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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBible class in public high schools? Sure, says Arizona House
By Ashley Powers
February 22, 2012, 2:23 p.m.
The Arizona Legislature has never been shy about weighing in on hot-button issues. (Exhibit A: SB 1070, the state's illegal immigration law.) The latest such move: a vote to allow public and charter schools to teach students about the Bible.
The Arizona House this week voted to allow high schools to offer a class called The Bible and Its Influence on Western Culture, which would focus on how the Old and New Testaments have influenced everything from law to literature. According to the Arizona Republic, five states already provide similar classes: Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina and Oklahoma.
The Arizona bill's opponents dont dispute that the Bible is a ripe topic for academic study. But some lawmakers predict a constitutional challenge, particularly because the course would not cover other religious texts. In fact, the Arizona House voted down an amendment that would have allowed schools to explore the Book of Mormons role in Western culture.
Opponents also raised questions about how teachers would present Biblical stories. As parables? Myths? Literal truth?
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-arizona-bible-20120222,0,1459123.story
The real challenge would be, what happens to the teacher who spends the entire class showing how the Bible came from a bunch of different sources, was rewritten to suit a Roman Emperor, and many of its stories came from predecessor Pagan myths? I'll bet they would get run out of town on a rail....
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)Lint Head
(15,064 posts)Bigmack
(8,020 posts)I taught HS for 30 years, and I can tell you that the kids are smarter than you are.
They'll read the Bible, alright... they'll read it and have questions. Leviticus should be a load of fun for them.
The contrasts between what people think they know about the Bible, and the actual long, boring, contradictory, barbaric tome are readily apparent... especially to young, inquiring minds.
They are going to rue the day they had kids "study" the Bible.
CRK7376
(2,183 posts)I was a student and later taught in the same school, offered a Bible History class. I don't have a problem with schools teaching bible history. Since I taught in the history department, I was sure to cover Islam, all flavors of Christianity, and Hindu in my World History/European History/US History classes. Guy that taught the bible history class was a great history teacher, on Sundays he also served as a Methodist minister in a small rural, church.
DerBeppo
(455 posts)In practice, it might be a different story, but I'm not willing to throw something that is educational and useful just because there might be misuse.
My literature students have a very difficult time getting through some very significant texts due primarily to their lack of understanding when it comes to Biblical and historical allusions. It is difficult to teach Shakespeare or Chaucer when students have no idea about some of the underpinnings of those writers' philosophical structures. In fact, most of the time, even the random fundy student has only a surface level understanding of Biblical figures, stories or passages.
I know this isn't the intent of the legislation, but I'm counting on the law of unintended consequences (and the, pardon the pun, devilishness of some of the more intelligent students) will make these classes more intellectually satisfying.
sinkingfeeling
(51,201 posts)On the Road
(20,783 posts)You really can't absorb most of Western literature or art without it, which makes it impossible to get a good liberal arts education.
It would have to be done carefully, so as not to support either a specific interpretation, a specific belief, or a lack of belief. Although I'm not sure schools and school boards really want to get into the controversy that would result no matter it's taught.
To a lesser extent, a few religious texts, especially the Koran, could be incorporated.