- President Trump is speaking out in favor

of Bible literacy classestaught in public schools.

The president today declaring in a tweet,

"Giving students the option of

studying the Bible is great."

The President's support comes as lawmakers

have introduced Bible literacy bills

in Florida, Indiana, Missouri,

North Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia.

Some of which havealready been voted down.

- And joining us now is Tre Goins-Phillips

from Faith Wire, to talk more about

Bible teachings in public schools.

Tre, these classes would focus on

Biblical literacy and theBible's historical significance.

Lawmakers now behind thebill say they wanna restore

traditional values in schools

but opponents say thesebills could violate

the U.S. constitution'sestablishment clause.

What's your take on that?

- Well, to me if you're gonna have a class

that's talking about literacy

and it's talking aboutthe role that scripture

has played particularly inthe founding of the country.

I think that can be only helpful.

I understand complaints andconcerns about proselytizing,

but I think these bills andthe defenders of these bills

have made clear thatthey don't want to preach

like they're in a pulpit.

They wanna teach likethey're in a classroom.

And help students to understand better.

An anecdote, I had an experience

when I was in communitycollege several years ago.

It was a public college obviously.

I was in a literature class

and one of the studentspushed back on a professor

when she referenced anOld Testament passage

and said, you can't teachthat in a public institution.

It's against the separationof church and state.

And she said, well froma literary perspective

the Bible has historical significance.

And she said, and the OldTestament in particular

is the story of the Jewish people.

That's the story of how they came to be.

So these texts, the Old and New Testament

have historical significance.

I think to deny that is just ignorant.

- Right well, to that point,

we use phrases all thetime like good Sarmatian,

which has more thanjust culture reference.

It has Biblical reference.

So if you don't teach that

you're missing the significance there.

But in a country that'sbecoming more and more secular

would it be difficult formeasures like this to pass?

- I think there's kind of a hunkering down

in local smaller districts.

But I do think nationally

we'll see more and morepush back from big groups

like the UCLA and what have you.

- Tre, thanks so much for joining us.

- Thank you.

- And for more on Faith Wire,

you can check out their programon the CBN news channel.

You can find that everyMonday night at 9:30 pm.