Rep. Todd Russ #fundie

Rep. Todd Russ #fundie tulsaworld.com

OKLAHOMA CITY — The House Common Education Committee on Wednesday kept alive a controversial bill to allow public schools to teach from the Bible.

By a 10-3 vote, the committee advanced Senate Bill 1338, which permits districts to offer courses teaching the cultural and historical context of the Bible. Supporters say the courses will not be used to advocate religion.

Skeptics said such courses are already permissible and that repeated attempts to pass legislation such as SB 1338 are a waste of time.

"It seems like we spend more time talking about religion than we do academics," said Rep. Doug Cox, R-Grove.

Rep. Samson Buck, D-Ardmore, asked, "Is this as far as you intend to go, or is it your intent to eventually be teaching Christianity in the public schools?"

The bill's House sponsor, Rep. Todd Russ, R-Cordell, insisted that the courses would be purely academic.

"I very strongly feel that the purpose is to teach the history and culture of our country," Russ said. "Thank God we live in America, where we can do that."

44 comments

old comment by WWWWolf

> which permits districts to offer courses teaching the cultural and historical context of the Bible.
> ...the courses would be purely academic.

Fine! We do the same in Finland - we have academic-type religious courses in school. Discussing history without discussing the beliefs and influence of the world religions is very difficult...

> "I very strongly feel that the purpose is to teach the history and culture of our country," Russ said. "Thank God we live in America, where we can do that."

...but if you went and said, in a religious or history or social studies class, that Finnish society got here because of the pure awesomeness of Christianity, you would get tarred and feathered, and rightfully so.

old comment by Saika

I can see using the Bible in class for English or Writer's craft or something like that to help kids understand literary references. I once had such a teacher who told us that if we wanted to understand all of the readings it would not be unwise to familiarize ourselves with parts of the bible. She gave us suggestions on what to read if we wanted to but she made it clear that we didn’t have to and we wouldn’t need to know it for any tests.
On the other hand, I had another teacher in another class who would randomly start talking about the end times instead of actually teaching us. She basically told us we were all going to die a horrible death unless we read the Bible. Fun times.

old comment by Jockaira

@Nazani14,

I don't live in Oklahoma (Thank the Great Spirit) but I am Cherokee and believe your implied suggestion to teach about the ancestral religions of the Cherokee and the Choctaw nations has great merit. What also has great merit would be to teach about the historic rationalisations of Christian churches and people in justifying genocides against the Native Americans and the systematic theft and usurpation of their wealth by the European immigrants and settlers.

I have African ancestors, Negro and Moorish, as well as substantial genetic influences from Europe and touches from Asia, so feel it only right that these ancestral peoples be represented also as the victims of organised religion such as the Catholics, Lutherans, Muslims, Yorubans, Druids, Shintoists, Mithraists, and of course, Anglicans.

...On second thought, it might be better to keep the Bible out of school and reserve all these other teachings for privately-funded schools, colleges, and universities. I'm sure high-school students have enough on their plate already.

Let's teach them the basics of American civilisation and society, mentioning religious influence only when necessary for context, and let them choose their own "history" courses when they are "smart" enough to do so.

old comment by irish

Fundie how? If this doesn't advocate a religion it DOES NOT go against the first amendment. This is not the U.S. congress advocating a religion. It is a state congress teaching about religion in the context of society and Rep. Russ isn't wrong in saying that Christianity is tied very strongly to the history and culture of our country. This country wasn't founded on Christian ideals like most fundamentalists claim but Christianity has been the dominant religion and offering classes on what the dominant religion of a country believes is not exactly a major fundamentalist victory.

I took a class freshman year of college where we studied the Bible from an academic point of view and I personally don't understand how learning about this freshman year of college is any different than taking it as an elective senior year of high school. As an atheist I have no problem with this.

old comment by shockmeshockmeshockmewiththatdeviantbehavior

NO. YOU. CANT!!!!!! SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE BITCH!! AND FOR DAMN GOOD REASON!!! YOU ARE GOING TO FUCK EVERYTHING UP!!! >:( >:(

I can see it all now...

Timmy: Guess what mom?
Timmy's mom: What hunny? And how was your day at school? Did you learn anything awesome in Science or Biology class?
Timmy: I sure did mom! Youre never gonna believe this! Did you know that all human beings are made from dirt by a super being known as God and that the world was made in 6 days (6,000 as some stretch it) and that a talking snake and a woman made from a rib that ate a fruit from a forbidden tree is the cause of all our pain and suffering on this earth? Oh and the earth is flat (or was) and bats lay eggs and all insects have four legs and you can cure leprosy by sacrificing a dove!!!! isnt that neatttt?????? :D
Timmy's mom: ........... *calls the school board of education later on...*