If there is a chunk of kids who want to learn about the Bible in a literature context, I don't have a problem with it in a public school as long as it's an elective. It shouldn't be in order to graduate, you have to take this class and we teach the bible. I think the elective could count twoard the English requirement, though.

So, do the differences in the sects include using light bulbs instead of candles in their respective rituals?

Oh, DX, you just *had* to go there, didn't you?

Well, the candle people are just a bunch of freaks, they aren't real gnomists.

See, this is just part of the vast electric-loving conspiracy. They spread lies without a single shred of guilt.

that would assume our "right" equals what a divine being was after. Perhaps devine being likes the process.

At some point after Disney released Pocohantas and the Southern Baptists were boycotting Disney had one of several debates with Southern Baptist Minister Relative the Obnoxious. He was pissed at Disney for several reasons: they portrayed pagan religons in a positive light (Pocohantas), gay friendly, the purchase of Miramax, etc.

Somehow this segued into the discussion of evolution. He tried to convience me that evolution just wasn't possible, using the really stupid analog of bicycles and then he hit on fruit flies. Fruit flies have extremely short life spans! Fruit flies can't evolve their life spans are too short!

I didn't have an answer to that, so I switched back to "Why are you boycotting Disney and not other companies that are gay friendly?" Answer: Disney is the only one shaping impressionable minds.

Except this year I learned that fruit flies are used in experiments about evolution. I wish I had known that then, I just sucked at science so I could only argue the point so far and then my lack of knowledge got in the way.

I have nothing inherently against this:

The Bible class will be taught as a history or literature course elective. The teaching plan will be made available for the public to see before it is put into practice in the classroom.

Vasquez also added that the class is likely to focus on the Bible’s impact on America’s founding fathers. It will also instruct on the influence of the Bible in art and culture. Geography of Middle Eastern countries could also be taught.

Religious studies was mandatory in my high school (either from a believer's POV in J'ca, which was irritating, or comparatively in the UK, which was marvellous), and I think it's valuable. You don't get to tell me what to believe, but it's important for me to understand what the people around me believe. We studied creation tales, major figures, etc.

Hell, I have an otherwise well-educated teen cousin who thought Adam and Eve were Jesus' parents. It's an odd sort of educational avoidance, that.

If there is a chunk of kids who want to learn about the Bible in a literature context, I don't have a problem with it in a public school as long as it's an elective.

I read something about this (at least I think it's the same Texas school thing) - some people are complaining that it's only a fundementalist perspective that's being taught. Like, they're being taught that the bible is literaly true, the bible is more accurate than science, the US should have its laws based on the Bible, etc....

Religious studies was mandatory in my high school (either from a believer's POV in J'ca, which was irritating, or comparatively in the UK, which was marvellous), and I think it's valuable. You don't get to tell me what to believe, but it's important for me to understand what the people around me believe. We studied creation tales, major figures, etc.

Yeah, that's really important stuff to know.

OK, my memory wasn't entirely accurate (and I even read it yesterday):

[link]

But a growing chorus of critics says the course, taught by local teachers trained by the council, conceals a religious agenda. The critics say it ignores evolution in favor of creationism and gives credence to dubious assertions that the Constitution is based on the Scriptures, and that "documented research through NASA" backs the biblical account of the sun standing still.

In the latest salvo, the Texas Freedom Network, an advocacy group for religious freedom, has called a news conference for Monday to release a study that finds the national council's course to be "an error-riddled Bible curriculum that attempts to persuade students and teachers to adopt views that are held primarily within conservative Protestant circles."

Oh Aimee, we do sometimes use religious texts in terms of literature, and I believe theology is a fascinating area of academia. Alas, that isn't what the parents I was dealing with wanted. They didn't see the difference between the class reading a book that had some elements of paganism in it and teaching paganism as the One True Path. They also said that a book about Christianity would "never be taught". Um. Western Canon much?

I had to read sections of the Bible as part of 9th grade English Lit. Part of the reason? Milton makes no sense if you don't know the Bible, and everybody agrees that Milton is part of English Lit.

Actually, a lot of Western Lit makes no sense if you don't know the Bible at all, so it's a good grounding to have. But it's a good grounding the way you read Herodotus and Virgil, not an all-encompassing guide to things that do not belong in English class.

(Despite that 9th grade larnin', I somehow made it to college under the vague impression that the crucifixion had taken place in Rome. That was before the History Channel though, which seems to have weekly specials about the archaeohistory of the Holy Land.)