Political School Daze

Here we go again with the Bible in schools fight; it’s been happening with great regularity ever since the Scopes Monkey Trial in the 1920s.

Currently, Louisiana is requiring that the 10 Commandments must be displayed in public schools, and Oklahoma says that schools must teach the Bible in the classroom. No doubt that’s only the beginning, and more states will come up with their own new laws.

I have no objection to these things if parents want it in their own school district, but states have no business making laws, and if parents don’t want it, then don’t do it. If residents of California can vote on how much space a laying hen should have, then it shouldn’t be difficult to make a way for parents of a school district to vote on whether the 10 Commandments should be displayed.

Here are a few points to consider:

Some people are supporting the idea of teaching doctrine in public schools. Stop and think about that, please. Which doctrine would you have schools teach? Is the teacher going to be Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal, Mormon, or something else? A class of public school students may easily represent a dozen or twenty different denominations. Would you really want to create that sort of conflict?

I see no problem with Bible literacy classes. The Judeo- and Judeo-Christian Bibles have had a profound influence on very large segments of civilization. Nothing wrong with teaching it in public schools from an historical, social, and literary perspective. Just don’t turn it into Sunday school. Actually, such a class is probably best if it includes other major religions, and make it an elective.

Instead of arguing about if and how the Bible should be taught in public schools, how about teaching and living it at home, and taking the kids to Sunday School? Anyone who is concerned that their children are being hurt somehow because they aren’t being taught the Bible at school needs to take a hard look at their home life.