Happy 400th Birthday, King James Version

This is an article I wrote for the Oregonian a few years back (12/6/2008; it is no longer in their archives) when a local school board was considering pulling the Bible from their literature curriculum. The called it "Thou Shalt Not Overlook Bible For English Lessons." Enjoy!

Apparently, some people are at their wit’s end and are willing to fight the good fight over the use of the Bible in schools. I think we should beat our swords into ploughshares and realize that blessed are the peacemakers. I, for one, will not cast the first stone.

Children may be the apple of your eye, but you need to know that to everything there is a season. The writing is on the wall, so there is no need for sour grapes. O ye of little faith, the powers that be have decided to be Good Samaritans and for the sake of children’s education have said, “Let there be light.” Hopefully before the children give up the ghost or bite the dust, they will graduate from school, even if by the skin of their teeth, before they are as old as the hills. Then before they eat, drink and be merry while in college, they will understand these and other sayings that come from the Bible into the English language – there are as many as the sand of the seashore. The goal of the Bible as literature is to have young people appreciate the English language, not to make proselytes. That way, as educated young men and women, they can become all things to all men. I will forgive the critics for they know not what they do.

Since it is the holiday season, it would be good not to let the sun go down on your wrath, to remember that the love of money is the root of all evil because we really do reap what we sow. And if you refuse, well, am I my brother’s keeper?