Posted on 06/04/2003 11:20:08 PM PDT by yonif
AIKEN - Aiken County school board members are as familiar with religious requests as the South is to long, hot summers.
And as school doors close and the weather heats up, administrators have been presented with yet another proposal to bring a religion-centered program inside the classroom.
The Rev. Dean Cartin, acting as a volunteer for the North Carolina-based National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, has asked the board to approve a social studies elective class that uses the Bible to explain the country's history, literature and culture.
That creates a dilemma for school officials who recognize the deeply held religious convictions of many in the South but also have to follow the U.S. Supreme Court rulings that restrict how religion is presented in schools.
"This is a strongly Christian and religious area of the country, but there are a lot of people who have said that this is just one more way to get Bible study in the classroom," said Bill Burkhalter, an attorney for the school district.
Through the years, the board has handled different permutations of this dilemma.
At almost every school board meeting for the past three years, Aiken resident Glenn Wilson has argued that if evolution is taught in schools, then creationism - the Biblical version of the universe's beginnings - should be, too.
Mr. Wilson ended his crusade earlier this year when the board took no action on his request. But he gained nationwide attention when he was included on a 2001 ABC News special involving Aiken County.
In January, Diane Giddings, a former school board candidate, asked members to take several biology books off their list of recommended texts because they contained references to evolution, but not creationism.
Again, the board gingerly approached the request, forming a special committee that found the biology books were not objectionable.
About five years ago, a group of South Aiken High School parents asked that their children be allowed to attend a religious class at nearby Millbrook Baptist Church during their study period. School officials approved the request because the Bible study didn't take place in class, was a voluntary program and didn't interfere with required courses, said Principal Bill Gassman.
About a dozen students attended these Bible studies for two or three years, he said, but interest gradually fizzled out.
While the board has not made a decision on this newest request, the Rev. Cartin says its chances are good because the courses have been approved in 32 states. In South Carolina, about a dozen of the Bible-centered courses are taught as electives, said Jim Foster, a spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Education.
Said the Rev. Cartin: "The Supreme Court made a ruling that it's unconstitutional to teach a religious doctrine from the Bible, but it is constitutional to teach from the Bible on religious heritage and culture."
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