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):

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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.)

We read Genesis in English class. To discuss it as literature.

We were also required by law to be taught creationism alongside evolution, but my biology teacher scoffed at that law. And then left teaching to enter a seminary.

If there is a chunk of kids who want to learn about the Bible in a literature context

I think it's okay in a literature context, but it sounds like the Texas program crosses over into endorsement.

In middle school in one world history class we learned about Islam. We studied it for quite a while, I remember trying to memorize the five pillars of Islam.

It wasn't being taught as a religon though, not with the idea of conversion and saying this is the only way. We were studying it as part of history and culture so we could better understand the time period and the people. Mom's still pissed about this, but I never had a problem with it.

What I did have a problem with was in high school being made to feel guilty because I didn't participate in some morning prayer around the flag pole. The prayer thing wasn't required by school, but the kids who were doing it tried to make the rest of us feel guilty.

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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.

t whaps idiot parents