Posted on 08/16/2009 10:37:37 PM PDT by kingattax
I don’t want them teaching religion in public schools, because I sure don’t want them teaching Hindu or the Koran.
For what it’s worth, teaching Bible in Texas schools is really nothing new. My son, who graduated high school in the mid-90s, had to study the Book of Ruth in literature class in a large public high school. They used King James Version, which meant it was like reading Shakespeare to those kids who didn’t have a church background. (Many suffered, but he sailed through it.)
Uh, huh. Somehow I don't think presentinging the Bible as "literature" is quite what they had in mind.
IMO, any American whose education does not include familiarization with the profound cultural effect of the Judeo-Christian Bible has missed arguably the single most influential document in our culture.
Likewise, a "comparative religions" course can be stimulating and edifying.
I keep my Bible handy. My KJV is a little dog-eared from all the times I've referred to it in discussions with my daughter.
However, teaching public school from the Bible is something else entirely. And I have to guess that's really what they have in mind here. This is not, IMO, a good idea. It opens the door to all manner of religious teaching from many other religions, and somehow I don't think that's what is intended. Back to the drawing board, guys.
it’s part of basic cultural literacy
Worse yet - they have NO KNOWLEDGE of the fact that our form of government was taken - almost completely from the Bible.
(Many of our nation's founders spoke at length about that fact.)
The big split is going to be Calvinists vs. Jews vs. sneaky atheists pretending to be scientific materialists vs. everybody else in Christendom, vs. the Mormons.
The ACLU will bait the Calvinists (Presbyterians and Baptists) because their churches contain numbers of "witnesses" who are willing to get into atheists' faces.
They'll try to "prove" Baptist antisemitism by baiting some junior Bible scholar somewhere to comment on "His blood be upon us" and other New Testament favorites that make Jewish rabbis upset when they're tossed around in public. Then we'll hear from the atheists, as the ACLU shops their lawsuit around.
well, public school is a problem no matter what it teaches
The KJV sings to me, its gorgeous and familiar phrasings ring in my ear and send chills down my spine.
It's all about what you grew up with, I guess.
The "modern" versions drive me up a wall. I suppose those same folks would "modernize" Shakespeare, too, in the name of better comprehension. What a load of hooey.
Granted, I haven't taken the time to learn Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, to read the originals (or what passes for them), but the KVJ has been the English "real deal" for centuries and I will have mine with me until I shuffle off this mortal coil.
Opening the door...???
You don’t want them teaching Hindu or the Koran?
Have you been to a public school lately?
News flash they already are.
Heck my Freshman year of High School, they had the Wiccan Bible in my Lit. Class.
Do I believe the Bible should be taught as Literature/ Not really, but I have a feeling those who “need” to learn the ways of our Lord, won’t see it as Literature at all.
Heck, you knows how many kids may be turned onto the right path by this.
I must ask you to supply some references for that claim. While it's certainly true that the Founders drew general inspiration and spiritual sustenance from the Bible and their beliefs, I know of no instance where "our form of government" (tri-part organization, bicameral congress, or anything else laid out in the Constitution) was specified as coming "almost completely from the Bible".
Please elucidate. Links to quotes from the writings of the Founders, such as the Federalist Papers, would be great.
Yeah, there is that....
The good news is it is a public school so nobody will learn or remember anything!
Basic cultural literacy is normally not allowed in government schools because the liberal elite prefers ignorant peasants.
opening the door to what? That door was already opened a long time ago...
Good.
Upset the atheists.
I’m so tired of these godless people.
They’re as bad as Obama.
Would you prefer Islam?
I agree it should be (and was for a long time). But I fear it is going the way of all other forms of literacy...
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