The West Virginia Senate passed Senate Bill 388 on Thursday by a 30-4 vote, which would require certain public school classrooms to display the Aitken Bible.
The bill mandates that 4th, 8th, and 10th grade social studies classrooms have the Aitken Bible on their bookshelves. Sponsor Sen. Amy Grady said these grades were chosen because students learn about the American Revolution during that time.
“The Robert Aitken Bible can be used this way because it helps to teach important American history topics such as congress, culture, trade and immigration,” Grady said. She noted that it was the first complete Bible published in America and was officially recommended and approved for printing by the Continental Congress, giving it historical significance.
No public funds would be used to place the Bible in classrooms; only private donations would be allowed. Grady emphasized that the Bible would be used to teach religion as history, not to promote religious beliefs, serving as a resource for students.
Sen. Mike Woelfel proposed an amendment to also include the Catholic American Bible in classrooms, but it was rejected 25-8. Woelfel argued that the bill favors one religious sect over another and criticized its lack of detail and guidance for teachers. He anticipates the bill may face a court review next year.
“If you’re thinking to yourself, ‘Well, the House will clean this up’ – no, the House is going to take this bill and devour it and move it out faster than those lions devoured Daniel in the lion’s den,” Woelfel said.