[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help] 

Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

BBC Under Fire for CENSORING Gaza Medic Documentary

US is Agreement Incapable

Blow to Israeli Intelligence. taping Israelis in bathrooms

“They have 500 mRNA shots in the pipeline.”

A US federal judge has DENIED Gavin Newsom's request to stop Trump from using the National Guard in Los Angeles.

Have You Noticed That Seismic Activity Has Been Going Nuts All Over The Globe

The Vax was meant to CAUSE cancer.... listen to this - this clip from RFK Jr's site

CNN Immediately Cuts Off Panelist Who Tells the Truth About the LA Riots

Army Secretary declares war on the military industrial complex

Former Israeli PM Threatens U.S. Will Get 'A Re-Run Of 9-11' If It Doesn't Fight Israel's Wars

7 Examples Of The “Mostly Peaceful” Los Angeles Riots Becoming Even More “Peaceful”

Biden Admin and ActBlue Funded Group Behind Abolish ICE Protests in LA

Murderers, rapists, gang members: ICE busts 12 of LA's 'worst' illegal alien criminals amid riots

LA Mayor Karen Bass Threatens Feds: Withdraw From LA Or the Violence Will Escalate –

Woman points gun at police and finds out

EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Ronny Jackson Accuses Biden Doctor Kevin O’Connor Of Sexual Misconduct

WHAT YOU’RE WITNESSING IN LOS ANGELES ISN’T JUST UNREST—IT’S MORAL COLLAPSE

Anna Paulina Luna Exposes the Guy Behind the Anti-ICE Riots

Mike Huckabee Working To Keep Netanyahu in Power

Israeli Military and Israeli-Backed Gang Shoot Aid Seekers in Gaza, Killing 14

Only 68 Building Permits Issued for Pacific Palisades After Wildfires Destroyed 6800 Structures

Violent Rioters Fire Off Exploding Projectiles at Police Horses Use Fireworks and Explosives to Attack Police

ICE Just Shattered Records With One Massive Operation That Has Democrats Fuming

Nolte: Insurrectionist Democrats Plan Another Summer of Blue City-Riots

Violent riots have now been reported in over 30 American cities. Heres a full list:

Mass shooter opened fire at graduation party was an migrant who was busted in LA ICE raids:

Cash Jordan: ICE Raids Home Depot... as California Collapses

Silver Is Finally Soaring: Here's Why

New 4um Interface Coming Soon

Attack of the Dead-2025.


Religion
See other Religion Articles

Title: Why the Bible Belongs in America's Public Schools
Source: LA Times
URL Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/printed ... r27may27,0,2932369,print.story
Published: May 28, 2005
Author: DAVID GELERNTER
Post Date: 2005-05-28 07:22:28 by crack monkey
Keywords: Americas, Belongs, Schools
Views: 65
Comments: 2

Why the Bible Belongs in America's Public Schools

Without knowing Scripture, kids can't understand literature or U.S. history.

DAVID GELERNTER

May 27, 2005

Teaching the Bible in public school raises ticklish problems. Because our public schools must not be used for preaching religion, they must teach the Bible purely as literature. And they must teach it tactfully, in light of the radically different viewpoints of various religious (and irreligious) communities in the United States.

But without knowing the Bible, you can't begin to understand English literature or American history. And a recently published survey finds that American teenagers don't know the Bible well enough. (The study was commissioned by a group called the Bible Literacy Project, conducted by Gallup and funded by the John Templeton Foundation.)

How to respond? Do we dare teach the Bible in our own public schools, built and staffed with our own money? Or do we surrender to Creeping Litigation Anxiety? To the fear that any course that includes the Bible is bound to provoke lawsuits — although there is nothing unconstitutional about teaching stories and language fundamental to American culture?

Some background: Shakespeare and the Bible in English are the twin foundations of English literature. Many believe that the Bible (especially the King James translation of 1611) is the more important twin by far. It "has influenced our literature more deeply than any other book," wrote the British scholar Arthur Quiller-Couch. Bible-blind students are apt to misconstrue "the implications, even the meaning" of what they read, wrote educator and critic Herman Northrop Frye.

Can you understand American culture without knowing the biblical context of "covenant," "promised land," "shining city on a hill"?

Further, the Bible and Bible-centered Protestantism are central to U.S. history — to your history if you are American, whether you are Protestant or not. The founders had varied beliefs, writes the philosopher-historian Michael Novak in "On Two Wings," but they found common ground "by appealing to the God of the Hebrews and the religious heritage of the Torah, a 'Biblical metaphysics.' "

And the Bible remained central throughout American history. Abraham Lincoln (for example) called Americans the "almost chosen people" — one of the most pregnant phrases in our history. His important speeches are steeped in the Bible.

To explore Bible knowledge in the United States, the Bible Literacy Project survey addressed students and English teachers. Teachers listed references their students couldn't identify — from Noah and Moses to Cain, Abel, Absalom and Lazarus. Students did well on trivial questions — "identify Adam and Eve" — and badly on harder ones. Two-thirds hadn't heard about St. Paul and the road to Damascus. Slightly over a third recognized a quote from the Sermon on the Mount.

Most teachers described most of their students as Bible illiterates.

Litigation Anxiety complicates the problem. "Some educators expressed fear and discomfort over the issue of teaching the Bible in school," the report says. "Their desire to benefit their students, by teaching this important work, was not as strong as their fear of getting in trouble for doing so."

Children worry too. "The kids seem to think there is a very strict division," an Illinois teacher said, "and that the Bible is not allowed in school."

Let's be clear: If the Bible is taught strictly as literature, it's sheer nonsense to claim that it is disallowed in public school. Where on Earth could people have got hold of that idea? (Hmmm.) According to Michael Johnson, attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund (which promotes Bible-as-literature courses, among other things), the ACLU routinely tries to discourage school districts from adopting such courses, by implying that they are unconstitutional — even when the curriculum has been painstakingly tweaked to be lawsuit-proof.

And let's not be coy about the underlying cultural context. Bible-reading used to be routine in public schools. Novak again: "Beginning about 1948, one Supreme Court case after another turned the judiciary (and the law schools) into aggressive enemies of religion in public life." The Bible began to seem tainted no matter how you planned to teach it.

Favoring Bible-as-literature courses doesn't imply that you favor religion in public schools, but you might fear litigation anyway. In Odessa, Texas, more than 6,000 people signed a petition demanding an elective in Bible literacy. Opponents argued that it would invite lawsuits. Finally, the course was approved. In Frankenmuth, Mich., people argued for a year about such a course; the board finally turned it down.

Americans should demand that their children be taught what their cultural heritage (their literature, their history) is all about.

The great thundering secularist tide that swept the Bible out of public school education is about to turn. Tides always do. Odessa is a portent.

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

#1. To: crack monkey (#0)

Okay, when I saw the title, I nearly retched. There should be no public schools. PERIOD.

They are indoctrination centers for non-critical thought. They breed stupidity, and animal behavior. They are basically little shitholes where idiots are spoonfed ideologies, as opposed to real history, or information that will make them productive and intelligent citizens.

Take one look at what is coming out of our public schools, and you will see more than half are simply useless idiots with diplomas.

TommyTheMadArtist  posted on  2005-05-28   15:35:55 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: TommyTheMadArtist (#1)

Take one look at what is coming out of our public schools, and you will see more than half are simply useless idiots with diplomas.

Public education nowadays is a numbers game centered around extracting the maximum amount of funding to keep the 'system' going and that is IT.

NCLB was a bad bill, but at least it started gathering some data. The bad part is, of course, that to make their numbers, the educrats will just dumb down the curriculum again.

But, regardless, I am with you. There should be no "public" schools - at least not the kind we have now. The kind that was extant in the 1800s which was absolutely "local" in terms of funding and control - now THAT I could go for, but not this crazyquilt system that is beholden to all and accountable to none.

mirage  posted on  2005-05-29   15:06:04 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest


[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help]