[kharaku]

More freedom from religion.

[EUPHORIC]

"an error-riddled Bible curriculum that attempts to persuade students and teachers to adopt views that are held primarily within conservative Protestant circles"

Yes. We must instead teach a falsehood-riddled cirriculum that attempts to pursuade students and teachers to adopts views that are held primarily within homosexual and lesbian circles.

[Blzbba]

"that "documented research through NASA" backs the biblical account of the sun standing still. "


Huh? I've never heard this espoused by ANYone, conservative Christian or otherwise.

[Noachian]

...and gives credence to dubious assertions that the Constitution is based on the Scriptures, ...

"Dubious assertions"?

Are these people so ignorant of history that they think the Framers were multiculturalists?

Just what basis for the Constitution do these so called "critics" think was the basis for that document? What is the "basis" of the Constitution if not the religious outlook of the men who wrote it?

[Modernman]

The council calls its course a nonsectarian historical and literary survey class within constitutional guidelines requiring the separation of church and state.

Well, if that is what is being taught, it seems okay to me.

But a growing chorus of critics says the course, taught by local teachers trained by the council, conceals a religious agenda. The critics say it ignores evolution in favor of creationism and gives credence to dubious assertions that the Constitution is based on the Scriptures, and that "documented research through NASA" backs the biblical account of the sun standing still.

Well, if that is what is actually being taught, then I'm not okay with it.

I imagine the truth lies somewhere in the middle, as usual.

[trebb]

How dare they offer elective courses that add to the diversity of the curriculum!!!

[EdReform]

Ping

[MEGoody]

I don't know enough about this particular course to speak to its validity, but I see no problem with offering courses on the bible in schools. After all, the schools have been making the kids study the Quran for awhile. Turn about is fair play.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Now we're talking.

With the schools hire Episcopalian teachers?

[BenLurkin]

Too bad evolution class isn't an 'elective'.

[Tequila25]

Here's a link to the summary of the problems they have with the current curriculum.

* The curriculum cites a “respected scholar” who claims that archaeological evidence “always confirms the facts of the Biblical record” [page 170]. Yet that “respected scholar” claimed elsewhere to have seen Jesus’ school records in India, records from the lost continent of Atlantis and evidence that Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza was used to transmit radio messages to the Grand Canyon thousands of years ago.
* The curriculum uses a discredited urban legend that NASA has evidence that two days are missing in time, thus “confirming” a biblical passage about the sun standing still [pages 116-17].

* The curriculum misstates the length of the ancient Jewish calendar [page 14] and the years of the rule of Herod as king of the Jews [pages 193 and 196].
* The answer key to a quiz [page 87] identifies a pharaoh as “Hyksos.” Hyksos was the name of an Asiatic-Semitic people who once ruled Egypt.
* One passage [page 138] asks students to consider how the use of “simple monosyllabic words” in a passage of Old Testament poetry was typical of the Hebrews. Yet while the words in these passages may be monosyllabic in English translations, they are quite different in Hebrew and Greek. How English syllabification provides insight into the ancient Hebrew mindset is not explained.

Inadequate Citation
The curriculum is shockingly lax when it comes to properly crediting sources – inexcusable in any scholarly writing at either the high school or college level. For example, the wording of the sections titled “Pilate” and “Herod,” which constitute pages 195-196 in their entirety, is identical to that of passages from the articles “Pilate, Pontius,” and “Herod the Great” in Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2001. No source is cited. In fact, a considerable amount of the curriculum’s content – Dr. Chancey estimates one-third or more of its pages – is reproduced word for word from its sources (both cited and uncited), often for pages at a time, though the curriculum does not note this or indicate that permission has been granted to reproduce these passages.

If this is all true, I would want this course pulled simply because it looks so unprofessional and kooky that it makes Christians look wacky. Why would you want to give more ammunition to the libs to discredit Christianity?

[little jeremiah]

Moral Absolutes Ping.

Note how those on the left hate and fear actual religion, any symbol, however small, like changing the city (or was it county) seal of Los Angeles?

Folks, this is an ELECTIVE course. Not mandatory. And when you consider the inroads that homosexual activists have made in the public schools, and this one small effort to give shoolchildren the opportunity to hear the word of God - in historical context, this is not a sectarian missionary project - this is a drop in the bucket.

But they can't stand it. I don't know about you, but I am sick and fed up. Really sick, and really fed up.

Freepmail me if you want on/off this pinglist.

[little jeremiah]

And consider how much of the pro-homosexual (and what to speak of other leftist crap) teaching/promotion in schools is absolutely mandatory!

[Just mythoughts]

"But a growing chorus of critics says the course, taught by local teachers trained by the council, conceals a religious agenda. The critics say it ignores evolution in favor of creationism and gives credence to dubious assertions that the Constitution is based on the Scriptures, and that "documented research through NASA" backs the biblical account of the sun standing still. "


Fear of funding cuts send critics off the deep end. Got to laugh when critics accuse somebody of concealment of a religious agenda.

[YoungKentuckyConservative]

So when I went to high school, it was ok to learn about Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and the rest of the lot. We never touched Christianity and the principles upon which this country and legal system are grounded.

I see no problem with adding Jesus Christ and the Bible to a classroom forum. No one is required to pray. No one is required to believe.

The left fears God. Marx feared God. A docile public believes in no God, and will thus believe in anything. You put the pieces together yourself.