Kentucky Senate committee advances bill to teach Bible classes in public schools

[RetiredGySgt]

I would be willing to consider a federal law that makes it a civil tort for any state lawmaker to vote to pass a blatantly unconstitutional bill. I'm sure Kentucky voters did not elect these posers to play bullshit reindeer games.

It is NOT Unconstitutional you freak.

 

[uscitizen]

Isn't teaching the bible pretty much the same as teaching Jewish history?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Isn't teaching the bible pretty much the same as teaching Jewish history?

Just the Old Testament. The New is not a Jewish history at all.

 

[Two Thumbs]

I don't have a problem with this but why must it be a law of the state? Individual school districts should be able to decide what they wish to teach.

Also, does this mean the Koran could also be taught in Kentucky schools?

If they can get enough support for it, there shouldn't be an issue

 

[RetiredGySgt]

I don't have a problem with this but why must it be a law of the state? Individual school districts should be able to decide what they wish to teach.

Also, does this mean the Koran could also be taught in Kentucky schools?

If they can get enough support for it, there shouldn't be an issue

Yup, last I checked States determine what their schools will teach. If the Koran has enough support to get passed the legislature more power to them.

 

[Two Thumbs]

This is a smart move. there's more than a few colleges are have a heavy dose of religion involved in thier programs. Notre Dame and Boston College come to mind.

this would be an elective that schools like this would consider highly.

someone mentioned adding math and science electives. pfft, those are required courses.

My daughter in HS showed me the list of electives, some of that crap was just nuts. One of them taught about ghosts and vampires.

 

[Two Thumbs]

Isn't teaching the bible pretty much the same as teaching Jewish history?

some

Much of it will be histroy of the middle east.

Just like my Western Civ class was mostly about the Romans and Greeks.

 

[Granny]

Granny says, "Dat's right...

... is so' dey'll know `bout Jesus...

... an' dey won't get left behind...

... when the Rapture comes."

!! I said nothing of the kind! And your poor interpretation of how blacks and/or other Southerners talk is not particularly amusing.

But as an afterthought, we've tried secularism in the schools for decades and look where we are as a people. There has never been a national religion declared for or in this country and to deny the right of anyone to practice their religion of choice is unconstitutional. If California can offer classes in Islam at taxpayer expense, why shouldn't Kentucky be allowed to offer general religious history classes?

Just wondering can you point to a class in California dedicated to teaching Islam? (Not to a class that taught some aspect of Islam as part of the Middle School Social Studies Curriculum which requires teaching about the historical context of Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, etc... as apart of religious impact on world history.)


Read the law, the bill in Kentucky is not to offer a "general religious history class", it is to offer a Bible class. I don't see the inclusion of religious texts which are the foundation for non-Christian religions.



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There are several websites regarding Islam in the schools. This one is a more recent addition and seemed to be more interesting than some of the earlier ones:

California school district declines to portray Islam accurately in textbooks Creeping Sharia

You're parsing words and taking "Bible" as a literal description. I haven't read the Kentucky bill, but in any event it should be something along the line of religious history as opposed to a class about Baptist beliefs, Presbyterian beliefs, or the beliefs of any particular religious faith. Perhaps there could have been a better choice of word in the bill - such as "religion" instead of "Bible."

 

[WorldWatcher]

There are several websites regarding Islam in the schools. This one is a more recent addition and seemed to be more interesting than some of the earlier ones:

California school district declines to portray Islam accurately in textbooks Creeping Sharia

That's about textbooks, not a public school class dedicated to teaching Islam.

You're parsing words and taking "Bible" as a literal description. I haven't read the Kentucky bill, but in any event it should be something along the line of religious history as opposed to a class about Baptist beliefs, Presbyterian beliefs, or the beliefs of any particular religious faith. Perhaps there could have been a better choice of word in the bill - such as "religion" instead of "Bible."

I'm not parsing any words, DiveCon provided the link to the summary of the Bill in Post #11 and the fill text is available as a link on that page.


Here is the intro title of the Bill -->> "AN ACT relating to Bible literacy courses in the public schools."

It clearly references teaching the Bible and not general religious history or world religions class. If you look at the text of the Bill it is targeted to teach Christianity based on the Hebrew Scriptures, Old Testament, and New Testament. No other religious texts are mentioned as being source material for the class.



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[WorldWatcher]

It is NOT Unconstitutional you freak.

In reference to the law proposed the constitutionality is yet to be determined. As an elective with a focus on history and cultural impact of the Bible on literature and culture - it may well be.


However, history does show that when creationism has been attempted to be pushed into the science classroom it has been ruled unconstitutional (See Edwards v. Aguillard from Louisiana, and Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District from Pennsylvania).


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[blu]

such stupidity. they should offer extra math & science electives instead.

Hey, this is the right's way of countering America's falling behind in science around the world,

we're going to kick ass in Creation Science.

its funny if you talk to people in europe and similar places they don't believe you when you tell them about creationists. Once you finally convince them that there are creationists they start comparing them to the tribes in Africa that still think curses are real and it rains because god is mad

 

[JamesInFlorida]

Does the law "establish a religion"?

If not then studying the bible or any religious text in school is not unconstitutional.

I think a class on world religions would be an excellent elective and in that class I would think reading a religious text would be required.

I took world religions in highschool about 6 years ago. It was one of the best classes I took, and I learned a lot from it. I honestly never even had an idea as to what my teacher's religious views were (or even if he had any). We studied what each religion believes, how they worship, their history, etc.