Bill calls for high school elective Bible classes

[The Straight Story]

Bill calls for high school elective Bible classes


The textbook list for local high schoolers could soon include one more book: the Bible.

A bill introduced in the North Carolina General Assembly last month would allow school districts across the state to offer high school elective classes on the Bible. According to the bill, the classes could cover the Old Testament, the New Testament or both. They must "follow federal and state law in maintaining religious neutrality and accommodating the diverse religious views, traditions and perspectives of the students," the bill says. And they can start as soon as the bill becomes law.

For schools in Southeastern North Carolina, these classes would be a return to the past. High schools in New Hanover, Pender and Brunswick counties taught Bible-focused classes for years. But those classes have all ended in the past decade due to either questions about their legitimacy or a lack of interest from students.

The bill has been in the state Senate committee on rules and operations since Feb. 27. With the classes potentially on the horizon again, some local school district officials and students think they'll be a good addition to the curriculum.

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20130312/articles/130319930?google_editors_picks=true&tc=ar

[CosmicDustBunny]

1. I wouldn't have a problem with that as long as there was a process in place to get...

... elective classes for other belief systems. I didn't take sports in high school because they were elective. I didn't have a problem with sports being classes. A lot of schools already offer "survey of religions" classes. Having electives that concentrated on Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddism, Hindu, etc. wouldn't bother me a bit except for one thing.

Schools all over the country are cutting electives like band, choir, ASL, foreign languages, and sports (primarily girl's), etc. and it seems to me that those types of electives should be propped up before introducing new ones that ALSO require the cost of teachers and their benefits.

Once they get the basics back in place, then fine, go ahead and increase the budget to add electives for whatever religious or philosophical studies have a demand in a particular district. I think any such bill that allows electives for specific religions should come with a caveat that any electives that have been cut in the past 30 years be restored to their prior levels first. But thats' just a fairness issue. And again, there has to be a balance.

A school with a minority of Christians shouldn't be able to JUST offer a "bible" class. It should have to serve the demographics of the school to the extent that there is a significant population of students in a specific religion. If you're the only Jew in a school in Georgia, I wouldn't be expecting a class on Judaism. Just don't take the one on the Baptist religion.

[liberal_at_heart]

2. yes, if they are going to have a class on the Bible they have to include religious texts from other

religions and I would say books from philosophy as well. My daughter's high school has a comparative religion elective class. I have no problem with this kind of class at all. Otherwise if all they teach is the Bible they would definitely being in violation of separation of church and state and would probably end up being sued.

[CosmicDustBunny]

3. Well, as I said, it's a matter of fitting the demographics to justify each one.

Turn the table. If a handful of Christians were in a primarily Muslim district, they wouldn't have much of an argument for a "bible" class. Turn the table again and you've got a handful of Muslims without much an argument for their own class. The standards just have to be applied equally. You have to have enough students willing to enroll to justify the cost of the class. As long as it is an elective there's no problem in my eyes.

But the point I was really trying to make is that it isn't fair to introduce new electives (especially ones that might be seen as controversial) when so many have been cut for budgetary reasons. The cut electives must be restored first. Then it will be appropriate to consider new ones.

Now if you really want to bake someone's noodle, ask them WHICH version of the bible would be taught! I've run into far to many people to remember who couldn't comprehend the fact that there are a LOT of different versions.