Public schools looking at Bible literacy class

Yahoo!News ^ | January 26, 2006 | Mike Linn

[mlc9852]

High schools across the nation are considering an elective course in Bible literacy. That's pitting advocates of church-state separation against proponents of the class who say their mission is purely scholarly.

Lawmakers in Alabama and Georgia in the past few weeks have introduced legislation clearing the way for their high schools to offer the course, which is based on the textbook The Bible and Its Influence.

The book's publisher, the Fairfax, Va.-based Bible Literacy Project, says about 300 school districts are considering the course, which covers the Old Testament, followed by both Jews and Christians, and the New Testament, the story of Jesus and his disciples.

[RedBeaconNY]

Well, it IS the best seller of all time...

[mlc9852]

And if you are ever on Jeopardy, the knowledge may come in handy.

[Gay State Conservative]

My Goodness...you can't do that.Sure,they should read Das Kapital...but the Bible??????????

(end sarcasm)

[twigs]

You can't study western literature without a knowledge of the Bible. Or without a knowledge of Greek mythology. While I knew little about Greek mythology, I knew my Bible and it helped me immensely in college English classes. Several other students--non-religous--told me that they envied that knowledge. Knowledge about God and the Bible is not the same as knowing God personally. THAT type of instruction would be a violation of church and state. Allow Bible literacy in the classroom.

[mlc9852]

It's quite amusing what they want kids to read in school these days but get all bent out of shape that they might read the Bible.

[Uncle Jaque]

LAAAAAAAAAAaawwd have MERCY!!! ** {8^{Q~

They's gonna be a lotta wet bloomers all knotted up down at the NEA and the ACLU over this!

Y'all thought Gen'l Sherman was a B!#@h??
Just wait 'till those two venomous gangs get done with ya!!

Lots of luck and Divine intervention, folks; yer gonna need it!

[MortMan]

Maybe they should start with basic literacy classes.

[mlc9852]

By the time they're in high school, it's a little late.

[JamesP81]

By the time they're in high school, it's a little late.

It's never too late. As long as someone still draws breath in his lungs, it's not too late.

[MortMan]

Yes, but even small gains would be an improvement, right?

[TChris]

I'm guessing that the liberal-run public education system will welcome the opportunity to bash, question and otherwise denigrate sacred scripture.

[swain_forkbeard]

As an elective course, I think it's a great idea.

[SmoothTalker]

To be honest i'm not so sure if I want the public schools teaching the bible. I'd imagine by the time the teachers unions and administrators were done with their curriculum, the messages the students would be getting about the bible would be pretty off-base. I don't want government schools teaching my kid religion. I can do that myself.

[joesbucks]

This program was in my son's school in the 90's and is nothing new. It's a widely used course. Frankly, I'm surprised this has taken so long. I do know that many school boards, especially in the bible belt, were put off that it couldn't be used as a blunt instrument to convert people. Thus, this course may have been overlooked or found simply to be not acceptable because you couldn't prosthytize with it.In addition, in my area the Fellowship of Christian Athletes is widely available in many schools.

[swmobuffalo]

They're not talking about teaching the Bible as scripture, they're talking about teaching the Bible as literature. I went through this fight when I was in highschool eons ago, all the same stupid arguements, all the uproar. Bottom line is, you can't take upper level lit classes in college and not get a dose of the Bible along with it. It will better prepare students for those upper level classes and will certainly help make alot of literature to make sense.

[joesbucks]

To be honest i'm not so sure if I want the public schools teaching the bible. I'd imagine by the time the teachers unions and administrators were done with their curriculum, the messages the students would be getting about the bible would be pretty off-base. I don't want government schools teaching my kid religion. I can do that myself.

And thus the social conservative paradox. Torqued that it's not in the schools, but doesn't want secular teachers in a secular setting teaching it, and worse it might not be the flavor you would want it taught under.

[mlc9852]

LOL - or the Koran.