Just as books containing sex, violence, and pervasive language are banned in most public schools, The Bible should be no exception. Though it is lacking unacceptable language and graphic scenes of gore and sex, the simple idea of teaching the Bible in public schools goes beyond inappropriate. Regardless of stance on religion or religious background, public schools are no place to be preaching something so controversial.
The argument is simple: How should our children and students be expected to understand written works by Shakespeare and our founding fathers, among countless others without the teachings of the Bible? The answer is also, consequently, simple: Unfortunately for all those in favor, the Black Book remains too controversial to be openly accepted by the public as a standard topic in schools. Even as an optional elective, not only would it be proselytizing our youth, but it would also be oppressive to those of other religions.
There is no need to be taught this information to succeed in school or “comprehend” the meaning behind famous works, as I can attest. I have no religious background or beliefs and have been a straight-A student for the entirety of my high school years. So apparently, it can be done.
Overall, I feel that religion will always be a touchy subject, and to be requiring it as a high school class, even as an elective, would destroy the former idea of freedom of religion and freedom of choice for future generations of students.
Heather Grimes
Gilbert
Leon Ceniceros posted at 2:40 pm on Wed, Mar 7, 2012.
Well, many US Military Members were 16,17,18 years old when they enlisted or were drafted. If these young Men were old enough to defend our Nation, surely they were old enough to have an class in their senior year to study Religions of the World. I read or saw a TV documentary where research after research has shown that by the age of 15years old, most American teenagers have had more than one sexual encounter. If these teenagers feel that they are mature enough to have consentual sexual encounters...then surely they are old enough to read the Bible and study it's relevance it the History of Western Societies and in the founding of America. Just as it is important to study Ancient and Medieval History so that you have a body of knowledge when you study English Literature.
truth posted at 3:17 pm on Wed, Mar 7, 2012.
The first thing we should teach our children is that history has proven that the Bible was re-writen for over a thousand years by corrupt Popes to give the church control of the people.Many Bibles and their owners were burned claiming they were heretics, that is why they call them the DARK AGES. [beam][beam][beam][beam][beam][beam][beam]
Dale Whiting posted at 3:20 pm on Wed, Mar 7, 2012.
Heather,
There was a time when I'd have thought your points and conclusions were undisputable. Boy, was I wrong!
mesateacher posted at 5:42 pm on Wed, Mar 7, 2012.
Wrong -- on all counts. When I was in high school in Scottsdale many decades ago we had a great high school course: The Bible as Literature. It was not a religion course, no preaching. No comparison to other religions. The focus was on the "King's English". We learned how the great writers of the King James version used metaphors, similes, how they used words so poetically. Having that background made reading, seeing, and understanding Shakespeare so much more meaningful. There are so many thousands of references to the KJV in other literature, movies, opera, music. Without that reference you miss so much. Like it or not, the KJV is one of the foundations of modern English and western civ. You ignore it, or worse, ban it, at your own loss. The class I took in no way converted me, or made me even slightly religious. I avoided church and all religious trappings for most of my adult life, But I will always be grateful to that teacher who gave me a love of English through that book.
Dale Whiting posted at 7:57 pm on Wed, Mar 7, 2012.
mesateacher,
Would you go for a similar study of the Koran and Bagavageta? [Sorry about the spelling. Rich do you have it on the tip of your fingers?] I studied these religions at Brigham Young University! Yes, Mormon religious studies programs are not closed minded like most Mormons are!
Rich posted at 11:13 pm on Wed, Mar 7, 2012.
Dale, UNM, Cal Berkeley and the Sorbonne. What is wrong here is the entire concept of banning books. As long as the idea is maintained language, the art of literature, the twists and turns of philosophy will be closed to any child whose education is missing 'banned books.' One of the worst things we do is try to quash ideas by banning books.
Dale Whiting posted at 7:23 am on Thu, Mar 8, 2012.
Yes, Rich,
Banning books, terminating ethnic studies programs, limiting our children's exposure to ideas, cultures or anything "foreign" to what we have been exposed to. You and I are among the few who have endeavored [for our own personal reasons] to broaden our understanding of the world around us. The problem is that others will not. Are they afraid of being outcast by society? Having to find new excuses for being narrow minded? Sure others have studied what they do not like, but not to understand it, rather to have more reasons to condemn it.
Now, you pick a topic related to our struggling economy and let's discuss approaches to dealing with it and try to arrive at some sort of consensus as to which candidate or the President is best equipped to deal with it.
Understand this. No one party, no one person, no one decade's worth of effort will put us back to where we once were. As was Rome's, our decline was and is inevitable! What is up to us is how far down the hill do we slide!
Arizona Willie posted at 8:14 am on Thu, Mar 8, 2012.
I don't advocate banning the Bible -- or any other book.
If someone wants to read it at home or in the park or at a church ... fine.
But not in a public school where peer pressure can be used to force kids to sign up for the course.
It is simply an indoctrination method under those circumstances.
You can call it an elective all day long but that doesn't change the fact kids will feel pressured to take the class because their friends are or because the jocks are etc. etc.
If parents want their kids to study the Bible, every church has Bible study classes.
An English teacher could use a Biblical example of how the writers used a certain literary technique in a passage without using the Bible itself and making it a course entirely ON the Bible.
I'm sure there are many writers who used the same technique and it wouldn't be necessary to use the Bible as an example. But I wouldn't have a strong objection if they used it sparingly. If it became the text they used for all their examples then no no no no. And that is exactly what the Bible course would be. And it's a thinly veiled course in a religion. Claiming they want to use to show show examples of how English was used is a weird form of a lie because the Bible wasn't written in English.
It was translated many times in different languages. Those translators used the phrasing and sentence structure ... not the original Biblical writers.
Which knowledge makes the claim they are using it for English instruction all the more devious.
Have your kids study the Bible all you or they want -- at church or in your home.
Don't use it as back-door indoctrination.
sockratties posted at 10:24 am on Thu, Mar 8, 2012.
Heather – You imply that selected books should be banned in public schools, then use that argument as justification to ban teaching of the Bible. You are talking about two distinctly different things, banning books because of content and teaching of religion in public schools.
Banning books doesn't protect kids from questionable content but it does make curiosity overcome caution. We all remember looking up “dirty words” in Webster's Dictionary. Should we ban the dictionary? Watch out for National Geographic! What is it we're trying to protect kids against? Here come the thought police!
With today's technology there is no reason to support a school library. E-readers are cheap, relevant, up-to-date, trackable and easy to monitor as a grading tool. Public libraries are accessible on-line to anyone and arrangements with school districts can be beneficial to both.. Text books provided by the school can also be accessed by license, much cheaper than purchasing, storage and maintenance. If school districts decide to limit access to books, it can be done electronically. E-Books can be rated much like movies from G to XXX. No problem assigning access level electronically by designated user. Schools can make only books that are relevant to course content available through school provided devices. Maintaining a room full of paper books is an arcane practice of the twentieth century.
Religious studies may be appropriate at some advanced educational level but families and affiliations should be responsible for the upbringing of children, not public schools. Morality, ethics, and personal beliefs are part of that upbringing and should not be in the hands of strangers.
Accuracy posted at 10:37 am on Thu, Mar 8, 2012.
Heather Grimes concludes: “Overall, I feel that religion will always be a touchy subject, and to be requiring it as a high school class, even as an elective, would destroy the former idea of freedom of religion and freedom of choice for future generations of students”.
Arizona lawmakers are debating whether or not they should allow public schools to teach courses on the Bible, based on the idea that understanding the scriptures is important in understanding the history and culture of America.
It is a good way to restore the culture America was founded on.
vrsicks posted at 11:19 am on Thu, Mar 8, 2012.
It's obvious that Heather is still in High School. I love the English 101 conclusion at the end.
While a required course on religion might not be the best idea, I completely disagree that elective courses on religion should be done away with. By so doing, you are destroying your very own idea of freedom.
As others have said, banning a book, any book, is a mistake you gravely underestimate.
Rational Human posted at 2:02 pm on Fri, Mar 9, 2012.
Imagine that. Someone who thinks something as important and pervasive in our society as religion should be banned from high schools. Sounds like we've gone full circle from the scopes monkey trials here. Ya, what we need is a good old fashion book burning. lol
Masterrogue666 posted at 12:46 am on Sat, Mar 10, 2012.
I recall reading in the bible that Jesus said it would be better to pluck out your eyes rather than allow them to cause you to sin. Sounds fairly graphic to me.
Books detailing religions are like any other medium of learning, something a person should be allowed to consider from themselves.
wangly posted at 12:16 am on Tue, Nov 6, 2012.
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