Posted on 05/14/2008 8:53:00 AM PDT by Tennessee Nana
Nashville, TN (WRCB-TV/Associated Press) A controversial bill requiring Tennessee's public schools to offer an elective bible course is making its way to Gov. Phil Bredesen.
The legislation unanimously passed the Senate last week and was approved overwhelmingly in the House Tuesday. If Gov. Bredesen signs the legislation, public schools will soon be required to offer bible as an elective course taught with an approved textbook. The Tennessee Department of Education would create a uniform bible curriculum.
This legislation does come with some safeguards. It prohibits the use of any religious test when assigning teachers to the bible class.
For many Tennessee school districts, this idea is nothing new. In Hamilton county, schools have offered an elective bible class for the last 87 years.
Stay with Eyewitness News and wrcbtv.com for the latest updates on what Gov. Bredesen decides.
This shouldn't be a church/state issue at all. It shouldn't be Bible Study or a theological look. I think even the most fervently religious agree. Do you really want a schoolteacher supercedeing your priest or pastor for religious teachings? I thought not.
I’ll be screaming right along with the ACLU. Just as I don’t want the school system to teach my kids about sex, I don’t want them to teach my kids about religion either.
Besides, how would it sit with you if you lived in a Muslim district of America and the only religious class your kid’s school offered was studying the Koran? That would bother me. To be fair about religion, you almost have to teach them all. That assures two things: it would be very expensive and very incompetent.
That would be another good idea for a course, but not necessarily. Had what I mentioned been available in high school. I would have taken all three.
I am an atheist, and I believe in the separation of church and state, and strongly oppose any form of religious indoctrination in public schools. But religion, comparatively and individually, is perfectly valid as an academic subject. Only the students lose when it is banished from schools.
Of the pitfalls though, I would be worried that the teacher chosen to teach about a religion is a hater of that religion. I wouldn't want Dawkins teaching the Bible, Robertson teaching the Koran or David Duke teaching the Tanakh. I'd also be afraid of having an anti-Catholic teaching the Bible.
Associated Press Style (the standard for rules for spelling, punctuation, etc. for publications) requires that “Bible” be capitalized. The author (or editor) intentionally lower-cased “Bible,” likely in an effort to diminish it.
if you lived in a Muslim district of America and the only religious class your kid’s school offered was studying the Koran?
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That is already hasppening in the public schools...
Good catch. In this context, "Bible" is the title of a book and should thus always be capitalized. I don't believe and I still capitalize "God" when referring to the Christian one when its usage is as a proper noun. I still don't capitalize "him" or "his" in referring to God though. It is grammatically incorrect, but an exception made by the believers.
The Spanish Inquisition
The Salem Witch Trials
The Yearning for a pork chop ranch in Texas??? (they have nothing to do with Zion!)
Gee, what's next?
“In Hamilton county, schools have offered an elective bible class for the last 87 years.”
I’ve only seen a few comments here that make any sense. Teaching the bible, be it as history or as a comparative class,or as literature, isn’t indoctrinating children with “religion”.
I get the feeling that some are seriously afraid that the kids might actually LEARN morals and standards from reading the Bible!
Oh and for the few, there is no such a thing as “separation of church and state”, at least in the guise of keeping religion out of state business. It is and has always been the intent to keep the STATE out of religion.
This goyim loves the God that is in the midst of Israel...
And His Word...
And His land of Israel...
And His people, Israel..
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Psalm 137:5, 6
Leftist scum are quite capable of butchering the Bible.
Many schools teach it as literature.
Hey, more than half of it is the Jewish covenant. Your money pays for a lot more crap than the Bible would and it IS elective, FR.
No, because Judaism and Christianity are the main religions in America.
Robertson is certainly not a Jew hater. He supports the Jews and Israel all the time. Cheez.
That’s right, swmobuffalo. People have believed that lie long enough.
Actually it's not the governments place to educate our children period. That was meant for the church and private enterprises to build and support. The system worked well for our nation till Washington politicians took it over in 1953 UNDER THE GOP's WATCH.
The Department of Education formerly the Department of Education, Health, and Welfare, was created under Ike's term as a Cabinet level position. The churches also did a fine job of running {oversite of} our hospitals as well as our welfare system till government took that over as well in one act. This IIRC is an elective course not a requirement. The founders were not against religious teachings in school but rather the prohibition of such. The Bible in our nations early years often doubled as the school primer in reading.
School was a safe place to be then. The worse thing to happen was getting hurt on the play ground. Even in my high school the principal a preacher himself actually knew all the students by first name and often enough spent his summers at his seniors weddings officiating them.
Then came MEGA school. Sense of community was gone as two schools were combined. A Principal and two assistants couldn't maintain order in that school. Today MEGA school has a high pregnancy rate. Guess where the girls get pregnant at the most there? Not at hope, not in their cars on a date, but at school.
As a nation we tossed GOD out of the classrooms of our schools and yet we expect his Divine watch and protection over our children in an institution we forbid the mention of Him or His Son's name much less a prayer? This will only mean that the void is filled by an opposing force as even nature itself arbores a vacuum. GOD's presence will not be where we do not welcome it.
Absence of GOD in the spiritual realm means the devil himself dwells. This was by no means the Founders and Framers intent to keep GOD out of school or public gatherings even state functions for that matter. They were open and vocal about their beliefs both public and private. The hand on the Bible for swearing in was established by George Washington himself. One POTUS in U.S. history refused to take his oath of office because it fell on the Sabbath Day.
Wonderful post. Thank you!
Thanks cva
:)
My pleasure. Almost two generations have come of age since my youth. My grandchildren will not know nor enjoy the United States I grew up in. Sadly enough many fail to realize what damage ones like Madalyn Murray actually did to our nation and future generations. Many persons living and voting today never saw what it was like before those court cases. GOD help you if your raising a child in todays school system even in the rural areas. They are a war zone in many ways and we as a nation are losing that battle and our children because of it. I hope the governor signs this one into law.
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