>For most Christians the Bible is their so-called “textbook”, yet if we were to do a survey, many would not be able to tell you most of its contents, main messages and its value both personally and within society… So we should not be surprised when we are informed by a Poet-Laureate (Andrew Motion) who teaches English Literature, that students “Do not know the Bible”.

But why would such a comment be necessary, what value does the Bible serve in such studies or understandings?

In a national paper this week I read how libraries in certain areas are being advised to place the Bible on higher shelves (more out of reach) to avoid offending followers of Islam. Muslims complained about finding the Koran on lower shelves, and felt the Koran should be placed above “common things”. Guidelines were drawn up to advise that all “holy books” should be treated equally and placed on higher shelves together. Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t care if the Bible is placed next to the Koran, but there is an ever increasing trend in the UK of “political correctness” that is depriving many of accessibility to Christianity, and preventing us from sharing what we believe.

Libraries are not places of worship – they are places of literature, and in essence the Bible is a work of literature, though for me, like many it has spiritual/religious significance. What we often forget is how intrinsic the Bible and Christianity has been within the history and development of our nation and many nations in terms of literature, and reform. It was the Christian monks that through times of political turmoil preserved many works of literature. It was the Protestant Reformation that advocated that the Bible should be accessible to all, in their vernacular language. People have used the Bible around the world to teach people language. Today, we hear how students are being deprived of essential skills, and critical understanding because they are not taught stories from the Bible.

My question at this point is – Who is responsible? Is it the church? Is it the education system? Parents? Students?

Here is part of the article on “Students not taught the Bible”

He says:
“…it is becoming increasingly difficult to teach English Literature because students do not know the Bible or classical mythology…the lack of knowledge made it “difficult to even get beyond go” when teaching some of his recent students.

Mr Motion told the BBC: “I’ve always been concerned about the levels of not-knowing since I started teaching, but quite recently I had a very bad experience of trying to teach some of my, in other respects, extremely good students about Paradise Lost.

”They knew so little about the context in which the poem was written and about the references that the poem itself makes that it was very difficult even to get beyond go in talking about it.”

The Poet Laureate said: “I’m not trying to give them a dusty and bitter pill to swallow here, I’m just saying that these stories achieve archetypal status because they tell us recurring truths about human nature that is a pleasure and an important thing in and of itself.”

He added: “I recently have interviewed quite a lot of candidates who have done Measure for Measure, Shakespeare’s play, for ‘A’ level. “Not a single one of them seemed to have known the title comes from Christ’s Sermon on the Mount and that might make a difference to what the play’s about.”

Read the full article here
For article on Libraries and the Bible – Click Here

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4. Advice from J.I. Packer