Kid Rock was trending on Twitter once again on Wednesday morning. But for once, it wasn’t because of his usual shenanigans, such as popping off on an expletive-filled rant about Oprah Winfrey, bragging about being “uncancellable,” or refusing to abide by COVID-19 protocols while on tour.
In this instance, the “We The People” singer was falsely attributed to the quote: “Bibles aren’t allowed in schools anymore but are encouraged in prisons. Perhaps if kids were allowed to read the Bible in school, they wouldn’t end up in prison.”
A screenshot of the questionable claim was shared, perhaps unknowingly, by a right-wing troll on Twitter. The screenshot should have been most people’s first clue, as, in fact Kid Rock never tweeted the quote, nor is it immediately apparent whether or not he ever shared it. Yet, the tweet quickly went viral, with nearly 30,000 likes and several thousand retweets since Tuesday night.
“Well said Kid Rock!” exclaimed the account sharing the fabricated tweet.
But while most of the people who engaged with the tweet celebrated the sentiment, more than a few liberal accounts likewise got sucked into the narrative as well by expressing disbelief that Kid Rock has ever read the bible or calling the 51-year-old “MAGA trailer trash.”
However, the quote itself has been around for years now — at least the better part of a decade, according to a quick Twitter search. USA Today likewise even recently debunked the claim after a couple of viral posts began circulating on Facebook. In fact, Bibles have always been allowed in schools for personal reasons or as an objective study of religion, but cannot be used in leading religious practice. (Or at least, they couldn’t when the article was written in May of 2022, anyway, as the Supreme Court has apparently since decided otherwise.)
“Students would always be allowed to personally possess Bibles in public or private schools,” Thomas Kidd, a religious studies professor at Baylor University, told USA Today. “Many private schools in America are religious, anyway, so it obviously would not be a problem in that context.”
And shockingly, as it turns out, the claim that Bibles are “encouraged” in prison is also not quite accurate.
“Individuals have freedom of religious exercise,” added Terry Shoemaker, a religious studies lecturer at Arizona State University. “Public institutions, and those employed by those institutions, are bound by the constitutional amendment to not establish any particular religion.”
So for the quote to trend in light of the SCOTUS ruling is particularly egregious, all things considered. But hey, if nothing else, people love the internet for affirming their own misguided sense of beliefs, so great job all around!