Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Texas wants religion in school

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been sent a bill that would allow students to express religious beliefs in homework, artwork and other assignments without being penalized or rewarded because of their faith. Instead, their work would be graded on "traditional academic standards," according to AP.

"We are allowing our young people to express their faith, whatever that faith is," said Rep. Larry Phillips, a Sherman Republican.

Two months ago, Time magazine had a great article titled "The Case for Teaching the Bible," that opened in Texas. This new discussion of the Bible as literature -- something I studied at UCLA -- follows the failed attempt in Pennsylvania to teach "intelligent design" as a counterpoint to Darwinian evolution. (A little background here.)

All of this, of course, is part of the ongoing debate about how much God is appropriate in public schools, a constant battle since the Supreme Court outlawed school prayer and developed the Lemon test in 1971. As religion? As history? As artistic inspiration?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

So probably not out in the open, but i hear from people in the cypress, CA that the high school district of particular school is working on creating a course that will teach Biblical History course.

Beign a person who regards seperation of church and state to be a critical American value, i feel a bit offended that the course will be so narrowly structured. Definatly not happy about the happenings in Cypress, i think it might be good to shed some light on the situation?