Christians can still help public schools despite growing secularism

Many Christians are worried about the growing secularism in society, but an author talks about how they can still impact public schools.

"Whether promoting the ideas of the sexual revolution, strange bathroom policies, censoring Christmas from plays, violence, falling test scores or removing the Bible from libraries — I get it. It's easy to be outraged," said John Stonestreet, president of The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview, in an article on CNS News. "But outrage isn't a strategy."

Stonestreet, co-author of "Restoring All Things: God's Audacious Plan to Change the World Through Everyday People" along with Jim Daly and Warren Cole Smith, said that Christians need to ask four key questions in order to help them respond to society.

Applicable in different areas of society, these questions about culture are: one, what is good in it that Christians can promote, protect, and celebrate; two, what's missing that they can contribute creatively; three, what's evil that they can stop; and four, what's broken that can be restored.

In the public school setting, he cites examples of what Christians can do. For question #2, he said that Christians can help raise awareness on the religious freedom of both students and educators by initiating campaigns. A Biblical worldview can also be integrated into academic subjects, such as art, music, history, and social studies. Also, for question #1, he said Christians should support Christian teachers and others in the line of education. Almost half of the country's public eductors, according to a 2014 report by Barna Group, are practicing Christians, and Stonestreet says they should be celebrated.

The same article by Barna says that 95 percent of Protestant pastors and more than 80 percent of churchgoing Christians believe that Christians ought to get involved in helping public schools. Thirty-six percent of respondents believe that encouraging teachers can help, 25 percent are for supporting other education options, 24 percent believe in volunteering, 24 percent think that working for a national education reform is needed, 22 percent are for working with the local school board for changes, and 19 percent think it's helping in fund-raising projects.

Meanwhile, 65 percent of those who regularly volunteer at public schools are church-goers.

However, there are reasons why Christians don't or are not able to help, including 44 percent who don't have kids in public schols, 18 percent who believe that the public institutions don't want help from religious individuals, 17 percent who don't know how to extend a hand, while 9 percent said public school culture goes against their religious belief.