Texas public schools required to teach the bible this year!

I can't wait till some fundamentalist christian teacher tries to teach the bible as fact and those that dont agree with her will recieve low grades. When it comes to the bible alot of christians cant have a neutral discussion about it. They believe it to be factual and will attempt to impose that belief of their students.

I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of 'conservatism.

http://www.kltv.com/global/story.asp?s=10933571

"Texas public schools required to teach Bible this year"

No other major religious texts are covered by this law , only the bible. Somehow, islam which has 1.5 billion followers, hinduism which has a billion followers, judaism with it hundreds of millions of followers and athesism which has hundreds of millions of followers and many other religions aren't important enough to be considered influential. Chrisitianity is somehow more important than the other religions.

Can anyone here guess which party was behind this law...

http://www.news-journal.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/2009/08/08/0808bible.html



And get a load of this. Here's what GOP Rep. Warren Chisum who was the main guy that fought to pass this garbage had to say about evolution:

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Blogs/News/?oid=oid:447510

In addition to promoting this law, he also promotes the bizarre idea that the sun revolves around the Earth according to the Austin Chronicle.

And here's what he says about the supposed dominance of Jews in Academic fields...

"What kind of ‘Jewish physics’ is it that has garnered 26% of all the Nobel Prizes awarded to all the Physicists in the world when the total Jewish population is only one-forth of 1% of the world’s population? ... The stated theological mission of Talmud/Kabbala-based Judaism is to destroy the credibility of Jesus and Bible-based Christianity.”

So because he is worried that there are too many jews winning noble peace prices, he fought to have the bible required reading in Texas Public Schools?

I can't wait till some fundamentalist christian teacher tries to teach the bible as fact and those that dont agree with her will recieve low grades. When it comes to the bible alot of christians cant have a neutral discussion about it. They believe it to be factual and will attempt to impose that belief of their students.

Why the hell are idiots like this in congress? And why are they passing laws about what kids are taught in school.

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/80R/billtext/html/HB01287F.htm

In 2007 the Legislature passed a bill requiring school districts to offer high school electives on the Bible starting in the 2009-10 school year. The bill said the class should, “teach students knowledge of biblical content, characters, poetry, and narratives that are prerequisites to understanding contemporary society and culture, including literature, art, music, mores, oratory, and public policy.”

The course can be an English or social studies elective.

However, no money was allocated for training or instructional materials.

Since the legislation passed, an attorney general’s opinion said districts are allowed, but are not required, to offer the elective course. However, the opinion said “religious literature” must be covered in some part of the overall curriculum, like exploring biblical references in Shakespeare’s plays.

That’s how Abilene ISD plans to cover the material, although the district may consider adding a Bible literacy course as an elective in future school years, said Gaile Thompson, AISD executive director of secondary education.

It actually seems to require the schools to offer the elective. Doesn't require anyone to take it.

Legislators had built safeguards into the law that were meant to ensure the class on the Bible's impact on history and literature of Western civilization would be taught in an "objective, academic manner that neither promotes nor disparages religion," and not "from a particular sectarian point of view," according to the law.

Those protections included mandated teacher training, state-approved training materials and curriculum standards deemed constitutional by the state attorney general.

The Texas Education Agency told school districts that it would not provide the training and materials because the Legislature did not budget the $750,000 to do so.