Benjamin Rush
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Dr. Benjamin Rush (December 24, 1745 – April 19, 1813) was a Founding Father of the United States.
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"Let the children who are sent to those schools be taught to read and write - - - (and) above all, let both sexes be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education - -" (wrote this when he proposed his plan for public education in America on March 28, 1787.) "By removing the Bible from schools we would be wasting so much time and money in punishing criminals and so little pains to prevent crime. Take the Bible out of our schools and there would be an explosion in crime."
"[Education] is favourable to liberty. Freedom can exist only in the society of knowledge. Without learning, men are incapable of knowing their rights, and where learning is confined to a few people, liberty can be neither equal nor universal."
"It is now several months since I promised to give you my reasons for preferring the Bible as a schoolbook to all other compositions. Before I state my arguments, I shall assume the five following propositions: That Christianity is the only true and perfect religion; and that in proportion as mankind adopts its principles and obeys its precepts they will be wise and happy."
"That a better knowledge of this religion is to be acquired by reading the Bible than in any other way."
"That the Bible contains more knowledge necessary to man in his present state than any other book in the world."
"That knowledge is most durable, and religious instruction most useful, when imparted in early life."
"That the Bible, when not read in schools, is seldom read in any subsequent period of life."
"*My arguments in favor of the use of the Bible as a schoolbook are founded" (In 1791 he wrote a pamphlet entitled 'A Defense of the Use of the Bible as a Schoolbook'.
