Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

The Bible has been the book that's held together the fabric of Western civilization.

Civilization we possess could not come into existence and could not have been sustained without it.

That quote from H.G. Wells opens the new documentary Off School Property, which premieres

in theaters October 23rd.

The film aims to correct the record on one of the most misunderstood aspects of America's

storied history, the separation of church and state.

Specifically, the film attempts to convince Americans that it is not illegal

to teach the Bible to public school kids. Off-school property was produced by the team at Lifewise

Academy, and it highlights something that many Americans simply do not know. As the film website

puts it, quote, while the Bible was being removed, an obscure 1952 Supreme Court

ruling paved the way to bring it back.

This solution has been sitting right under our noses for 70 years, and it allows students

to study the Bible legally during the public school day, end quote.

The goal of Lifewise Academy is to expand Bible instruction to as many of America's 50 million

public school kids as possible, using a network of red buses, off-site class spaces,

and a growing number of trained teachers.

And yet, in addition to all of the logistical challenges in this work,

the most difficult task is still to correct the false assumption that there's no place for God

or the Bible in government-run schools. It's an assumption that's based on an enduring myth

that the freedom of religion that's guaranteed to us in the First Amendment is really meant to be

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