Well, now…methinks perhaps that someone ought to give the Odessa School Board a refresher on the Constitution. Something about the separation of Church and State, perhaps??
ODESSA - The school board in this West Texas town has voted unanimously to add an elective Bible class to its high school curriculum.
Hundreds of people, most of them supporters of the proposal, packed the board meeting Tuesday night. About 6,000 Odessa residents had signed a petition supporting the class.
Hmm…sounds as if that refresheer course is going to awfully crowded, eh??
Um…didn’t y’all learn this in high school? Or were y’all too busy with your prayer meetings and book burnings??
This is, of course, constitutional ground which should be trod upon lightly. Having said that, of course, I can say with a high degree of certainty that the True Believers will no doubt stomp that sucker flat in a New York minute.
I would never argue that the Bible has no place in public education. However, when it is the center of a course, one could reasonably argue that it becomes state endorsement of religion. IF you teach the Bible as part of an overall course on religion that features an equal emphasis on several religions, I think you might have a winner. Religion SHOULD be taught in public school, but as the study of the philosophy and history of religion, not as a tax-dollar-supported Bible study.
IF the Odessa School Board can somehow manage to get this idea to pass constitutional muster, more power to them. Given the tenor of religious fervor that exists in West Texas, I’m hardly optimistic about the prospects. I’m guessing that it will be yet another end run around the Constitution because the majority thinks it’s a good thing to do. That hardly makes it right, but in the Bible Belt “right” is whatever the True Believers decided it is.
Silly me; and I’d always thought the Constitution was more than just a “good idea” or a set of “guidelines”.
Hmm...
And methinks someone ought to realize that phrase is not in the Constitution!