Thread: Texas and their bible class law

Touched on briefly in another thread, I thought this topic certainly merited it's own thread.

This fall, schools in Texas are required to offer an elective to teach all about the bible.

http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs...l/HB01287F.htm

That's right, the fine taxpayers of Texas are paying to have a bible class available to kids.

I have a few issues with that. This is not a comparative religion class. This is teaching the scriptures of a single religion. Clearly this is a violation of the First Amendment.

Second issue. These have already gone from informational class to a devotional class. Christianity being taught with tax dollars.

Mark Chancey, associate professor in religious studies at Southern Methodist University, has studied Bible classes already offered in about 25 districts for the Texas Freedom Network.

The study found most of the courses were explicitly devotional with almost exclusively Christian, usually Protestant, perspectives.

It also found that most were taught by teachers with no academic training in biblical, religious or theological studies and who were not familiar with the issues of separation of church and state.

"Some classes promote creation science. Some classes denigrate Judaism. Some classes explicitly encourage students to convert to Christianity or to adopt Christian devotional practices," Chancey said. "This is all well documented, and the board knows it."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25742567/

This is exactly what hap[pens when religion enters into government. Religious people use resources to propagate their particular myths.

This doesn't sound okay. Public school shouldn't be teaching religion.

It's really the requirement part that bothers me the most. An elective class that teaches the Bible ... okay, but only so long as you've also got an elective class that teaches Shakespeare, which is really the kind of thing that public school should be about.

But requiring schools to have it? There's no way that's not preferential treatment to one religion.

Theology classes, ok. Religion from a historical context, good stuff. A historical study of Christianity, awesome.

Bible study in school, bad bad bad. Separation of church and state wasn't a suggestion.

Don't get yourself all in a tizzy... Texas schools have offered an elective Bible class for at least the last 40-50 years. They teach THE BIBLE, not religion, not Christianity, not 'devotions' -- it's a BIBLE STUDY class and it's taught much like a literature or history class. I took it when I was in high school... and know many other people who've taken it as well -- many of them atheists.

Such hysteria... over nothing.

Originally Posted by Smartmouthwoman

Don't get yourself all in a tizzy... Texas schools have offered an elective Bible class for at least the last 40-50 years. They teach THE BIBLE, not religion, not Christianity, not 'devotions' -- it's a BIBLE STUDY class and it's taught much like a literature or history class. I took it when I was in high school... and know many other people who've taken it as well -- many of them atheists.

Well, your story certainly does not trump any fact I provided. Did you happen to notice where I posted a link to the law that requires schools to provide this class? Or the evidence that it has been turned into a devotional?

Not very equal opportunity! I suppose there's not a similar course on the Quran or the Torah?

Originally Posted by Smartmouthwoman

Such hysteria... over nothing.

The requirement of public schools to offer a Bible class does seem worthy of concern, though. You're mandating that public funding be funneled into a particular religion.

And, honestly, the argument that it's been done for decades doesn't convince me that it's a smart idea. People keep going to see Tom Cruise movies, for example.

What other classes are mandated by law?

Does this upset you just the same?

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=65659

From your link:

"ELECTIVE COURSES ON THE BIBLE'S HEBREW
SCRIPTURES (OLD TESTAMENT) AND NEW TESTAMENT AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION"

Sounds like good ole fashioned world history to me. In my world history class in HS, there was an entire chapter on Jesus, as there should've been for the most influential person to ever walk the face of Earth.

Bills like this open the door and give precedence for other religions to weasel into public life, ie Muslim.

Don't complain when Muslim's use this law as a basis to teach the Koran in an elective class, because they will try!