Moscow, March 22, 2017
Kentucky governor, Matt Bevin. Photo: 44 News
Governor Matt Bevin of Kentucky signed into law on Monday, March 20, a bill protecting students’ religious freedom against attempts to quash and forbid religion, and especially Christianity, in schools. The new law grants students the freedom to express religious and political viewpoints, hand out religious and political literature, wear clothing with religious messages, and announce religious meetings over school media, reports Church Militant.
The inspiration for the bill came after one Kentucky elementary decided to put on a production of the Christian play A Charlie Brown Christmas, but to remove the monologue in which Linus recites Holy Scripture to explain the true meaning of Christmas, citing freedom from religion as their motivation. The morning of the school production, Glenn Beck suggested on his radio program that parents stand up in the audience and recite the text of Linus’ monologue, quoting Luke 2:8-14, at the appropriate point, and parents did just that.
“The parents in the bleachers basically quoted the verse from the book of Luke, and it was just an amazing moment—it really was,” Joey Collins, parent of one Kentucky student, said. “Everybody was pretty much in tears and clapping. It was just a great time.”
Senator Albert Robinson, who introduced the bill, said the bill is designed “so that the public school can be a place where religious and political ideas can be expressed without fear of suppression.”
The bill received broad bipartisan support in both houses of the state legislature before Gov. Bevin signed it into law on Monday.
However, LGBT advocates are calling the bill, which protects from discrimination, hateful and discriminatory. They are especially concerned about a provision that states that one must actually be invested in the work of an organization to take part in it. The provision reads, “No recognized religious or political student organization is hindered or discriminated against in the ordering of its internal affairs, selection of leaders and members, defining of doctrines and principles, and resolving of organizational disputes in the furtherance of its mission, or in its determination that only persons committed to its mission should conduct these activities.” According to NY Mag, “That means that if student groups want to exclude LGBTQ students, they can cite their religious beliefs as the reason why.”
Other states, including Indiana and Mississippi have similar laws place, with about a hundred other similar bills being introduced in states around the country.
Gov. Bevin previously made headlines when he took office in November and added an exemption for people like County Clerk Kim Davis, who refused to issue same-sex-marriage licenses due to her Christian conscience. He also issued an executive order that removed the demand that a clerk sign wedding licenses.
