(Image source: USA Today)
BY ALISON SCHUTZ
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Thou shall not teach religion in public schools. That’s what some in Kentucky are arguing after a bill to offer Bible studies in the state’s public schools passes in the state senate.
WLWT reports this isn’t the first time the Senate resurrected a bill about the Good Book. It failed in the House once before because some thought it was unnecessary.
“In Kentucky - schools already have the choice of offering courses that teach the Bible. What Senate Bill 56 would do, is standardize the coursework. Some educators say a standard for teaching the Bible has the potential to make more school systems inclined to offer the class.”
The bill’s sponsor -- Senator Joe Bowen -- talked to Louisville’s WLKY.
"No doubt about it, the most important book ever written and obviously, it's had so much influence on our society and all of western civilization."
http://www.wlky.com/r/26818810/detail.html
USA Today notes what few sources do: That this bill also “allowed students to substitute their own texts.”
WLKY talked with two Kentucky legislators who aren’t buying into toying with testament teaching.
One told the station he didn’t vote because he thought the bill threw academic credibility out the window.
And another -- a state House rep. -- who thinks the bill is meant to court Christian voters.
REP. MEEKS: "It's like waving meat in front of a dog, OK? You give them what they want."
The course would be an elective social studies course which would require students to know biblical content, characters, poetry, and narratives. The New American questions the history of public education’s rejection of religious and biblical references in holiday and prayer.
Noting some school districts make what they thought were politically correct decisions -- like removing American flags from their classroom.
“Yet, schools have comfortably accepted the role of instructing students in other areas that one should consider private or personal, such as sex education.”
So what do you think? Should separation of church and state stick in public school systems? Or should students be offered standardized schooling on scripture?
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