The Case for Teaching The Bible

LCposter · #1 03-25-2007, 05:52 PM

Upcoming article in Time Magazine:
The Case for Teaching The Bible

Anyone else tired of the religious right agenda to incorporate the Bible into public schools? I thought Intelligent Design was bad. I can't decide if this is worse. There are so many objections I have to this. I'll state just a few:

1. Using public tax money to teach about the contents of a religious book.

2. Claiming the class can be taught in a secular manner and inclusive of other religions and atheistic thought when the majority of teachers and students will be Christian.

3. The presumption that things taught in public school are generally "true" - therefore Bible champions can now point to this class as evidence that the Bible is a credible and authoritative source.

The article starts with the assertion that every year, the Bible is the best-selling book in the country. The article concludes with the notion that the country should "allow the most important book in its history to remain vibrantly accessible for everyone."

Sorry, you can't have it both ways. If the Bible sells so well, then clearly it is accessible for everyone. There is no other book I can find in virtually any hotel nightstand. There is no other book that is offered so often, free and unsolicited, by people knocking at the door. I can go on and on. Sorry, this article got me riled up. It's just annoying watching this country seemingly regress and not being able to do much about it.

If anyone wants to agree or disagree, please holler.

HighStakesPro · #2 03-25-2007, 06:14 PM

I think it would be okay to teach some kind of comparitive religion class in high school, offered as an elective to students who are interested in that field of study, but it is wrong to teach a class centered around the bible.

godBoy · #3 03-25-2007, 06:32 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Using public tax money to teach about the contents of a religious book.

[/ QUOTE ]
The school is needed to educate children about important issues. I think it's important that school kids are familiar with this 'important' book.
At school I was taught about Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism - I enjoyed it and learned more about the world I was living in.

flipdeadshot22 · #4 03-25-2007, 06:37 PM

"As for the rest of literature, when your seventh-grader reads The Old Man and the Sea, a teacher could tick off the references to Christ's Passion--the bleeding of the old man's palms, his stumbles while carrying his mast over his shoulder, his hat cutting his head--but wouldn't the thrill of recognition have been more satisfying on their/own?"

O rly?

HighStakesPro · #5 03-25-2007, 06:47 PM

aah the old man and the sea, wasted a good three hours of my life reading that book.

Prodigy54321 · #6 03-25-2007, 06:59 PM

I'm all for teaching about the Bible...and the Qur'an...and any other religious text of a religion that affects(or is forced on) many peoples' lives.

as long as we are not preaching the truth of one of these religions of course.

at least it's more informative than most of the other retarded electives schools offer.

then again..looking at the article a bit more..it does look like this class is a lot of preaching...I'm guessing that a Christian group put the curriculum together.

PairTheBoard · #7 03-25-2007, 07:52 PM

[ QUOTE ]
It argues that teaching the Bible in schools--as an object of study, not God's received word--is eminently constitutional.

[/ QUOTE ]

I wonder how the proponents will like it when as an object of study, secular tools of literary criticism and historical analysis are applied and taught.

PairTheBoard

Jiggymike · #8 03-25-2007, 08:19 PM

I'm sure the Bible COULD be taught in a secular manner where it's not preached or taught as the "one and only truth." However for many people this is too difficult and it will just break down into preaching/pushing the dogma within it. One of the best classes I took in college involved reading the Bible and then learning about how it was written and how the people's lives/cultures affected the manner in which it was written and what was said in it. However I would not expect this level of detail and maturity in a high school (or lower) class.

pokerbobo · #9 03-25-2007, 10:56 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Upcoming article in Time Magazine:
The Case for Teaching The Bible

Anyone else tired of the religious right agenda to incorporate the Bible into public schools? I thought Intelligent Design was bad. I can't decide if this is worse. There are so many objections I have to this. I'll state just a few:

1. Using public tax money to teach about the contents of a religious book.

2. Claiming the class can be taught in a secular manner and inclusive of other religions and atheistic thought when the majority of teachers and students will be Christian.

3. The presumption that things taught in public school are generally "true" - therefore Bible champions can now point to this class as evidence that the Bible is a credible and authoritative source.

The article starts with the assertion that every year, the Bible is the best-selling book in the country. The article concludes with the notion that the country should "allow the most important book in its history to remain vibrantly accessible for everyone."

Sorry, you can't have it both ways. If the Bible sells so well, then clearly it is accessible for everyone. There is no other book I can find in virtually any hotel nightstand. There is no other book that is offered so often, free and unsolicited, by people knocking at the door. I can go on and on. Sorry, this article got me riled up. It's just annoying watching this country seemingly regress and not being able to do much about it.

If anyone wants to agree or disagree, please holler.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with most of what you say...I suppose the only other book in hotel nightstands and given away door to door is the phonebook. At least that has some use for me.

Pog0 · #10 03-26-2007, 03:27 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I'm sure the Bible COULD be taught in a secular manner where it's not preached or taught as the "one and only truth." However for many people this is too difficult and it will just break down into preaching/pushing the dogma within it. One of the best classes I took in college involved reading the Bible and then learning about how it was written and how the people's lives/cultures affected the manner in which it was written and what was said in it. However I would not expect this level of detail and maturity in a high school (or lower) class.

[/ QUOTE ]

This sounds like the best class ever.