Reading,Writing &Religion II Texas Public School Bible Courses in 2011 – 12
A comprhensive report regarding the use of the Bible in Public Schools in Texas. It’s refreshing that it is written by a profession from SMU—a Christian University. Showing that there are sane Christians.
Reading,Writing &Religion II
Texas Public School Bible Courses in 2011 – 12
By Mark A. Chancey
Professor of Religious Studies, Southern Methodist University
The state of Texas now has a specific law on
teaching about the Bible in public schools. In 2007
the Legislature passed House Bill 1287 , which
inserted into the Texas Education Code a provision
allowing districts to offer ‘elective courses on the
Bible’s Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament.’ The
law also includes a directive mandating that ‘each
school district that offers kindergarten through
grade 12’ include in its required curriculum
attention to ‘religious literature, including the
Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and New
Testament, and its impact on history and literature.’
That requirement could be met in any required
course, including social studies and English classes.
Texas is not alone in having a Bible course law;
Georgia (2006), Tennessee (2008), Oklahoma (2010),
and Arizona (2012) have likewise all passed similar
bills. In addition to these laws, which encourage
on-campus Bible courses, some states (such as South
Carolina) have statutes explicitly allowing students
to receive academic credit for Bible courses taken off
school grounds.
Long before this recent legislative activity, the U. S.
Supreme Court addressed the question of whether
students could learn about the Bible in public
schools. Nearly 50 years ago, the court commented
in Abington Township School District v. Schempp thatIt certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy
of study for its literary and historic qualities.
Nothing we have said here indicates that
such study of the Bible or of religion, when
presented objectively as part of a secular
program of education, may not be effected
consistently with the First Amendment.
A slide citing Hebrews 8:5 from the ‘How
We Got the Bible in English’ PowerPoint used
in Dalhart ISD implies that most branches of
American Judaism (Reform, Conservative, and
Reconstructionist) are only an imperfect copy,
shadow, or pattern of true heavenly religion. By
its logic, most contemporary American Jews are
equivalent to what Hebrews describes as obsolete
ancient Jewish priests.
Other courses depict Judaism or particular Jewish
sects in the time of Jesus as legalistic, hypocritical
or spiritually empty. They sometimes seem to rely
entirely on negative portrayals of Jewish leaders
(especially priests and Pharisees) in the New
Testament without considering the extent to
which those passages reflect Christianity’s growing
pains as it struggled to define its relationship to
Judaism. A chart from Amarillo ISD states that
the Pharisees ‘tended to reduce their faith to rule
keeping’ and the Sadducees ‘believed the Scriptures
were quaint myths, so they ignored most of God’s
laws.’ Longview ISD speaks appreciatively of the
monotheism and ‘moral and ceremonial purity’ of
the Pharisees but then categorically denounces them:
‘Jesus exposed their hypocrisy & self-righteousness.’
The Permian High School course in Ector County
ISD paints with a broad brush that goes beyond the
sects; a PowerPoint show on ‘The New Testament
World’ sums up ‘Life in 1st Century Palestine’ with
this description: ‘Religious – very important but
lacking spiritual fervor; they were waiting for the
Messiah.’
—the above from page 45
Even the most discredited claims occasionally
appear. Eastland ISD’s materials, for example,
include a tract (The Missing Day) claiming ‘the
space program is now proving what has been called
‘myth’ in the Bible to be truth.’ According to it,
‘astronauts and space scientists at Green Belt, MD’
discovered ‘a day missing in space in elapsed time’
that corroborates biblical stories of the sun standing
still (Joshua 10:8) and moving backwards (2 Kings
20:1-11).
This anecdote is a textbook example of
an urban legend, and its history and development
have been well documented in scholarly literature.
The exact function of this tract in class discussion is
unclear, but in light of the theological orientation
of the course as a whole, its claims were likely
presented to students in a positive light.Pseudoscience most often appears in discussions
of Genesis. Creation science, which attempts to
show that the Bible’s account of a six-day creation
can be reconciled with modern science, figures
prominently in the Permian High class in Ector
County ISD. The learning objective for coverage of
Genesis 1-2 is the following: ‘Students will identify
and explain the various theories of creation.’ A test
later asks students to ‘identify and explain the four
major theories of creation discussed in class.’ A
worksheet asks students to identify those theories by
name.
—the above from page 52
Belton ISD’s course is one of the most heavyhanded in this regard. It makes available to its students an American Tract Society pamphlet titled
‘One Nation Under God’ that begins: ‘The United States was founded on the principles of liberty in the Holy Bible and the reverence of the Founding
Fathers.’
—the above from page 54
Among the recommendations:
• They recognize that the Bible is a religious text
and not a science textbook.
-the above from page 58