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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.
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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.
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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. ![]() Last edited by Smartmouthwoman; 08-18-2009 at 11:37 AM. |
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Quote:
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If one does what an idiot does enough times, one becomes as an idiot is. |
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Not very equal opportunity! I suppose there's not a similar course on the Quran or the Torah?
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Code:
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the Death Star, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet. |
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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?
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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.
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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! |
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