FRANKFORT, Ky. -- With a tweet and a video, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin encouraged students in the commonwealth to participate Thursday in Bring Your Bible to School Day, a nationwide demonstration in which Christian students do just that.
"The Bible is an amazing document," Bevin said in a video posted to his administration's official YouTube channel. "It has an incredible amount of history, knowledge, wisdom (and) guidance -- things that our founders understood and took to heart as they set this entire nation in motion."
Bring Your Bible to School Day is a 4-year-old event co-sponsored by conservative Christian organization Focus on the Family, which has worked since the 1970s to "promote biblical truths worldwide" and advocate for policies reflecting that goal, and the Alliance Defending Freedom, a cohort of attorneys specializing in First Amendment cases involving Christianity.
According to the event's website, Bring Your Bible to School Day is meant as a demonstration for religious freedom and to "empower you as a student to express your belief in the truth of God's Word -- and to do so in a respectful way that demonstrates the love of Christ." The website cites biblical figures such as Queen Esther as examples of young people whose faith inspired them to become cultural leaders.
Bevin, a lifelong conservative Christian who in 2016 said he believed "the greatness of America" was intrinsically linked to the "Judeo-Christian principles" of its early leaders, has openly used his faith as a lodestar in legislative decisions.
Some of those decisions include publicly battling Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, declaring two consecutive Years of the Bible in his state and authorizing Kentucky's public educators to teach elective biblical literacy courses focusing on the Bible's impact on world history and culture.
"This is your constitutional right not just on Oct. 4 but every day," Bevin told students in his YouTube video.
Anyone interested in participating in the demonstration can learn more here.
