Arkansas representative Denny Altes has introduced a bill allowing schools to teach elective courses on the Bible.
Republican state Rep. Denny Altes has proposed a bill that would allow the state’s public school districts to adopt an elective curriculum for academic study of the Bible. The course would “consist of a nonsectarian, nonreligious academic study of the Bible and its influence on literature, art, music, culture and politics” and would “be taught in an objective and non devotional manner with no attempt made to indoctrinate students as to either the truth or falsity of the biblical materials or texts from other religions or cultural traditions.”
I thought that Bible literature courses were already legal, but I may be wrong.
Legal experts tell WPTY and KTHV that the bill as written is legal and does not violate the separation of church and state — because it proposes an elective course that is to be taught objectively.
The proposed bill has the full support of a grandmother.
Martha Williams-McMurrian, the grandmother of children in Arkansas public schools, says she supports the measure, telling KTHV that “God should never be taken out of the schools.” But others called the course “brainwashing” and said a Bible course must be taught alongside other religious texts as well.
God wasn’t taken out of schools. Mandatory prayer was. Also, reading the Bible in an objective manner isn’t necessarily “brainwashing.” I’ve read the book cover to cover multiple times and each time I discovered more flaws, inconsistencies, and unbelievable oddities.
Now… if they can actually teach the class in an objective manner, it’s fine. Otherwise there likely will be problems.
