Did you know? The Patriot Post is funded 100% by its readers. Help us stay front and center in the fight for Liberty and support the 2024 Year-End Campaign.

November 29, 2018

Teacher Faces Backlash After Children Recite Classroom Bible Verse

A first-grade teacher in Smithville, Texas, is facing a firestorm of criticism from some parents after she posted video of her students reciting a Bible verse.

A first-grade teacher in Smithville, Texas, is facing a firestorm of criticism from some parents after she posted video of her students reciting a Bible verse.

The Facebook video, which has been deleted, showed boys and girls at Brown Primary School quoting a passage of Scripture from the New Testament book of Romans.

“Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good,” the children in Susan Schobel’s class said.

As I said on Fox Nation’s “Starnes Country,” it’s a bit puzzling why parents in Smithville, Texas, would object to their children learning to run away from evil and do good.

Ms. Schobel described the ritual as their daily Bible verse, the Austin Statesman-American reported.

She allegedly wrote in a later comment that if “she got fired for teaching about Jesus, she’d be getting fired for a great reason,” the newspaper also reported.

A small but vocal group of parents were upset about the daily Bible recitations, arguing that Jesus has no place in a public school classroom.

“Putting aside the fact that it’s unconstitutional, every child deserves to be raised up developing their own values or values based on their family’s,” parent Charlie Lucko told Fox 7. “I don’t have anything against religion. I actually love Jesus. I love his teachings, his practices, and it’s been a big impact in my life, but I don’t believe that belongs in the public school system.”

The school district admitted the teacher stepped over a line, but it did not say if she would face any sort of punishment.

“We encourage and celebrate these freedoms and welcome the diversity of thought, worship, ideas and speech in our community,” Supt. Cheryl Burns wrote in a statement. “We support the right of students to express themselves. We support our employees’ free speech and free exercise rights as well, while being mindful of their on-duty responsibilities.”

I reached out to a number of religious liberty experts and they all agreed — the teacher broke the rules.

A 1963 Supreme Court ruling, Abington School District vs. Schempp, struck down public school-sponsored Bible readings and prayer as unconstitutional.

We are a nation built on a foundation girded by Judeo-Christian principles. All of our founding documents are flavored with the faith of our Founding Fathers.

It’s unfortunate we live in a society where those same values are now verboten.

But according to the law of the land, the Golden Rule has been banished from government schools.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.