Governor J.B. Pritzker recently signed into law a bill now requiring public schools in the state of Illinois to teach students about the historical contributions of LBGT persons in U.S. history. The legislation reads: “Each public school district and state-recognized, non-public school shall, subject to appropriations for that purpose, receive a per-pupil grant for the purchase of secular and non-discriminatory textbooks. In public schools only, the teaching of history shall include a study of the roles and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the history of this country and this state.”
Supporters of the bill insist this course of study will stop the bullying of students who identity as LGBT because it would normalize the idea to students. However, the law also states the Illinois Board of Education must provide an approved list of textbooks authorized for purchase each year. Effectively, the law censors what curriculum history teachers can use in their classrooms and leaves this choice to lawmakers in Springfield.
However, Terry Schilling, executive director of the American Principles Project, a Washington DC-based nonprofit, argues that LGBT activists are implementing something else under the banner of teaching history. They are using this law as an excuse to push their own sexual agenda on to the next generation. He told the Christian Post, “I can’t think of anything weirder than being obsessed with teaching young children about sexuality. Even most parents struggle with this topic because of its difficulty, but somehow we as parents are okay with a complete stranger teaching them. Parents need to reclaim their role as the primary educators of their children — especially as it pertains to their children’s sexuality. No one else has that right or responsibility.”
He also stressed this new regulation will make it harder for educators to teach the basics of American history because they will be too busy teaching these side projects. He cited research that globally the U.S. student is 24th in science, 39th in math and 24th in reading and, “Now, we are adding in completely irrelevant content to our schools which already are struggling with the current load.” This law will take effect in Illinois in July of 2020 and is joined by similar laws in New Jersey and California.
This type of law is simply another way that the sexual liberation movement, which itself has become its own version of a secular religion, continues to push to become more mainstream in America and the Western world at large. Those who do not hold to a traditional Biblical view of sexuality have targeted children through entertainment and now through the school systems. They desire to make their own sexual perversions “normalized” in the culture to the point that no other form of sexual morality will be allowed in the public square.
The continued push by secularists to normalize abhorrent behavior should not come as a surprise to followers of the Bible. Paul, in Romans 1, argued that when a culture turns its back on God and engages in sinful behavior, it leads to immorality. The example of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old Testament was a warning of what happens when mankind gives in to its lusts and refuses to follow God’s design. God established relationship boundaries in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve and through the Old Testament Law. Jesus and the apostles continued to teach sexual purity in the New Testament. It is the sinful rebellion of mankind that pushes to change the commandments of God.
PRAY: Pray for our students who are under constant bombardment by secularists to change their worldview and steer them on a path that leads away from God’s perfect design.