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HOUSTON, July 31 - When the school board in Odessa, the West Texas oil town, voted unanimously in April to add an elective Bible study course to the 2006 high school curriculum, some parents dropped to their knees in prayerful thanks that God would be returned to the classroom, while others assailed it as an effort to instill religious training in the public schools.

Hundreds of miles away, leaders of the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools notched another victory. A religious advocacy group based in Greensboro, N.C., the council has been pressing a 12-year campaign to get school boards across the country to accept its Bible curriculum.

The council calls its course a nonsectarian historical and literary survey class within constitutional guidelines requiring the separation of church and state.

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. . . .

. . .Some of the claims made in the national council's curriculum are laughable, said Mark A. Chancey, professor of religious studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, who spent seven weeks studying the syllabus for the freedom network. Mr. Chancey said he found it "riddled with errors" of facts, dates, definitions and incorrect spellings. It cites supposed NASA findings to suggest that the earth stopped twice in its orbit, in support of the literal truth of the biblical text that the sun stood still in Joshua and II Kings.

"When the type of urban legend that normally circulates by e-mail ends up in a textbook, that's a problem," Mr. Chancey said.

Tracey Kiesling, the national council's national teacher trainer, said the course offered "scientific documentation" on the flood and cites as a scientific authority Carl Baugh, described by Mrs. Kiesling as "an internationally known creation scientist who founded the Creation Evidence Museum in Glen Rose, Tex."

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Read it here.
(login & password here.)

[ 02 August 2005: Message edited by: Snuckles ]

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So, if they were to have White Supremacy for an elective class that continued to push forward ideas that are WRONG and deliberatly placing misinformation...It's just an elective class?
Hailey, that doesn't wash

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I don't consider white supremacy and christianity to be one of the same.

I don't think most people of any faith woud see themselves as "wrong" or "deliberately placing misinformation". Most people of any faith are, at minimum, genuine and sincere in what they believe.

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Too bad, racists sincerely believe what they believe. If you don't want to get your head around something, don't put it into a SECULAR CURRICULUM. Regardless of it being an elective or not. If you want to place misinformation and lies into something that is being given to the public...Too damned bad. Education interests trump private interests.
Hailey, remember, I'm not an atheist. And remember, I'm hardly "non-religious".

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I don't see it as misinformation or lies.

There is merit, however, to the argument that secular taxpayers shouldn't have to finance a course of interest for children that has religious overtones in a public school setting.

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Originally posted by Hailey:
I don't think most people of any faith woud see themselves as "wrong" or "deliberately placing misinformation". Most people of any faith are, at minimum, genuine and sincere in what they believe.

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Beyond that, given the serious problems that so many public schools have teaching things like math, english and history, I'd think the Christians would be concerned what their kids might take away from such a class.

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I'm rather surprised that Christian groups are happy about this. Seems to me they'd lose control of the dogma. What's to keep an outspoken atheist from teaching the class?

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As much as I wouldn't let my own children take it I do sometimes wish I had had a chance to learn more about other faiths. I didn't learn about Catholicism or Islam even until I was in University.

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Beyond that, given the serious problems that so many public schools have teaching things like math, english and history, I'd think the Christians would be concerned what their kids might take away from such a class.

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However, I was subject to something similar in high school (public) and it's virtually impossible to teach the material in a detached, academic manner in a predominately Christian environment. This is as it should be -- a room full of Christian teenagers passionate about their faith aren't going to stay detached and academic for very long when the bible is discussed.

In my case, it caused religious tension and ostracization. A multi-cultural class that got along spendidly turned into a cliquish, argumentative, insecure gaggle of kids once the bible came into the classroom.

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I don't have a problem with teaching a course on Christianity or the bible in school if it's done in an academic manner.

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Hehe.

Here's the one-question, "academic" final exam:

1. There exists tangible, scientific evidence of Creation, Heaven, Satan, Noah's Ark, the Shroud of Turin and the Grail.

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Originally posted by Mr. Magoo:
Here's the one-question, "academic" final exam:

1. There exists tangible, scientific evidence of Creation, Heaven, Satan, Noah's Ark, the Shroud of Turin and the Grail.

a) True
b) False

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My point in saying that it was elective was just to highlight that it's not being imposed as a study on students.

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Then, too, imagine being one of the three kids who do not elect to take this course, in a fundy scool district. Who wants their locker set on fire?

If there were a course offered on comparative religion, taught without prejudice, that would be great. A pseudo-scientific course based on Judeo-Christian tradition is something else entirely.

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Most people of any faith are, at minimum, genuine and sincere in what they believe.

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[ 02 August 2005: Message edited by: Hinterland ]

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Bush is reasonably sincere.

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Tape_342

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What's to keep an outspoken atheist from teaching the class?

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[ 03 August 2005: Message edited by: nonesuch ]

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Originally posted by Mr. Magoo:

Hehe.

Here's the one-question, "academic" final exam:

1. There exists tangible, scientific evidence of Creation, Heaven, Satan, Noah's Ark, the Shroud of Turin and the Grail.

a) True
b) False

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Others might like to add:

1. The Sumerian's referred to the ruins at Baalbek, Lebanon as ancient. Some of the foundation stones weigh more than what the largest Soviet era cranes could lift, let alone move any distance. What do you think about that in 100 words or less?.

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What do you think about that in 100 words or less?.

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Q#

Is this:

a) ball lightening over Mexico City ?
b) a cause for nasty remarks ?
c) advanced military aircraft ?
d) Oy ?

[ 03 August 2005: Message edited by: Fidel ]

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1. The Sumerian's referred to the ruins at Baalbek, Lebanon as ancient. Some of the foundation stones weigh more than what the largest Soviet era cranes could lift, let alone move any distance. What do you think about that in 100 words or less?.

Hehe

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I, and another, said magic to which you replied:

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...they said for lack of any imagination.

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