United States District Court, W.VA. (1983) Western District of Virginia, in the case of Crockett v. Sorenson, 568 F.Supp. 1422, 1425-1430 (W.D. Va. 1983), stated:
<The First Amendment was never intended to insulate our public institutions from any mention of God, the Bible or religion. When such insulation occurs, another religion, such as secular humanism, is effectively established.
Clearly, the Establishment Clause can be violated in this regard without a showing of outright hostility to traditional theistic religions. Though in the context of the British university, the following quote is instructive for the situation in our public schools:
On the fundamental religious issue, the modern university intends to be, and supposes that it is, neutral, but it is not. Certainly it neither implicates nor expressly repudiates belief in God. But it does what is far more deadly than open rejection; it ignores Him....
It is in this sense that the university today is atheistic....
It is a fallacy to suppose by omitting a subject you teach nothing about it. On the contrary, you teach that it is to be omitted, and that it is therefore a matter of secondary importance.
And you teach this not openly and explicitly, which could invite criticism, you simply take it for granted and thereby insinuate it silently, insidiously, and albeit irresistibly.
Moberly, The Crisis in the University, 55-56 (1949) (quoted in Whitehead and Conlin, The Establishment of Religion of Secular Humanism and Its First Amendment Implications, 10 Tex. Tech. L. Rev. 1, 19 n. 104 (1978)).
In art, one cannot truly appreciate such great works as da Vinci's Last Supper, Michelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel, or Albrecht Durer's woodcuts without some basic understanding of what the Bible contains.
Without some introduction to the book of Isaiah, Handel's Messiah loses much of its force and importance. Literature is replete with biblical allusion. Some of the better known works which rely heavily on allusions from the Bible include Milton's Paradise Lost; the plays of Shakespeare, especially Measure for Measure; Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell; Melville's Moby Dick; Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom; T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland; and C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters.
Our language and popular culture are also replete with biblical allusions. The symbol for the American Medical Association, a staff with a serpent on it, is drawn from an episode in the book of Numbers, when Moses, at God's suggestion, raised a bronze serpent on a staff and all the children of Israel who looked upon it were healed of snakebites.
The phrase "handwriting on the wall" comes from a passage in the book of Daniel in which handwriting on the wall foretold rough time ahead for Babylonian King Belshazzar. The popular phrase "the apple of my eye" is used in the Old Testament as one of God's descriptions for His people Israel. And, of course, the term "Armageddon" is the site where the battle will take place which will mark the end of the age, as described in the Book of Revelations.
Anglo-American law as we know it today is also heavily indebted to the principles and concepts found in the Bible. William Blackstone, one of the most influential figures in the development of the common law, explained:
"The doctrine thus delivered we call the revealed or divine law and they are to be found only in the Holy Scriptures....Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws, that is to say, no human law should be suffered to contradict these." Blackstone posited that the law of nature as well as the law of revelation, was derived from God.
Further, biblical influences pervade many specific areas of the law. The "good Samaritan" laws use a phrase lifted directly out of one of Jesus' parables. The concept of the "fertile octogenarian," applicable to the law of wills and trusts, is in a large part derived from the book of Genesis where we are told that Sarah, the wife of the patriarch Abraham, gave birth to Isaac when she was "past age."
In addition, the Ten Commandments have had immeasurable effect on Anglo-American legal development.
Moreover, we as Americans, should especially be aware of the influence that the Bible and its principles have had on the founding and development of our nation. In this regard it is significant that Former President Ronald Reagan, on February 3, 1983, issued a proclamation declaring 1983 the "year of the Bible" in recognition of the Bible's fundamental and enduring influence on our country.
Secular education imposes immediate demands that the student have a good knowledge of the Bible. Two defense exhibits vividly illustrate this point. Defendants Exhibit 14 is a summary of references to the Bible in a 1980 edition of the Scholastic Aptitude Manual, used by high school students to prepare for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)....Defendants' Exhibit 15, a summary of
Bible references found in textbooks used in the Bristol public schools, is based on selected books from elementary, junior high and high school classes....
In light of the above, it becomes obvious that a basic background in the Bible is essential to fully appreciate and understand both Western culture and current events.> 1983US003
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
1983US003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). United States District Court, 1983, Western District of Virginia, in the case of Crockett v. Sorenson, 568 F.Supp. 1422, 1425-1430 (W.D. Va. 1983). Elizabeth Ridenour, Public Schools-Bible Curriculum (Greensboro, N.C.: National Council On Bible Curriculum, 1996), pp. 29-31, 42-43. Robert K. Skolrood, The National Legal Foundation, letter to National Council on the Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, Sept. 13, 1994, pp. 3-5.