IA students brought their Bibles to school recently. In front from left are Jeremiah Morgan, Audrey Joel, Peyton Andrews, Anna Sterling-Massey and Norah Pannel. In back from left are Easton Lloyd, Mackensie Smith, Allyson Bedingfield, Lane Miller, Luke Miller and Nicholas Patterson. Photo by Recardo Thomas
Indianola Academy students in grades Pre-K to 12 took advantage of Bring Your Bible Day on Thursday as once again the pupils celebrated with thousands of others across the nation, the freedom to exercise their First Amendment rights.
As students, the movement gives them the opportunity to talk about their faith and read their Bibles outside of classroom time. It is a national event that began in 2014 and has grown and spread across the continental U.S.
Indianola Academy is in its second year of participation and the high schoolers, as well as elementary age children enthusiastically embraced the opportunity by not only bringing their personal copies of holy writ, but the younger children also copied their favorite scriptures on colorful cards and decorated pictures that were displayed in their hallway gallery.
Participation is completely voluntary; it is totally up to the students to participate, which is an issue at public schools where the schools face restrictions on how much they can promote religion.
About 500,000 students from all 50 states were expected to join in the fourth annual Bring Your Bible to School movement on Oct. 5.
