Mar 13, 2011 -- 12:05PM, Tpaine wrote:

Arkansas state Representative Denny Altes has sponsored a bill that would establish an elective Bible class in public schools in the state. Link to the bill The trouble with this bill is that it would allow local school districts to choose from among the various curriculums that are already out there. Supposedly that would include the curriculum offered by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools which is little more than a Sunday School class. The NCBC even has a bogus Jefferson quote on it's web site.

Representative Altes is not exactly objective either. He says he disagrees with the principle of separation of church and state, and believes the Bible is literally true. Link

God help us all. America is falling apart now that the mid-terms are over.

Did the Repubs actually campaign on this?

 Arkansas is not the only state to vote the Bible curriculum in a school district.

To date, our Bible curriculum has been voted into 563 school districts (2,075 high schools) in 38 states. Over 360,000 students have already taken this course nationwide, on the high school campus, during school hours, for credit.

Source from the OP

Mar 15, 2011 -- 12:04PM, davelaw40 wrote:

also from the OP:

The Bible courses will not be taking a religious perspective, Rieber said.

"What it says in the law is that the purpose is not to proselytize but to look at the history and literature connections from the Bible to our society and our culture," she said.

Bible connections to:

history

literature

society 

culture

doesn't sound like a Sunday School course to me

Did you look at the web site for the  National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools that I linked in my previous post? That organizations uses David Barton's (He's on their board) false founders quotes in their curriculum. Link Misquoting the American Founders and writing bogus history is not the way to teach an objective course on the Bible, but it does satisfy the Religious Rigtht's agenda.

Mar 15, 2011 -- 1:12PM, davelaw40 wrote:

David has been spanked by a few Courts-they still let a false quote slip by now and then; but overall they are objectively neutral and teaching an attribution course similiar to what you can find on the History channel almost any night of the week.

If they're going to teach anything having to do with religion in high schools, I'd much prefer an elective class in the history of the various world religions than one dedicated to Christianity. In fact a possible textbook would be A History Of The World's Religions by David S. Noss. However, I'd rather see schools teach a more objective American history course than the whitewashed version found in most history texts used in schools today. I never learned much beyond a jingoistic version of American history until college.

Mar 16, 2011 -- 1:55PM, davelaw40 wrote:

you are missing the point; this class is taught in the literature department-its a cultural literacy class

I don't think it should be limited to the literature department. The course would include the effects of the Bible on history and politics as it should if it was correctly taught. However, in a high school class the subject could not be covered as it would be in a college course. What perspective should it be taught from; literary-historical, thematic, comparative, redactional, or socio-historical? Since the author of the bill, Representative Awry, is a fundamentalist and has stated that he believes, “They say – not me, but other people – say we need a separation of  church and state. This nation was founded on  Christian principles and most of the Founding Fathers were Christians.” He added that he considers the Bible to be literally true and “the most accurate history book on the face of the earth.” I'm sure that Awry would not want someone like Dr. Bart D. Ehrman or Dr. Robert M. Price teaching the course. Link