and people wonder why i'm paranoid about religion in schools
So, the cover story on TIME magazine says "why we should teach the Bible in public schools". as most people who are actually reading this (yes, shelly, you) know, i am defiantly against religion in public schools. i'm... not exactly an atheist, more like an incredibly lazy agnostic, but i don't have this big void in my life nor am i searching for anything (except a job and a chinese program). i'm happy, i like my life, i have a ton of hope, and i never go to church and i'm completely ok with that. but i was raised methodist, in a vague kind of way where i owned a bible and went to retreats with my youth group (mostly because i liked them, and it was a fun weekend away, but i never shared on the "spirituality" meetings... plus i like singing). the one part of the constitution i can recite from memory is the freedom of religion clause. Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. i still remember when people thought columbine could have been prevented if we posted the 10 commandments in classrooms.
this is the part i don't understand. why is it public school that is suddenly the place where these things must must must be taught? the article in time talks about how 2/3rds of hte population thinks answers can be found in the bible, which, if i remember correctly, is about the percent that self-identifies as christian and goes to church. if all these people really trust the bible and go to church on a regular basis... how can i know more about the bible than them?? (and according to his statistics on naming book names, i do... i got at least 12 without thought).
i think the time article is asking the wrong question... it's not that we should be looking in to public schools teaching the bible (even as literature, like my high school did), but rather... why aren't churches teaching this stuff??? what kind of churches are these people going to where they never read the bible or have to learn it? why is it public schools that must be the forum for bible education? if the majority of people who are christians go to church anyway, then it should be church to teach them these things. the only reason i can see to put it in public schools is because you think everyone should know it, and therefore BE CONVERTED. and that's the bit i have a problem with. i don't want to be converted. i don't want to have people telling me (or my theoretical children) that they should believe.
when i was in middle school, having just moved to colorado from illinois, i was uncomfortable because i knew even then, at teh age of, god, 13? that i was significantly less religious than the majority of my classmates. i believed in evolution. i never told anyone. it was my dirty, dark secret, that i was bored out of my mind in church, didn't believe it, and would much rather read fantasy novels under the covers on sunday mornings (or any morning) than a bible. the one poor girl who did announce her belief in evolution was soundly criticized for it. it sucked, and i, as the new girl, knew enough not to throw that kind of thing out there.
i don't think the teaching of the bible as literature is a big problem, in schools where there's a demand for it. in fact, i survived high school just fine with it. the veggie tales in the next room were obnoxious, but only because it was difficult to write cogent essays on european history (and why defenstration is an ineffective method of political statement) while those annoying little voices were singing about shadrak, meshak, and abendigo. let alone jesus christ, superstar. i would however have a massive problem with anyone mandating the teaching of the bible. but the point that the bible is the most influential book in western history is accurate. as long as they acknowledge the wars, death, and suffering as well as the enlightenment and freedom that the bible has sometime brought.
but i also don't htink its the answer to any problems. if given the choice, i would avoid it. kids should learn this stuff in church, if it really matters to them, and their whole argument about its pervasiveness in pop culture is kind of redundant. it's so pervasive you don't need to teach it. and, for people entering public life, i can understand the need they mention to know your allusions and allegories. but those people should go to college, and be educated, and it's inevitable you'll learn the bible pretty effectively. i did. i tried to read it when i was a kid and never made it past genesis.
so yeah, i htink the reason why people don't know the bible isn't because it's not in our public schools. we should look at churches for why, parents, families, other things, but not public schools. so basically, my point is this article failed to convince me that we should all be teaching the bible in schools, and also that time's religion writer is missing the point.
yes, the bible is important. but it should be taught in church, in sunday school, in youth groups, not in public schools. yup.