Monday, May 12, 2008
North Texas area school districts plan Bible courses for this fall
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The North Texas communities of Lake Dallas, Pilot Point and Ponder will offer an elective course on the Bible when classes reconvene in the Fall of 2008.
Gov. Rick Perry approved a bill addressing the issue last year, and the state school board approved guidelines for the curriculum; that law is scheduled to take effect in the Fall of 2009.
School officials who are moving ahead with the curriculum stress that the course will be broad-based and will treat the Bible and Biblical characters as literature and literary figures, rather than turning the whole thing into a religious indoctrination exercise.
Other area communities - such as Aubrey, Denton and Krum - currently have no plans to offer a similar course until the level of local interest in the curriculum has been established.
posted by JM
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Comments
Pavel Lishin Verified
I'd probably take the class if it were offered while I was still in school.
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Jesus Valadez Verified
Only the Christian bible? Why not include the other major holy books?
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
John McClelland Verified
I actually see nothing wrong with offering it as an elective course that teaches it in the literary or historical perspective. It does come in handy to understand religious texts even if you are not religious.
And Jesus(Valdez) has a valid point. They may want to consider offering a course that compares all of the texts- New & Old Testament, Koran, etc. They offer courses like this in college, so it would do just as well in high school.
Although I suspect the real intention of the Legislature even getting involved in what schools teach (which is the State Board of Education's and local school board's jobs essentially) has more to do with some radical ideologues rather than the best interest of children's minds.
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Pavel Lishin Verified
Jesus (lol): I think that the simplest reason is that there are more Christians than, say, Buddhists, Muslims or Mormons in local schools, so offering a Bible course would be more popular than say, teaching the Vedas.
Hopefully, though, if this doesn't turn into some sort of hideous fustercluck they'll start offering more courses of this type, focusing on different religious documents.
But who are we kidding. I bet that someone will get fired, stabbed or both as a result of this.
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Rick Yost Verified
I agree with all the posts here. (Yeah, that's weird.) I think it would make more sense, and be more beneficial to the students, to make it a 'World Religion' course highlighting all the major religions.
Knowledge of how others view the subject, and act on what they believe, would certainly give them a better understanding of why they see violent and disturbing news stories.
I think it is healthier for an individual to learn as much as possible about all the philosophies of the world before making the choice to follow one. Or, as it was in my case, personal study into the nature of most of them, led me to see I had no need to align myself with any. But that's just me.
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
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