The Texas Freedom Network reports that the Texas State Board of Education failed to provide school districts with appropriate guidelines for teaching the Bible in public schools."The State Board of Education just threw those [school] districts under the bus by refusing [by a 10-5 vote] to give them the guidance they need to create courses that are respectful of the Bible, protect the religious freedom of students and keep our neighborhood schools out of court."
TFN accused the BOE of putting "politics and personal agendas ahead of the interests of ... schoolchildren and their families. This state board had the opportunity to make Texas a model for how public schools can teach students about the importance of the Bible in history and literature while also protecting religious freedom and taxpayers from unnecessary and costly lawsuits."
The State BOE failed to follow its usual process of holding multiple hearings when adopting curriculum standards for history, science and other courses. "...the full board heard not one word of testimony from experts, parents and other citizens ..." regarding the teaching of Bible in public schools.
Dr. Mark Chancey, associate professor and chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, has done a comprehensive study as to how the Bible is currently taught in Texas public schools.
'We know for a fact that most courses promote Christian beliefs over those of other religions. Some classes promote creation science. Some classes denigrate Judaism. Some classes explicitly encourage students to convert to Christianity or to adopt Christian devotional practices. This is all well documented ... The board approved the status quo, and approving the status quo means approving the widespread teaching of Bible classes from a conservative Christian theological perspective in public schools."
Marsha C., responding to the board's decision said this:
"Why on earth would the majority of the 80th Texas Legislature and members of the SBOE think that bible instruction was appropriate for taxpayer-supported public high schools in Texas? There's no lack of churches, mosques, synagogues, fellowships, etc., nor is there any disinterest among pastors, imams, rabbis, congregation leaders, etc. ...
"It is unconstitutional for any taxpayer to be required to support any religious activity. Our public money should be used for secular academic courses and vocational and technical training to prepare our young people for adulthood."
I agree. What Marsha doesn't get is that the Texas Legislature and the Texas State Board of Education is controlled by right-wing, extremist Christian fundamentalists who don't give a damn about the constitutional rights of people who disagree with their religious mythologies. The Texas Republican Party is quite openly run by and for extremist Christian rightists.
The fact remains, however, that the Bible is a "religious" book. It is not an "historical" book in any sense of the word. It is "literature" only in the narrow sense that it contains literary works of a specific religious groups.
Furthermore, there is no agreement on the Bible's descriptions, stories, theologies, or anything else. It is simply impossible to teach the Bible as "history" or "literature," for every teacher would necessarily approach the Bible from his/her own theological or non-theological viewpoint.
Sometimes the argument is made that one cannot understand English literature or American literature without a knowledge of the Bible. Balderdash! (Don't you love that word?) When biblical references pop up in real "literature," those references can be verified and discussed in context to better understand the passage in question.
Finally, the Bible is not a "book," as we think of a book. The Christian version is a collection of 66 "books," or writings, which include mythologies, legends, historical saga, and religious traditions among other things written over a period of about a thousand years by authors unknown. These 66 books contain various types of "literature." Some is pure fiction, much is poetry. One-half of the Christian "old" testament or the Hebrew Bible is poetry.
No attempt should be made to teach the Bible in any public school. It is a "religious" document or many religious documents. We don't teach religion in public schools.
As Marsha said, read your particular "holy" book in your church, your temple, your mosque.
Leave the public schools the hell alone!
You can read more here.
1 comment:
It is time for the people that do not want to learn or teach science to get out of the way of those that do. We have fallen behind most other industrialized nations in science and math. Our kids and grandchildren will compete with foreign kids that will be better prepared for jobs. Some will do a lot better than others, as usual. I want my grandkids to learn much more, so they will be amongst those that can compete. Most of mine are learning, or have learned at least one foreign language. One speaks six or seven and is learning more as his business takes him to Japan, Korea and China, in addition to Spanish and Portuguese speaking areas of the world. Depending only on interpreters is a distinct disadvantage, he has learned. Luckily he has several undergrad and advanced degrees and equipped himself to do what he does.
Stop fighting the idiots and concentrate on those that will be the innovators and future leaders. We will need all we can educate.
Bob Poris
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