Posted on 03/30/2005 7:10:19 AM PST by Dog Gone
ODESSA — A West Texas school board will at least consider the possibility of the district offering a Bible-based class as an elective in the high schools.
A packed audience gave a standing ovation Tuesday after the Ector County school board heard a presentation from a man representing the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools on offering such a class.
Board President Randy Rives said the public deserves an answer on whether a Bible elective should be implemented, but a decision may not be made anytime soon.
"It would be beneath us to not ever address this again," Rives said. "But, we want to take our time and ask some questions."
Superintendent Wendell Sollis said he will visit with board members to see what direction they would like to go with the proposed class.
Mike Johnson of the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools told the board Tuesday that coursework designed by that organization is not about proselytizing or preaching.
"Our course is done in a very objective fashion," Johnson said. "We understand that you can teach the students, but not preach to them."
Johnson said the coursework would include the Bible's impact on America's founding fathers, students' understanding of geography of the Middle Eastern countries and the influence of the Bible in art and culture.
"How can students understand Leonardo da Vinci's 'Last Supper' or Handel's 'Messiah' if they don't understand the reference from which they came," Johnson said.
Board member Bill Rutherford has said he is reluctant for the district to offer a Bible-based elective. "I'll have to do more research," Rutherford said.
Raymond Starnes, assistant superintendent for instruction, already has had two school district curriculum specialists looking into the Bible-class coursework.
All it's going to take to stop this is one lawsuit, supported by the ACLU, from one of their resident atheists.
Kids will tell their parents "But Mr. Hippyscum told us that the Resurrection is just a metaphor that was later reified by by right-wing revisionists."
no offense but can't we teach math and hard sciences or is that too hard for the union "educators"?
Hence the ELECTIVE portion...they aren't going to FORCE people to take the course...
Even though I believe a community has the right, under the constitution, to offer such a course, IMO a course in 'comparative religions' would have a much better chance of surviving the inevitable ACLU attack.
My 'comparative religions' portion of my history class in HS spent three weeks on Islam, three weeks on Judaism, three weeks on Buddhism, and one half of one class period on Christianity. The teacher was allowed to say things like "Christianity is a lot like Islam and Judaism," and "It's major religious text is the bible."
I don't think we should structure our classrooms around what the ACLU thinks is appropriate or fair.
Bad apostrophe... BAD!
Yay for Texas! I need to move back there.
Just out of curiosity, did they cover the part of the Koran that instructs the 'believers' to convert or kill Christians and Jews?
Surprisingly, they left that part out.
Go figure.
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