Kentucky Senate passes bill for Bible Study classes in public schools

[tyr_13]

Well one Kentucky senator really, really wants Bible Study classes offered in public schools. It seems that one of the main arguments for it is that it is optional. Obviously if it's endorsement of religion being optional is not defense at all.

The other defense is that it would be accurate historical teaching. If it is that, then they'll be making a new generation of anti-Christians in Kentucky.

Also, what version of the Bible are they studying? It's terrible to get to class and find out that you have the wrong version of the book.

CNN story link.

 

[MattusMaximus]

Ah Kentucky, state of my youth. There are some things about it I surely do not miss

 

[Tumblehome]

From the full story on WLKY.com...

...Bowen admits there's nothing preventing Kentucky public schools from teaching bible classes now.

I don't get it. Does Bowen want to force schools to offer the class?

This guy has a more realistic take on the bill...

State Rep. Reggie Meeks has a harsher view of the bill – he believes the Senate, with its 34-1 vote in favor of the measure, is pandering to Kentucky's Christian voters.

"It's like waving meat in front of a dog, OK? You give them what they want," Meeks said.

Also, what version of the Bible are they studying? It's terrible to get to class and find out that you have the wrong version of the book.

Looks like they won't have to worry about piddly little things that...

...a provision allowing students to substitute their own text for the course throws academic credibility out the window.

Good grief!

 

[Craig4]

Why do they do this? The 9 Supremes have been pretty unambiguous on this topic. All they're going to get her is a fat legal bill.

 

[Xephyr]

Hopefully they'll offer up optional classes in all the different flavours of religion for the kidlets to choose from.

Don't want to offend a Cao Dai-ist family somewhere... I hear they can get pretty nasty when they're pissed.

 

[MattusMaximus]

Nice... in the name of "academic freedom", perhaps I should just let my students bring in whatever version of the physics textbook they want

In all seriousness, this could have an interesting unintended consequence: it could show kids in these classes that there are some pretty different versions of the Bible, a book many of them have been taught is fixed & unchanging. One would hope that some of them would ask "why is that?"

 

[Cainkane1]

Well one Kentucky senator really, really wants Bible Study classes offered in public schools. It seems that one of the main arguments for it is that it is optional. Obviously if it's endorsement of religion being optional is not defense at all.

The other defense is that it would be accurate historical teaching. If it is that, then they'll be making a new generation of anti-Christians in Kentucky.

Also, what version of the Bible are they studying? It's terrible to get to class and find out that you have the wrong version of the book.

CNN story link.

Well the teachers will be passing out stacks of Jack Chick tracts.

 

[Cainkane1]

It might be ok to have a bible study class as long as the class isn't mandatory. Where these people are going to run into trouble is when children of other faiths start wanting their holy books taught.

 

[Meadmaker]

It might be ok to have a bible study class as long as the class isn't mandatory. Where these people are going to run into trouble is when children of other faiths start wanting their holy books taught.

It would be even worse for them if the children of those other faiths start signing up for Bible study, and asking the questions the Senators would prefer not be asked.

 

[Alt+F4]

I thought Republicans these days were opposed to mandates they can't pay for. This bill wants to create an elective social studies course for this while cutting education funding.

 

[Halfcentaur]

They need to make a religious studies course that studies and compares all the religions, and their many incarnations.

 

[Region Rat]

I am very happy that my kids are now done with the KY public school system.

 

[paiute]

They need to make a religious studies course that studies and compares all the religions, and their many incarnations.

It would be called The Road To Atheism 101.

 

[Halfcentaur]

It would be called The Road To Atheism 101.

If only,...

 

[slingblade]

They need to make a religious studies course that studies and compares all the religions, and their many incarnations.

I had that in high school, in 1976. But I couldn't tell my Fundie family I'd taken it. Learning about other religions was actively, though not officially, "discouraged" for me as a Pentecostal. It would be "inviting Satan to fill me with doubt."

And they were right: it did.

 

[Quad4_72]

This is nothing new at all. Utah has had a program similar to this for Mormons set up since 1912.

http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/daily/education/seminaries.htm
Shortly after the LDS pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, the leaders of the Church directed the establishment of schools to provide education for its members. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, each stake was encouraged to establish an academy to offer secondary educational instruction. Classes in religion were an essential component of this Church-sponsored school system. In the early 1900s, when Utah public high schools became more fully established, Church leaders decided to close their academies and to support the public high schools, thus eliminating the need for Church members to fund both Church-owned and public schools.
To supplement secular public education with religious instruction, the first Latter-day Saint seminary was established in 1912 adjacent to Granite High School in Salt Lake City.

I went to high school and middle school in Utah, and tons of my friends would go to their special little seminary class a few times a week located in a separate building, but still on campus. It did not count for any credits, so they all had to work extra hard to catch up on credits they were missing. Many did not want to go, but of course their parents forced them to.

 

[qayak]

If students are allowed to substitute their own version of texts then hopefully some, or even teachers, will show up with Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus and use it. Then it's becomes a history lesson for bible thumpers. )

 

[dudalb]

And it is going to be hard to teach a class on the Bible that is going to please all Christians. There is quite a bit of difference between the various denominations;You are'nt going to get a Fundy Prostestant and a Catholic to agree on intepretation.

 

[quadraginta]

In the average public school system dissent with the instructor beyond a certain point is viewed as disruption. A good instructor copes with dissent in a fashion which encourages investigation and critical thinking on the part of the student, but "good" instructors cannot be counted on in every instance, and the method of selecting the instructor for a "bible study" class could be problematic if the school in question has an agenda.

Less adept instructors will simply punish students who resist the lesson plan, and fail them for the course.

I would anticipate that such classes , if structured in the spirit which I expect they are intended, will ultimately end up as an easy grade for the faithful, and, as an elective, offer them an alternative to more difficult and potentially ... shall we say ... confusing courses, like something involving science, or history, or other subjects that might challenge their religious instruction.

 

[Travis]

My school had a general religion class where you studied all the major faiths. Is there not such a thing in Kentucky?