Faith, Freedom, and Public Schools – Eric Buehrer

[00:00:00] Kevin Conover time [Music]

[00:00:06] welcome to educate for life I’m your host Kevin Conover and we have a very special guest today his name is Eric

[00:00:12] purrr he is a he is the president of gateways to better education he’s also a

[00:00:19] former teacher himself and what he does is look at the legality of talking about

[00:00:25] the Bible and Christianity and Jesus and God in the public schools and it’s very exciting yeah there’s actually a conference here

[00:00:32] in San Diego coming up Saturday October 21st 9 to 12:30 it’s a fantastic opportunity if you’re a teacher in the

[00:00:39] public schools and you want to get clarity about what’s okay to talk about we’ve got holidays coming up including

[00:00:45] Thanksgiving and Christmas and you know this always becomes a hot topic around this time of year people are concerned

[00:00:52] about hey I don’t want to violate the law oh you know separation of church and state and people are wondering hey

[00:00:58] what’s okay and what’s not and so eric is going to give clarity at this conference he’ll be down here in San

[00:01:04] Diego apples for teachers is hosting that that’s that’s at The Rock Church again October 21st 9 to 12:30 and that’s

[00:01:11] for K through 12 public school Christian teachers it’s for teachers in general but if you’re a Christian teacher you’re

[00:01:17] especially going to find it educational and really on point with some of the

[00:01:22] issues that were wrestling with here in our culture today Eric thank you so much for being with us on the show today thank you good to be with you Kevin

[00:01:29] absolutely and you have the honor of getting a reference from chuck colson

[00:01:36] that’s pretty incredible did you get to meet chuck colson yes I to write commentaries for Chuck for his break

[00:01:43] point in her radio commentary when it came to education issues and so had a

[00:01:49] good working relationship with him and he was very kind and giving me a nice endorsement yeah yeah

[00:01:55] it says here Eric is a unique and much-needed voice in our country what he is doing to equip parents and teachers

[00:02:01] is vital I personally appreciate how he has kept me informed on education issues which we’ve used frequently on break

[00:02:08] point what a what an awesome commentary from such a influential person and

[00:02:13] really loving and kind person Chuck Colson was amazing he was yeah so and

[00:02:19] and for you to get to work with him personally that’s amazing but you have endorsements from other other popular

[00:02:25] people in our culture today and like Josh McDowell dr. D James Kennedy Arab

[00:02:30] rabbi Daniel here and you’ve also been in focus on the family magazine as well

[00:02:38] talked about this and so I’m just curious your ministry was founded in in

[00:02:45] the 1990s right what year specifically yeah 91 actually yeah so what was the

[00:02:50] impetus behind that what got you you know what made you decide that this was an issue that you felt needed to be

[00:02:56] addressed well I was a teacher in public school and up in Seattle area and was

[00:03:03] just very concerned about what I saw happening in our culture and in my own

[00:03:09] profession as a teacher and felt very led by the Lord to do something about it

[00:03:17] and initially I got involved more in the political side of things that’s what brought me down here to Southern California and got involved with school

[00:03:26] board races and promoting candidates and organizing people did that for about five years but then just the teachers

[00:03:36] hardened me kept saying there’s got to be a way to help change what happens in classrooms it’s not just about winning

[00:03:43] at the at the electoral level yeah so Erica just to so when you said you were

[00:03:50] concerned about what you saw happening in the culture and you saw happening in the classroom can you share with our

[00:03:55] listeners what what it was you saw that was bothering you well back in the 80s and early 90s it was just the rise of

[00:04:02] secular humanism we now know it no more as atheism did back then it was secular

[00:04:08] humanism and just so the that pervasive attitude

[00:04:14] of separation of church and state you can’t talk about religious things we have to all pretend we’re atheists when

[00:04:21] we’re in the classroom and I just saw it as a real corrosive effect on the

[00:04:28] education students were getting and I’m corrosive in what way what do you mean well it was just that if you if a

[00:04:37] generation grows up without connecting it works you and faith to their actions

[00:04:46] then you have students who just are functioning by their feelings and they

[00:04:51] hey what do I think what do I want to do and I remember once distinctly asking my

[00:04:58] students hey how many of you think that stealing is okay oh wow might ask my

[00:05:04] class raised their hand their stealing was or hey you know if it’s yours if you don’t if you don’t have it you want it

[00:05:10] it’s okay and I realized wow we this this is real I I wanted my kids to say

[00:05:15] the Pledge of Allegiance they wouldn’t say the Pledge of Allegiance hey we haven’t said that since third

[00:05:20] grade man that’s old-fashioned we don’t do that anymore and that was and and what year was that where you were

[00:05:26] experiencing that was in the 80s Wow oh I said okay they really don’t understand

[00:05:33] the meaning behind the pledge and so I began to teach them what each phrase the

[00:05:39] Pledge means I got into one nation under God one of the students said well we can’t say that separation of church and

[00:05:44] state oh my goodness it’s in the Pledge of Allegiance yeah and you know this was

[00:05:50] back before was all controversy oh yeah and and so then I said okay well let’s

[00:05:56] let’s take that out how about one nation under the president we discussed that

[00:06:01] for a few minutes it you know well wait a second that sounds like a dictatorship you know if a it doesn’t like he he

[00:06:07] takes your rights away yeah said okay how about one nation under Congress no

[00:06:12] no that’s the same sort of thing if they don’t like you they take your rights away I said okay so we need to have

[00:06:17] somebody who’s higher than everybody so that no can take anybody’s rights away one

[00:06:24] student said well only God could do that okay one nation under God now we get it and that’s fantast at yeah yeah by the

[00:06:32] time I got done with that then the students stood and said the Pledge and I had no problem with it they just it

[00:06:38] meant nothing to them before that and that’s what I saw happening is so much of our heritage and the reasons for

[00:06:45] virtue and our culture were being lost and you know the public schools are

[00:06:51] filled with Christians Christians superintendents school administrators school board members educators parents

[00:06:58] but we all act as if we’re a theists because we don’t know that we actually

[00:07:04] can do a lot to help students see the Bible and Christianity as forces for

[00:07:11] good in the world and that’s what I now have set my life goal is helping my

[00:07:17] fellow teachers understand all the things they really can do hmm that’s fantastic you know it’s just about I

[00:07:25] just say I just pull back the curtain and say look all this time you thought you couldn’t do this let me show you

[00:07:31] what the law really says let me show you what your state academic standards really expect of you and people are just

[00:07:38] shocked they because they’ve assumed they bought the lie that you can’t talk about any of this stuff in school and so

[00:07:46] I I tell teachers who come to these events look I’m not trying to get you to

[00:07:52] sneak something in your classroom everything that I’m going to teach you is all aboveboard you can defend it to

[00:08:00] any colleague any parent any administrator it’s all academic it’s all within the law it’s just that you’ve

[00:08:07] assumed you couldn’t do all these things and you don’t know how to defend it if somebody challenges you so I’m going to

[00:08:13] teach you how to defend it academically and when they do that there are no

[00:08:18] problems so it’s been a wonderful ride to see how God has used this over the

[00:08:25] years to really strengthen our brothers and sisters who are in the public schools on the front lines and need that

[00:08:32] ammunition for how to I present these truths in ways that are

[00:08:38] workable with in a public school environment that is so great if you’ve just tuned in my guest today is Eric

[00:08:44] Bureau and he is the president of gateways to better education I highly recommend you take a look at his website

[00:08:50] there is all kinds of valuable resources on there and stay with us because what

[00:08:55] you’re gonna find out is what is it legal to say as a Christian public

[00:09:01] school teacher what are you allowed to talk about that is constitutional and where is that line

[00:09:06] drawn is this is a teacher allowed to talk to a student about Jesus Christ is

[00:09:12] a teacher allowed to share their personal faith in the classroom our

[00:09:17] teachers allowed to pray what where is that line drawn and why is it drawn

[00:09:23] where it is drawn and why when there is so much freedom why don’t more teachers speak up and talk about the issues like

[00:09:30] God and so forth so stay with us we’re gonna be right back [Music]

[00:09:37] hi this is Jason hall president of team home loans a branch of synergy one

[00:09:42] lending I just want to take this opportunity to thank Kevin Kahn over for the profound impact he’s had on mine and

[00:09:48] my wife’s spiritual life as well as being an incredible teacher while our kids were his students his knowledge and

[00:09:54] passion have taught us all how important it is to be defenders of our faith it’s our honor and privilege to support Kevin

[00:10:00] and his show it is our sincere hope and prayer that you will continue to learn to be defenders of your faith through

[00:10:05] Kevin’s radio show and through his educate for life teachings thank you Kevin from the hall family and team Home

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[00:11:49] thanks for tuning in today I’m your host Kevin Conover you’re on educate for life radio my website is educate for life dot

[00:11:56] o-r-g or join educate for life 0 RG I have 40 online classes defending the

[00:12:02] truth of the Bible its lifetime access it’s one price for the whole family it’s an a fantastic tool if you have

[00:12:08] questions about God in the Bible or you want to know the answers that other people to questions that other people

[00:12:14] have about God in the Bible it’s a great place to get those answers and to be able to share them and strengthen your

[00:12:19] faith so that you feel more confident in sharing the truth of Jesus Christ in the Bible it’s a great great tool to be able

[00:12:26] to use so I’d love it if you would check that out my guest today is Eric Bureau and he’s with gateways to better

[00:12:33] education and he’s gonna be down here in San Diego on Saturday October 21st right around the corner here 9:00 to 12:30

[00:12:40] it’s for K through 12 public school teachers fantastic opportunity for you

[00:12:45] to hear directly from somebody who is an expert on the education code on the Constitution and what your rights are as

[00:12:51] a Christian in the public schools so Eric you were telling us about how you

[00:12:57] got this ministry rolling in in the 90s early 90s and here we are in 2017 so

[00:13:04] give us a quick kind of history of the ministry and what you’ve seen happen

[00:13:09] over time the opportunities you’ve had to be able to impact the culture and

[00:13:15] also to impact Christian teachers and how they’re able to interact in the schools well when we first began we were

[00:13:24] primarily focused on parents interestingly enough because the five years I spent organizing citizens to be

[00:13:32] involved with school board races I dealt a lot with parents on how to impact school boards and so kind of a natural

[00:13:41] outgrowth of that was then continuing to help parents and we had a whole waterfront of issues it wasn’t just

[00:13:47] faith and values issues it was you know phonics versus whole language it was

[00:13:54] block scheduling it was all-day kindergarten it was kind of a bunch of you know funding it was a lot

[00:14:00] of conservative causes and issues but the thing that God was

[00:14:06] revealing that we were really helping people with had to do it almost like an

[00:14:12] apologetic ministry making the case for the Bible and Christianity in a public school environment and so after a couple

[00:14:21] of years one of the things that I had written was a Christmas card that

[00:14:27] parents could give to their kids teachers that explained it uses a funny little story about Santa visiting a

[00:14:34] teacher on Christmas even they get into this conversation she says I can’t teach about the real Christmas oh I can only

[00:14:40] teach about you and he says wow you know well when he’s not making toys he likes to read American case law and he because

[00:14:46] explain to her what the law really says that’s fun and by the end of the little

[00:14:51] booklet it’s a eight page booklet he says you know I guess I’m giving you the best gift I could have given you I gave

[00:14:57] you freedom and now you can teach the truth to students about what Christmas is all about so I I printed this up and

[00:15:05] I literally photocopied it and sent it out to about 500 of our supporters and

[00:15:11] we started getting responses back that hey this was really helpful I used this a classroom the teachers now teaching

[00:15:17] about Christmas so through a contact I had with focus on family I I said I call

[00:15:26] the editor and I said hey could I write a couple of paragraphs about this and just see if your readers are interested wrote a couple of paragraphs they put it

[00:15:33] in the in their magazine they had a great response I think 2,000 people responded requesting more

[00:15:40] information well he loved it so he said let’s do it again and then the third year I got I was starting to get so many

[00:15:45] stories about how it was changing what was happening in classrooms people were

[00:15:50] writing me saying you know the nativity scenes are coming out from the closet and coming back out onto the desk that’s

[00:15:57] so great teachers are reading from the Bible the loop to story of the birth of Jesus and all and Christmas carols are coming back

[00:16:04] into the classroom so I wrote these this story up submitted it and as God would

[00:16:09] have it they decided to make it the cover story and that became the

[00:16:15] second highest response in the magazines history when they gave the author’s address and said contact the author we

[00:16:21] had I think ten thousand people in about a three month period oh ho yeah and that

[00:16:27] that literally moved us from our kitchen table to our first office and and then

[00:16:32] we were launched and so that you know opened doors then for other

[00:16:38] relationships with Alliance defending freedom the Colson Center and Chuck and

[00:16:45] we began then also realizing that while we were working with parents on a number

[00:16:51] of issues dealing with faith and values really it was about using the parents as

[00:16:57] a conduit to get to the teacher and how the teacher then could be impacted by

[00:17:02] the parents life we we coined the term relational activism for parents it’s

[00:17:09] about the relationships it’s not about political activism gods put you in relationship with teachers in your kids

[00:17:15] schools how are you using those relationships be it to be an influence and so then we we started to realize why

[00:17:23] don’t we just also talk directly to the teachers so I developed a workshop and

[00:17:28] that’s the workshop that I’m bringing down to San Diego for teachers and it

[00:17:33] just goes through all the if the first half is foundational truths what the

[00:17:39] what the law says what the academic standards say what the research says about moral development with students

[00:17:45] and religion and the culture and understanding it’s part of our culture and then the second half of the seminar

[00:17:51] is all practical applications so you have the confidence-building at the beginning that this is good it’s right

[00:17:57] it’s legal and then how do I make it work in my classroom and we go across the curriculum kindergarten through

[00:18:03] twelfth grade and talk about how biblical worldview can be brought into

[00:18:09] the classroom can an appropriate way and teachers all come away with things they can immediately do the next Monday wow

[00:18:16] that’s so fantastic boy I I hope I’m gonna really talk this up I’m a teacher

[00:18:22] in a Christian high school and of course I’m a Bible teacher I have plenty of freedom but I actually ran for school board in

[00:18:28] November I wasn’t I did not win but but I’m concerned about this issue to the

[00:18:34] stats that I’ve been reading about the impact or you know the lack of impact of

[00:18:40] Christianity in the public schools is pretty devastating m’as reading George

[00:18:48] Barna you know the statistician who looks at a lot of what’s happening he says here

[00:18:54] Millennials are leaving the church nearly 6 and 10 young people who grew up in Christian churches end up walking away and the unchurched segments among

[00:19:01] Millennials has increased in the last decade from 44 to 52% Mearing a larger cultural trend away

[00:19:06] from church-going in America and I thought that was you know of course this is very telling this is the kind of

[00:19:11] stats we’ve been hearing for a while now but but you’re seeing do you believe

[00:19:17] that this attack you know that started you know the whole separation of church and state thing is what has caused there

[00:19:24] to be that an increase in agnosticism in our culture do you think you know God

[00:19:30] not being in the school’s the Bible not being able to be freely taught in the schools do you think that that has is what’s caused that

[00:19:35] well definitely things that happen in the schools translates into the culture

[00:19:41] because for instance is it any wonder now that we’re seeing when it comes to

[00:19:47] Christmas businesses private businesses telling their employees don’t say Merry

[00:19:53] Christmas that might be offensive or that sort of thing well it makes sense when the people in

[00:20:00] those businesses have lived there 12 years of life growing up in a school

[00:20:05] environment that has said don’t say Merry Christmas that’s offensive that’s illegal separation of church and

[00:20:12] state and so forth and so they that’s the culture that they absorb in

[00:20:17] education we talk a lot about more is caught than taught and what they catch

[00:20:23] is yeah this is just not appropriate to say in this in public environment and then they take that into the workplace

[00:20:29] and now you have a culture that you know we won’t advertise we’ll say Happy

[00:20:34] Holidays we won’t say Merry Christmas and so yes what happens in schools that

[00:20:39] cultural mindset that gets formed there can translate then and there into the

[00:20:44] broader culture and that’s why schools are so important and you know thinking of Barna I know another piece of his

[00:20:50] research when it comes to Christians in public schools two very surprising

[00:20:56] statistics well one not so surprising the other one very hold on hold on right there Eric this is a perfect opportunity

[00:21:02] for me to take a break because you’re just about to give some really good information and so our listeners are

[00:21:08] gonna have to stay over here and tune in for the next segment so if you’re listening out there don’t go anywhere my guest today is Eric Bureau and he is

[00:21:14] with gateways to better education he’s about to share some very important information in regards to how a god in

[00:21:22] the public schools or a lack of God in public in the public schools impacts the culture and what’s happening and how you

[00:21:28] can make a difference and get involved we’re going to be right back [Music]

[00:21:40] hi this is Kevin Conover will you please donate to educate for life so we can

[00:21:45] share the truth of God’s Word with kids in public schools you can donate online at donate to EFL

[00:21:51] 0rg the Bible used to be read in public schools on a regular basis prior to the

[00:21:56] 1960s but today most kids are completely clueless when it comes to the content and the historical and scientific

[00:22:02] accuracy of the Bible please help us by donating online at donate to EFL RG hi

[00:22:09] this is Jason hall president of team home loans a branch of synergy one lending I just wanted to take this

[00:22:15] opportunity to thank Kevin Conover for the profound impact he’s had on mine and my wife’s spiritual life as well as

[00:22:21] being an incredible teacher while our kids were his students his knowledge and passion have taught us all how important

[00:22:27] it is to be defenders of our faith it’s our honor and privilege to support Kevin and his show is our sincere hope and

[00:22:33] prayer that he will continue to learn to be defenders of your faith through Kevin’s radio show and through his educate for life teachings thank you

[00:22:40] Kevin from the hall family and team home loans hi I’m Marisa Conover and I would love

[00:22:46] to help you buy or sell your home I’ve worked as a realtor for more than 13

[00:22:52] years and as a San Diego native my passion and experience will help make your move as peaceful as can be call me

[00:23:00] at

[00:23:12] this is allow all ages ministry with Joe and Stacy and II would like to officially share the gospel with

[00:23:17] confident in a physical and effective way we would like to teach you through the proclamation of the gospel like us on

[00:23:38] Facebook or at YouTube at throughout all ages welcome to educate for life I’m

[00:23:48] your host Kevin Conover if you are a teacher in a public school specifically

[00:23:53] if you are a Christian teacher who has a Christian faith and you’re curious about how to respond to the issues of

[00:24:00] separation of church and state what’s legal what’s not legal when it comes to your faith and these sorts of issues

[00:24:06] well this is the perfect opportunity for you in on October 21st Saturday 9:00 to

[00:24:12] 12:00 39 a.m. to 12:30 Gateway’s to better education and Eric

[00:24:17] Bureau are gonna be here in San Diego at the Rock Church it’s for K through 12 public school teachers if you know a

[00:24:23] teacher please spread the word this is a fantastic opportunity it’s being hosted by apples for teachers who have also had

[00:24:29] the president of Apple’s for teachers on the air here and they actually talked

[00:24:34] about – I had a teacher in here and they talked about how impactful this event

[00:24:40] was for them and how it totally changed the way they teach and the way they act and it took away all their fear of being

[00:24:46] able to talk about God in the public schools and Eric right before I so rudely cut you off you’re about to give

[00:24:51] us some stats from George Barna how can you share those well just two simple things one was that something like 83%

[00:24:59] of Christian families send their children to public school so this is not

[00:25:05] a this is not an us versus them we are them yes exactly you’re in the system

[00:25:11] yeah and so the church really needs to get to get its arms around this and and say we

[00:25:18] want to equip those people who are in the public schools and we have a whole side of our ministry that deals with the

[00:25:24] parents helping with parents as they navigate the public schools for teachers this is

[00:25:29] another interesting statistic they said nearly 50% of the public school teachers

[00:25:35] they surveyed they surveyed over a thousand said that they were Church

[00:25:40] attending Christians whose faith was important to them Wow oh my goodness again you know it’s not

[00:25:47] us versus them we are them yeah and what’s in this this reminds me of that scripture that says my people perish for

[00:25:54] lack of knowledge it’s not that we don’t have the rights it’s not that we don’t have the people it’s that we don’t know

[00:26:00] the information is that right it’s absolutely right give you a jaw-dropping piece of

[00:26:07] information that can happen in California in fact it’s expected to happen in California every sixth grade

[00:26:13] student in California is expected to learn the Gospel according to Paul yeah

[00:26:20] now wait a second what do you mean by it is expected to learn expected by who California Department of Education oh no

[00:26:27] Eric come on you’re lying to me you’re you’re a Christian it cannot lie what

[00:26:33] okay the California every state has what they call state standards develop

[00:26:38] academic standards what they want to first grade to learn a second grader to learn and so forth California has very robust standards and

[00:26:46] they’re very detailed and they cover when it comes to issues of faith they cover all the various religions but what

[00:26:54] I find is teachers don’t have a problem teaching about Islam you know those are other religions but when it comes to

[00:27:00] Christianity uh I think there’s a violation of separation of church and state if I do this okay wait now repeat

[00:27:05] that one more time this is somewhere in the education code do you can you act yeah somebody’s gonna want to fact-check

[00:27:10] this they’re not gonna go to California Department of Education website uh academic standards for history social

[00:27:18] science it’s there and here’s what it says for sixth grade okay holding down yeah students are to note

[00:27:25] the origins of Christianity in the Jewish messianic prophecies that means

[00:27:30] like study Isaiah 53 Wow life the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth

[00:27:38] described in the New Testament so they’d have to read it oh my goodness and the contribution of st. Paul the Apostle to

[00:27:45] the definition and spread of Christian beliefs and then they put in parentheses

[00:27:50] for example belief in the Trinity resurrection and salvation well this is

[00:27:56] I mean this is basically the gospel it’s basically you can you’re giving the Gospel as the gospel I mean start with

[00:28:04] Romans you know 1:16 I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ and go right on through what’s called the Romans Road

[00:28:09] yeah you know I mean that’s kin this is the current state standards this is not

[00:28:15] from 1950 wait now is this somebody going to hear this and try to get this out of the code or something no no it’s

[00:28:22] been there since 1998 and it’s still there now and they want to I want to

[00:28:30] find the person that put that in the in the code and shake their hand I want to like you know and now here’s what it

[00:28:37] says about the Old Testament when they’re studying ancient Israel identify the sources of the ethical teachings and

[00:28:45] central beliefs of Judaism the Hebrew Bible belief in God observance of law how the

[00:28:52] ideas of Hebrew traditions are reflected in the moral and ethical traditions of

[00:28:58] Western civilization so that’s the Ten Commandments

[00:29:03] that’s you know we’re talking about can you post the Ten Commandments California you’re expected to teach the Ten

[00:29:09] Commandments and show their relevance to judeo-christian Western civilization’s

[00:29:15] law and so forth when it comes to seventh-grade students during that

[00:29:20] period of history they’re studying Europe and the Reformation and they’re expected to describe the theological

[00:29:28] beliefs of Martin Luther John Calvin and William Tyndale whoa that’s him I mean I

[00:29:34] showed that to a pastor and he said you know I want to share that with my youth pastor because I want him to at least

[00:29:40] teach to the level of the California Public Schools yeah that’s great so so

[00:29:46] do you do you face a lot of pushback on when it comes to this sort of stuff because you I I actually went up to one of the

[00:29:55] superintendent’s down here in East County and I said to him hey you know

[00:30:03] have you thought about having some sort of a Bible class there duh and immediately he said Oh separation of

[00:30:09] church and state that can’t happen and you know I’m kind of confused as to our

[00:30:17] people just I guess it’s just a lack of knowledge is what said yeah its lack of knowledge that in fact in ninth grade

[00:30:23] they can have an elective course on world religions and speak very openly about here’s what the Christian message

[00:30:29] is and here’s what Christians believe and so forth so he’s just wrong about the fact that you can’t have an elective

[00:30:35] course on world religions now now in order for that to happen Eric so let’s

[00:30:41] say somebody hears this and they go I’m gonna make this happen what what does that look like what’s the path to make something like that happen well you

[00:30:48] would need to go to the school board and you would you know appeal to them – and I wouldn’t expect I wouldn’t suggest

[00:30:54] that you go and make a public announcement about it sir so often you know it’s really about who you know and

[00:31:00] the relationships you have so I always say find someone who knows the school board talk to that person you take a

[00:31:06] school board member out to lunch to say hey why don’t we implement this in our schools we could offer it this way and

[00:31:12] you start to work out the plan so that by the time it actually comes before the school board you already have the

[00:31:17] support for it that’s just you know politics that’s how you that’s how you get things done so often we think you go ahead and you make

[00:31:24] the big protest and yeah it doesn’t happen that way it all happens by relationships and so that that can

[00:31:31] easily be done in California you can also do religious release time where

[00:31:37] students can be released from class go off campus have straightforward Bible

[00:31:42] teaching and Bible lessons come back on campus during school time and not be counted absent that the law here in

[00:31:50] California that schools can do that so

[00:31:55] there are a lot of things that that can be done that just just part done

[00:32:00] that is amazing have a law in California that protects a teacher when they you

[00:32:06] the Bible or some other religious text as part of their education I’ll read it

[00:32:13] to you here no hold on Eric we’re coming up on a break here so that’s another great place to take a take a pause here

[00:32:19] so when we come back we’re going to talk about and Eric’s gonna finish what what I just cut them off here with talking

[00:32:24] about what a teacher is about allowed to use in the classroom regarding their faith so we’re gonna be right back stay

[00:32:31] with us this is an amazing conversation and very much needed so stay with us

[00:32:38] hi this is jason hall president of team home loans a branch of synergy one

[00:32:43] lending i just want to take this opportunity to think Kevin Kahn over for the profound impact he’s had on mine and

[00:32:49] my wife’s spiritual life as well as being an incredible teacher while our kids were his students his knowledge and

[00:32:54] passion have taught us all how important it is to be defenders of our faith it’s our honor and privilege to support Kevin

[00:33:00] and his show is our sincere hope and prayer that you will continue to learn to be defenders of your faith through

[00:33:06] Kevin’s radio show and through his educate for life teachings thank you Kevin from the hall family and team home

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[00:34:44] [Music] welcome to educate for life I’m your

[00:34:51] host Kevin Conover you can check us out on YouTube we’ve got all kinds of programs up there just recently had on

[00:34:56] the show Denise Schick the transgender issue is a very hot topic in our culture right now and her father told her that

[00:35:03] he was transgender at nine years old she’s been ministering to those who have dealt with the issue of transgender

[00:35:09] transgenderism in their families for thirteen years it’s a fantastic show to take a look at

[00:35:14] also recently interviewed Lawrence Krauss if you want to hear what an atheist thinks about where we came from he’s a very famous atheist physicist and

[00:35:22] I got to talk with him that was an interesting conversation also interviewed dr. James tour one of the most famous scientists in the world

[00:35:28] considered one of the top 50 scientists in the world who is a bible-believing Christian loves Jesus and demonstrates

[00:35:35] through science how evolution can’t possibly work and my guest today is Eric Brewer and he’s with gateways to better

[00:35:42] education GTB e dot o-r-g if you want to check that out he’s gonna be down here in San Diego Saturday

[00:35:48] October 21st 9 9 a.m. to 12:30 and if you are a public school teacher gosh I

[00:35:53] don’t think there’s a better way you could spend your time than with Eric he has all kinds of credentials from being

[00:36:01] on focused on the family being in their magazine American Family Association Journal teachers InFocus he’s written

[00:36:07] for worked with chuck Colson D James Kennedy all kinds of recommendations and

[00:36:14] references for the ministry that he’s doing and he is having a dramatic impact on our culture for good and he’s going

[00:36:21] to give you all kinds of wisdom if you can join him on Saturday October 21st that’s at The Rock Church here in San

[00:36:27] Diego and Eric go ahead and pick up where you left off in our last segment there well I was just going to quote a

[00:36:33] lost education code 5151 one that says

[00:36:38] nothing in this code meaning nothing in all these laws shall be construed to prevent or exclude from the public

[00:36:46] schools references to religion or references to or the use of religious

[00:36:51] literature dance music theater visual arts or other things having our religious significance when such

[00:36:57] references are uses do not constitute instruction in religious principles in other words

[00:37:03] you’re not trying to have Sunday school or catechism mm-hmm they’re not promoting a Creed or sectarian thing but

[00:37:10] when they are incidental or illustrative of matters properly included in the course of study so let’s go back to that

[00:37:17] sixth grade reference where we’re talking about learning about the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as

[00:37:22] described in the New Testament this law protects a teacher who uses the Bible in

[00:37:28] the classroom to fulfill that academic standard that’s so good so I have an

[00:37:35] altar call to the chalkboard and yeah there you go so they can in history clash and social studies I mean because

[00:37:42] really our entire culture is saturated with the Christian faith it’s everywhere

[00:37:48] when it comes to our founding when it comes to decisions that have been made

[00:37:53] over the years in court cases when it comes to things like the Civil War and

[00:37:59] and these sorts of things it’s everywhere so if a Christian teacher felt it was relevant they would have no

[00:38:05] problem bringing up all kinds of things absolutely and then in science class California and

[00:38:13] its 2016 policy is not again from the 1940s or something says that it is

[00:38:19] totally appropriate for English classes and history classes to teach about

[00:38:28] divine origins of the universe to teach about intelligent design and those sorts

[00:38:34] of things here’s what it says it says discussions of any scientific fact hypothesis or theory related to the

[00:38:42] origins of the universe the earth and the light and life the how are appropriate to the science curriculum

[00:38:48] discussions of divine creation ultimate purposes or ultimate causes the why are

[00:38:54] appropriate to the history social science and English language arts curriculum Wow a lot of lot of people

[00:39:00] look at that and say oh well see they’re saying you can’t have creationism in the science class but look what they’re

[00:39:06] saying you can have creationism in two other classes English and history

[00:39:11] not only that what’s really interesting there is that it’s saying that in the science classes as long as it pertains

[00:39:18] to the facts so if you’re looking at the geology of the earth and you’re examining you know fossils that actually

[00:39:26] support the creation hypothesis you don’t have to talk about creation you can just bring these up and say right

[00:39:31] hey they found a t-rex bone in 2005 that had red blood cells in it what do you think about that and in fact the next

[00:39:38] paragraph says nothing in science or any other field of knowledge shall be taught dogmatically Wow is the system of

[00:39:46] beliefs that is not subject to scientific tests and refutation compelling belief is inconsistent with

[00:39:53] the goal of Education so I mean right there they’re saying you can’t you

[00:39:59] shouldn’t be teaching this stuff dogmatically okay that is really great that that’s just amazing to me I I think

[00:40:07] like you’re saying we just have to get the word out and now are a lot of churches teaming up with you and

[00:40:13] recognizing the significance of what you’re sharing are you finding that people are receptive to this is this a

[00:40:18] movement that you feel is growing what can people do to better better support

[00:40:24] what you’re doing well there’s a number of different things go to our website

[00:40:29] and they can we also have it there’s the initials GTV e but we also have just visiting go gateways go gateways org

[00:40:37] okay forward slash events and they’re they’ll find the event at the rock and

[00:40:43] all the information on that they need to turn out they need to tell their friends they need to sponsor a teacher tell one

[00:40:51] of the teachers at school hey I’ll pay for you to go it’s only $30 I’ll pay for you to go they get a CD of the all the

[00:40:59] PowerPoint slides that I give during the presentation so they can take it back to

[00:41:04] their colleagues we’d had situations I was speaking in Ohio we had a situation there where the

[00:41:10] teacher went back and she led a staff meeting and went to the slides and repeated this the conference for them

[00:41:17] all the staff in the school what an awesome hunter that’s so yeah it’s a matter of helping people really

[00:41:23] spread the word and we call it you know moving from fear to freedom there’s so much fear out

[00:41:30] there yes this is being picked up we have universities now that are using our

[00:41:35] program in their courses of Education churches are recognizing that you know

[00:41:41] it’s not just about giving backpacks and blessing that schools that’s all good that’s all well and good did it actually

[00:41:47] influence your your own children in that church or going to these public schools

[00:41:53] what are we doing to influence what they’re being taught in those public schools and I’m not talking about

[00:41:59] political activity I’m talking about just reaching teachers with the truth

[00:42:04] because like Barna says nearly 50% of the teachers are already Christians just

[00:42:09] that they have Christian hearts and secular minds let’s help them see that they don’t have to teach that way and

[00:42:16] and it can change what happens in the culture of a public school oh goodness that could change what happens in the

[00:42:22] culture of a community I mean the impact is incredible so that that is just great

[00:42:28] well my guest today is Eric Bureau we have one more segment left and we’re just going to touch on a few more issues

[00:42:35] that pertain to the whole question of separation of church and state and and what we can do in the classroom what

[00:42:42] what is a teacher not allowed to do where do we draw the line where we say

[00:42:47] okay now this is what you can’t do and so Eric bureaus an expert on these

[00:42:52] issues he’s been running gateways to better education since the early 90s and

[00:42:57] he knows this very thoroughly what we can and can’t do and and the

[00:43:03] opportunities we have so stay with us we’re going to be right back [Music]

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[00:43:41] six one nine two two two zero seven sixty-six hi this is Jason hall

[00:43:46] president of team home loans a branch of synergy one lending I just want to take this opportunity to thank Kevin Kahn

[00:43:52] over for the profound impact he’s had on mine and my wife’s spiritual life as well as being an incredible teacher

[00:43:57] while our kids were his students his knowledge and passion have taught us all how important it is to be defenders of

[00:44:03] our faith it’s our honor and privilege to support kevin and his show it is our sincere hope and prayer that you will

[00:44:09] continue to learn to be defenders of your faith through Kevin’s radio show and through his educate for life

[00:44:14] teachings thank you Kevin from the hall family and team Home Loans hi I’m Marisa

[00:44:20] Conover and I would love to help you buy or sell your home I’ve worked as a

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[00:44:45] calm [Music] hi this is Kevin Conover will you please

[00:44:53] donate to educate for life so we can share the truth of God’s Word with kids in public schools

[00:44:58] you can donate online at donate to EFL 0rg the Bible used to be read in public

[00:45:04] schools on a regular basis prior to the 1960s but today most kids are completely clueless when it comes to the content

[00:45:11] and the historical and scientific accuracy of the Bible please help us by donating online at donate to EFL RG

[00:45:19] [Music]

[00:45:24] welcome to educate for life I’m your host Kevin Conover if you are a public school teacher and you have a Christian

[00:45:31] faith and you want to know what you can do to make a difference in the culture without violating the law or potentially

[00:45:39] jeopardizing your job you have a great opportunity Saturday October 21st 9 to 12:30 K through 12 public school

[00:45:46] teachers there’s a conference being put on by The Rock Church and apples for teachers is the ministry they’re

[00:45:51] associated with Iraq and Eric Bureau is going to be there and he’s going to give you all kinds of incredible information

[00:45:57] about what you are able to do as a public school teacher and uh this is a

[00:46:02] issue that’s near and dear to my own heart I was reading George barniz 2017 survey it said statistically a very

[00:46:09] small amount of younger people have a biblical worldview only four percent of 18 to 30 year olds and 7 percent of 30

[00:46:15] to 49 year olds and this is a quote from George Barna he said we are in a crisis if the church does not wake up and solve

[00:46:22] it biblical Christianity in the United States is in jeopardy and what Eric’s doing is making a dent in that issue and

[00:46:30] so Eric when it comes to you shared with us so much of what a teacher can do what

[00:46:36] are the lines that a teacher needs to be careful not to cross on these issues

[00:46:41] well as one of the things I’ll teach in the seminar is you it’s always best to

[00:46:48] teach by attribution you attribute it to the source so for instance rather than

[00:46:55] saying God said you’d say the Bible says hmm or you’d say in the story God said

[00:47:02] you’re attributing it to the source I we have materials on how to teach about

[00:47:10] Eastern I’ll give you a story of a teacher who used our material on Easter and you can teach all about the

[00:47:17] religious nature of the holiday and so forth and do artistic expressions of it have kids draw pictures of the

[00:47:23] resurrection and all and one of her kids said mrs. so-and-so is this really

[00:47:30] happened and she said yes well I understand the apologetics of you know

[00:47:37] proving that the reservoir and occurred and so for sure but it still is a faith statement mm-hm

[00:47:44] so he would have been better to say that’s why this is so important to Christians or that’s what two billion

[00:47:51] Christians around the planet believe or that’s what the Bible records or CDR

[00:47:57] attributing it to a source instead of reflecting your own faith so it just

[00:48:04] keeps things a little bit of an arm’s length I often get the question can I

[00:48:10] keep a Bible on my desk yes you can though there’s no law against putting a

[00:48:17] Bible on your desk a lot of these laws get figured out in the courts and so

[00:48:23] that particularly hasn’t been challenged but traditionally a teacher’s desk is

[00:48:30] considered their personal space and so it’s more of an employment issue employee issue I have my personal space

[00:48:37] I can put things on my personal space that aren’t part of the classroom the

[00:48:43] another question I get is if a student asked me if I’m a Christian or if I go

[00:48:49] to church can I answer them and my my advice is be honest and be brief yes you

[00:48:57] can be who you are yes I’m a Christian or yes I go to church or yeah you know this isn’t the Christmas is important to

[00:49:04] me because I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God but don’t don’t then

[00:49:09] say you know and now that you ask let me share how you two can have a relationship with Jesus Christ that’s

[00:49:16] yeah overstep a line yeah be honest and be brief but also I’ll challenge

[00:49:23] teachers with this idea and I completely understand the notion of wanting to let your students know you’re a Christian I

[00:49:29] get it but what if they didn’t know you were a Christian but you were still teaching about all the wonderful things

[00:49:35] that Christianity is done for the world – actually even come across better yeah

[00:49:42] absolutely they’re a thrown it out there for somebody to think about oh that’s so powerful because really I find even in

[00:49:50] my own and I teach a biblical apologetics class that’s what I do but I find it far more effective for me

[00:49:56] to allow the the the the student to come to their own conclusions then for me to

[00:50:02] draw the conclusions for them if they’re thinking it through I mean the truth is

[00:50:08] the truth and so ultimately we’re teaching the child how to think clearly

[00:50:14] and make good decisions and and show them it demonstrate hey look at you know

[00:50:21] the Salvation Army helped twenty nine the twenty nine people in one year what motivated them to make such an impact

[00:50:27] and and you know not charge for their services and so forth right and that’s amazing in and that reminds me by the

[00:50:35] way of again a state standard here in California in high school when they

[00:50:40] learn about the 1800s in America they’re supposed to actually study the life

[00:50:47] stories of dl moody and his impact on

[00:50:53] people’s lives they’re supposed to understand organizations like the Salvation Army and how they developed

[00:51:00] and how they responded to social needs so that’s all part of our social studies

[00:51:05] history as well gosh that’s that’s incredible I I really am

[00:51:11] curious who wrote I mean even the intelligent design you mentioned the science and 2016 you said the standards

[00:51:18] from 2016 I honestly I don’t know who who is on the California Board of

[00:51:25] Education you know who’s writing standards it’s quite an involved process

[00:51:30] and it involves dozens of people even hundreds of people because they send these things out when they’re developing

[00:51:36] them they send them out to a lot of public scrutiny and and we were part of

[00:51:43] that in reviewing the social studies frameworks that were being updated last

[00:51:50] summer and we actually were able to get the board to agree to clarify the gospel

[00:51:58] they were they had in there some really really weak description of Jesus preaching a

[00:52:05] salvation through love and we were able to say you know we know of no Catholic

[00:52:12] or Protestant denominations that could have a doctrine of salvation through love yeah they say if they would believe

[00:52:20] in him as Savior they put that in so again we’ve got the Gospel message in

[00:52:26] those frameworks oh yeah this there’s just a multitude of people obviously

[00:52:32] it’s leaning more liberal but the standards can’t change for now the standards actually can only be changed

[00:52:38] by direction from the legislature it’s a little bit more of a political process yeah it’ll probably be coming down the

[00:52:46] road but it is not there now and so everything that I’ll be talking

[00:52:52] to the teachers about is about academic freedom doing it with academic integrity

[00:52:58] doing it in a way that they can defend it to anyone I as I say I don’t I’m not

[00:53:04] trying to get them to sneak something in their classroom yeah exactly yeah there’s just so much they can do but I

[00:53:10] find that a lot of teachers they think very turkey very Christian II and so

[00:53:17] they want to bring that into the classroom well you know can I can i play

[00:53:23] Christian music in the background that sort of thing and that actually yes you can if you’re changing it up with other

[00:53:30] music as well but I’d be much more interested in you bringing it into your curriculum yeah it in the background

[00:53:36] yeah absolutely there’s there’s such a great opportunity here to really do this in a way that’s tactful illegal and

[00:53:43] smart and really biblical in so many ways and so why not take advantage of

[00:53:49] the opportunity that is presented here so just even I just realized something

[00:53:54] all the how about about Common Core yeah even in the Common Core English Language Arts standards they reference the Bible

[00:54:02] and students needing to understand difficult symbolism in metaphor language

[00:54:07] arts studies that’s so great that four times and so we say look okay you got

[00:54:13] all the politics of common core but it’s there and English teachers you’re expected to teach about the Bible there

[00:54:20] you go Eric I just want to say that we’re out of time here but I want to say thank you so much for what you do and for being on

[00:54:26] the program today it’s a huge blessing thank you so much absolutely that’s Eric bjur gateways to

[00:54:32] better education gonna be here in San Diego I’m just around the corner here October 21st 9 to 12:30 at The Rock

[00:54:40] Church I honestly this has got to be one of the most important things you could possibly attend even if you’re not a teacher I

[00:54:47] would say get all your teacher friends and get them to the Rock Church for this event GTB e org and then just check out

[00:54:54] events I’ll see you again next Saturday or maybe you’ll hear me and you can see

[00:54:59] me if you’re on YouTube but otherwise I’ll see you again next week my website is educate for life dot o-r-g thanks for

[00:55:06] joining us today have a great Saturday did you miss part of today’s program don’t worry we’re con mitad to helping

[00:55:12] you get the info you need ok that was dumb but for real visit educate four life.com four podcast and

[00:55:19] video recording to the show and to sign up for the school of unshakable faith leave us your comments compliments

[00:55:24] questions or concerns and 800 243 97