Conservative Christians can’t stop themselves from trying to jam their religion into our public schools. Sometimes it’s a direct approach: lobbying for creationism curriculum or time for prayer. Other times, the attacks on the Constitution are less obvious. In Texas, they’ve passed a law to allow Bible courses (which are supposed to be neutrally taught — some feat in a Bible-belt state such as Texas) in public high schools. I pasted a portion of the AP story below.
Between church and family time, a student’s life can be deeply infused with religious views. And if you want your child to get religion in school, try putting them in a religious school.
Texas high schools are not required to offer elective high school Bible courses under a new law adopted by the state last year, Attorney General Greg Abbott said.
The Legislature passed a law last year allowing for Bible courses to be offered as an elective starting in the 2009-2010 school year.
Lawmakers directed the State Board of Education to adopt curriculum standards in line with the constitutional separation of church and state.
But because of questions about whether a school district was required to offer the class, Education Commissioner Robert Scott asked Abbott for an opinion.
Abbott’s office said Aug. 28 that the new law “authorizes but does not require school districts and charter schools to offer” the Bible course.
Lawmakers adopted the measure with an assurance the class would only focus on the history and literature of the Bible, and not evangelize for or disparage any faith. It also required the attorney general to review the curriculum.
According to the law, the elective Bible course aims to expose students to biblical content and characters as key to understanding contemporary society and culture, including literature, art, music, oratory and public policy.
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7 responses so far ↓
1 Bible // Sep 5, 2008 at 7:52 am
Backing by current scientific knowledge, we can refuse to work or shop in an environment which endangers our health. Bible
2 Drew // Sep 5, 2008 at 8:09 am
I am all for comparative religion classes in school. This is also the forum for Creationism or ID. What is maddening though, funny really if it weren’t so…maddening, is the reasons why they want the Bible taught, to the exclusion of all other religions.
From World Net Daily:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=73821
And Chisum said the legislature specifically addressed the Bible, not the Quran or any other religious writing, because “the Bible as a text … has historical and literary value.”
“It can’t go off into other religious philosophies because then it would be teaching religion, when the course is meant to teach literature,” he said.
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So other religious books don’t have literary value? Teaching the Bible is not teaching religion? The level of ignorance that these people have, or expect the rest of us to have, never ceases to amaze me.
3 Iron Pol // Sep 5, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Drew, if a school has me read The Hobbit, are they teaching religion? To my surprise, many public schools now use that book as required reading, despite it being a religious allegory for the Catholic church. But just reading The Hobbit doesn’t teach religion. I read the entire Narnia series before I learned it was religious in nature (I was in 3rd and 4th grade).
How about The Matrix? Another religious allegory. The Breakfast Club? Yep, religious allegory.
Sometimes, it’s more straightforward to just use the actual book.
4 Drew // Sep 6, 2008 at 2:34 am
Tom, I don’t even know how to respond to that. There is a huge difference between the Hobbit and the Bible.
5 Iron Pol // Sep 6, 2008 at 4:04 am
Drew - No there isn’t. The Hobbit is directly related to the Bible. Tolkien wrote it as an allegory to the Catholic religion. If you’ve ever read the Narnia series, The Hobbit is no different.
6 Drew // Sep 9, 2008 at 4:48 am
I haven’t read Narnia, but I did see the first movie. Yes, there are religious parallels, but like the Hobbit, LOR, or Star Wars, you can study plot lines, character development, language and style without equating those stories to any particular relgious story or text. The same however cannot be said for the Bible, Quran, or another religious text.
To say that having literature students read the Hobbit is the same, or nearly the same as having them read the Bible is, I am sorry, silly.
I was first introduced to the Hobbit when I was 12, I read the LOR in my teen years. I drew no religious inference from those stories until I was much older.
You could argue any good vs evil story is analagous to God vs Satan, or any other similar religious story. It doesn’t mean that we should just go straight to the source for literary scholarship.
Nor does it mean you are not studying religion if you just pick one book instead of two ro three, which is what the morons in Texas are trying to claim.
7 Jenny // Sep 12, 2008 at 2:36 am
Hey - it’s an elective. Why not offer it if kids elect to take it? What is there to be afraid of? I’d love to take a course on Islam or Judaism if I were in high school, so that I could be educated on what everyone’s talking about. Isn’t that the point of education? Why are atheists so afraid of that? I can understand being against mandatory classes in public school, but these are elective.
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