

Though the Reformers were not democratic, they laid the foundation for our freedom by championing public education. Early school houses held class in churches. Now atheists say Christianity is not welcome in the public schools, though atheism, liberalism, homosexuality, materialism and Islam are honored guests.

To completely ‘de-Christianize’ the public schools, the atheists wil have to gut art and literature. Biblical themes inspired many paintings and statues in the past, before people thought throwing paint at canvas or welding scrap metal together became art. Even Earnest Hemmingway used a Bible verse for a book title “The Sun Also Rises” (Eccl. 1:5). “Moby Dick,” called the great American novel, is full of Biblical names, quotes and images from beginning to end, chapter one “Call me Ishmael” (Gen. 16:11) to epilogue (Job1:15; Matt 2:18).

But I forget - Atheoleftists and Muslims want to sweep away the past, the time of ignorance, to establish their own competing world views. To extract the Bible from western civilization, they’ll have to destroy western civilization. But I guess that is the general idea, isn’t it?

William M. Kelly

Winona Lake