DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus Kentucky public schools can now offer Bible literacy courses

(CNN)Public schools in Kentucky now have the option to teach Bible courses in public schools.
Gov. Matt Bevin signed House Bill 128 into law Tuesday, giving local school boards the option to create Bible literacy classes as a part of a school's social studies curriculum. Any courses under the new law would be electives, not requirements.
"The idea that we would not want this to be an option for people in school, that would be crazy," Bevin said at the signing ceremony. "I don't know why every state would not embrace this, why we as a nation would not embrace this."

But not everyone is embracing the law.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky told CNN affiliate WDRB it will be closely monitoring how the law is used by school boards.
"A Bible literacy bill that, on its face, may not appear to be unconstitutional, could in fact become unconstitutional in its implementation," ACLU Advocacy Director Kate Miller said.
Rep D.J. Johnson, who supports the bill, tried to reassure critics about its legality.
"As long as we're careful with the curriculum itself, there won't be any constitutional issues," he told WDRB. "And we'll do that."
Johnson also said the Bible's role in American history can help students understand the country's founding documents.
"It really did set the foundation that our Founding Fathers used to develop documents like the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights," he said. "All of those came from principles from the Bible."
Miller said the ACLU will make sure that's all the the courses will do.
"We want to make sure that teachers can teach and make sure that they don't go in to preach."

It's Klantucky, not surprised one bit.

As long as it's an elective I see no problem with it. That said, if a school also wants to have a Muslim, Hindu, or whatever other religion "literacy" class they should also be permitted to do so. Even if you are not religious there is nothing wrong with learning about different beliefs.

And you wonder who in the world did Trump get elected. Maybe its condescending moronic remarks like this.

I am not religious, never have been. But I understand what people get out of it, and people are free to believe whatever they want.

That being said, no issue on this from me. Like poster said, make it an elective, let whoever wants to have a class have a class.

The system got trump elected, not the actual voters. If Not for the electoral then you'd still be whining about Hillarys emails while she is in office.

I only really have one issue with this that I see may be a problem. There are many teachings and books that cover many religions. In our nation we have freedom of religion. I believe if you have a class for the Bible, which is the Christian faith based book, to allow for the freedom of religion, you would have to offer classes for all of the other religious books and teachings.

To offer the student body the opportunity to learn about one religious teaching or book, and exclude all of the others is favoring one religious teaching over the others. I don't think that will fly in a court of law.

It is what this country is founded on. Folks are free to not believe it, and to have different opinions, BUT people should be free to teach it.

Side not if the schools want to offer teaching on other religions and enough kids sign up for it, they should be free to teach it as well.

Right, because taking an elective to learn Biblical stuff ...... and the Klan are pretty much synonymous..

The religion itself and the klan certainly is.

The Christian faith.. and the Klan.. mean the same thing? Just want to make sure I'm clear on what you are saying here.

No, but one is a tool used by the other.

Depending on which way that goes depends on ones perspective.

So Muslims = ISIS. ? I'd give the nod to Christians who at least in this country do a pretty good job of condemning terrorist members of their faith .

Do they?

Hmm.

No, but one is a tool used by the other.

Depending on which way that goes depends on ones perspective.

Yeah, I think so . The Christians I know are pretty vocal about marginalizing the fringe even when that fringes core beliefs aren't so different from their own . I'm agnostic on a good day so I'm not a great ambassador for Christianity .

We have a different opinion on the roll they play.

I have a nature distrust of every religion so I hope you understand that. I think every last one is shady by nature, and diceptive at its core.

Religions are exactly what you say. They are man made.

I respect that opinion but I believe at its core religions offer a light in the darkness to people who need it and we as humans with our predispositions Jack it all up .

My ultra Catholic Father in law would fall over in disbelief if he read the words I posted 😇

I think most religions started off with good intentions, but quickly got manipulated due to the lust of power.

Religion is man made, thus always will be flawed. It's biggest flaw?

Being left up to interpretation.

We'll be banning books and rap music soon.

thats where your wrong, the Bible is not man made... The Bible is the words God (Jesus) to the Prophets and Aposltes write down and carry his message. I know about the Council of Nicea, nothing was left out of the Bible that was important.

Jesus was literally God's walking around in a human body. Want to know the best part?

God was still in heaven and walking around on Earth as Jesus "at the same time" hence why he was praying to himself....power beyond anything mere mortal humans will ever understand....(myself included)

Yeah. The newer generations on America don't understand the power of the soul and what it does to the human psyche.

The Bible is man made.

And if Jesus was just god walking around in a mans body, he sure does suck at staying alive.

Martha, turn up the air, its a gettin hot in here.

Jesus was not God.

And who prays to themself? lol

Point being, I don't believe the law will allow for schools to offer the teachings of one religion or religious book without offering the same for other religions and other religious books. I'm a Christian myself and I don't mind such classes. But I believe our nation gives people a guarantee of religious freedom for all. And by offering religious freedom to take a class in one religion, I think will end up meaning you have to offer classes for all religions or none at all.

IMO That's also why we don't have prayer in schools.

But that's the part I don't get about some schools.

I actually fully support prayer in school, at least at an individual basis.

Now, I don't know if that isn't allowed in most schools or not, so pardon my ignorance if it is. But if it isn't, that's a major problem, as I believe regardless of faith, you should be allowed to pray, as long as it's not interrupting class time.

Your child has the right to pray at school, talk about God in class assignments, start a religious club on campus that receives the same rights and resources as other clubs, and freely share their faith with others.

As a parent, you have the right to:

-Opt your children out of curriculum that would require them to violate your family's religious beliefs.
-Depending on where you live, opt your children out of curriculum that would force them to violate your family's religious beliefs.
-Depending on where you live, review the curriculum and teaching materials for any of your child’s classes.
-Opt your child out of any extracurricular activity.
-Depending on where you live, be notified if your child is enrolled in a course that includes sex education, family planning, homosexual themes, diversity issues, or extreme violence.
-Access your child’s record, including grades, disciplinary, and counseling proceedings.
-Remove your child on days of religious observance.
-Depending on where you live, receive the same tax credits and vouchers to attend religious schools that are also available for attending non-religious schools.
-Choose the school environment that best fits your child’s needs, whether public school, charter school, private school, or homeschool.

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/know-your-rights-as-a-christian-in-a-public-school

Religion in school is dead after Betsy DeVos's charter schools started taking down statues of Jesus.

I'm not sure how they're going to pull off things like prayer rugs for Muslims in schools. Prayer really isn't the issue, the issue is making accommodations for all religions to pray in their own way.

Thanks for that, 40, good info.

Now, here's the question.......

If they offered classes for Islam and taught about sharia law, and students set up clubs in schools for it, would the conservatives be cool about that and let it happen?

Answer truthfully.

A better question...
If their are plenty of Christians in a Kentucky school looking to set up a Bible class, I think that is great BUT if there are zero Muslims or Buddhists, does it matter if they get a class?

You didn't answer the question.

Nor you mine.

Many aspects of sharia law are illegal in this country, so I doubt any school would permit a club supporting it. But teach about it, as in, what it means is fine.

Zero Muslims in Kentucky? A SWING and a miss!

I went to school for 10 years before I met my first Black fellow student so saying a Kentucky school has zero Muslims is not so far fetched.

Well I guess I owe you at least that.

No, I have no problem if Muslim students want to have a Bible Study Class.

He didn't say that. So, the swing and miss is on you.


If a school wants to OFFER a class on religion, I think that's fine. As long as it's not a mandatory class.

I don't care what religion it is..........if the demand is there, and it can be taught in an unbiased way, fine.

I attended a Christian college. One of the mandatory classes was "comparative religion". I really liked that class. It was informative, and unbiased.