Should the Bible be studied in public schools?

[Noah]

In Odessa, Texas, there's some controvery around a class in "Biblical literacy" (not to be confused with Biblical literalism). The class is offered as an elective in about 50 Texas school districts, and in another 300 districts in other states. (See my blog entry "The Bible and Other Books," 5/10/05.) The curriculum for the course is based on materials provided by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools. On its official website, the Council says:

The curriculum for the program shows a concern to convey the content of the Bible as compared to literature and history. The program is concerned with education rather than indoctrination of students. The central approach of the class is simply to study the Bible as a foundation document of society, and that approach is altogether appropriate in a comprehensive program of secular education.

So the question is, how do you feel about this? Is it appropriate for public schools to offer an elective course which deals with the Bible as literature? Do you take the Council at its word, or do you see this as an attempt to incorporate evangelism into public schools? Should schools offering the class also be required to offer classes dealing with the texts of other religions?

(For my own answers to these questions, see "The Bible and Other Books.")

[Shrugging Avatar]

In terms of preparing people to understand the world philosophically and sociologically it is only fair that we not only educate students about one religion but also educate them about all religions comparatively in an effort to give a glimpse into the whole of the human condition.
Now that's a little off from your question which seemed to more center specifically around the Bible instead of religion and as something more literature related than sociological or theological.
If schools want to focus on the Bible as a literate device then shouldn't it be incorporated into the standard English Lit course?

[Shrugging Avatar]

Well obviously not "English" lit unless they specifically want to discuss the artistic merits of the King James Version, but you know ... a standard lit course.

[Darius]

I took a course in college called "The Bible as Literature" and is was an excellent class. Granted that wasn't public school, but it does give me confidence that that type of class can easily be taught without being evangelical. It was part of both the Religious Studies and Comparative Literature departments.

We do study the history of religions in history classes - where they came from, how they were founded, religious wars, etc. So, I think it's very fair to have classes that describe what these religions - the cause of so much history - are all about. I do think that schools should at least offer more than just the Bible, though. Perhaps the Torah, the Koran, as well. It would be unreasonable to expect schools to deal with all religions (even a Religious Studies major doesn't hit all of them). In the same way that schools often offer courses in, say, Spanish, French, and Chinese, but not every foreign language.

Maybe it shouldn't be a separate class, though... is that type of specialization part of what college is for? Certainly the Bible is arguably the most socially important work in Western literature, but do schools offer classes that focus solely of Ulysses or The Iliad? Would we think that was a waste of time?

Darius

[bulshoy]

Why not have a class called "Religious Literature?" The Bible is a great book, but what about the Koran or the Bhagavad Gita? When I was in high school, there was a mandatory class in Grade 11 called "World Religions". It was a real eye-opener for me. If religion is introduced into the classroom, then all (major) religions should get equal classroom time.

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