Arch-atheist Richard Dawkins says he supports the efforts of England’s Department of Education to place a copy of the King James Bible in every public school—though he himself admits he has an “ulterior motive.” Dawkins first wrote in a column for The Guardian that the Bible is culturally and linguistically significant enough to be included in public schools: “A native speaker of English who has never read a word of the King James Bible is verging on the barbarian.” But Dawkins also wrote that “people who do not know the Bible well have been gulled into thinking it is a good guide to morality … I have even heard the cynically misanthropic opinion that, without the Bible as a moral compass, people would have no restraint against murder, theft and mayhem. The surest way to disabuse yourself of this pernicious falsehood is to read the Bible itself.” He even said he would have donated to the cause had he been given the opportunity to do so.
The effort to place the Bible in schools is being spearheaded by Michael Gove, education secretary. The distribution of the Bibles corresponds to the KJV’s 400th anniversary this year. It will cost nearly $600,000 to provide and distribute these Bibles to every primary and secondary school in England and has been paid for through donations. The Department for Education says “the story of the King James Bible can help children—of all faiths and none—better understand its place in our nation’s identity and history, and appreciate its influence on our language, literature, democracy and culture.”
