I live in a mostly conservative suburb where they offer a Biblical Literature class at the high school. Both of my sons took the class and loved it. The teacher was sensitive not to push any particular perspective although my sons guessed he was a Christian– not because of his views but because of his passion for teaching and introducing the students to the text. The boys thought there were Christians, Jews, Hindus, and Muslims in the class. It worked, not because of our suburban coccoon, but because of the teacher. Its not only possible but necessary to teach the Bible in schools for no other reason than if you want kids to understand anything at all about Western civilization, you can’t ignore the Bible. The wisdom lies in presenting the text and stories in such a way to let them speak as much as possible for themselves rather than focusing on all the debates about interpretations. Making Shakespeare interesting is difficult, but it can be done. Teaching the Bible is no different.

Have you heard about the Hebrew-English school controversy in Florida? Just curious about what you think of the school and whether it should be publicly funded…
From the Associated Press:
The towering piles of books and summertime stream of construction workers give no hint, but this school is like no other.
It takes its name from a Jewish high priest. Its director is a rabbi. The food is kosher. Hebrew will be uttered throughout.
Oh, and it’s a public school.
Ben Gamla Charter School is billed as the first publicly funded Hebrew-English school in the U.S. Its Aug. 20 opening has prompted fears of religion creeping into public schools and has drawn unlikely criticism from groups that defend Jewish causes. Similar criticisms have been raised against Arabic-language charter schools elsewhere, with some saying they teach Islam.
Ben Gamla is the brainchild of former U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch, who said he was as surprised by the controversy surrounding the school as by the interest in it. Organizers say the school will teach the Hebrew language and culture, but not the Jewish religion.
“To me, it’s very obvious that we’re not teaching religion,” said Rabbi Adam Siegel, the school’s director. He previously directed two private Jewish day schools in Miami Beach. “Religion is prayer, it’s God, it’s Bible. And so if you stay away from there, you’re not teaching religion.”
The rest of the story is at http://www.miamiherald.com/775/story/199096.html

It does not quite take the wisdom of Soloman. But it does take a decided effort to not choose to say this is truth. Instead this is what the writers wrote and what people have accepted as truth.

I believe that not only the bible but also religion be taught in our schools. I find it alarming that although we consider ourselves a religious nation studies show that only ten percent of American teenagers can name all the 5 major world religions and 15 percent cannot name any. In order for us to enter the conversation of what is really happening around the world intelligently we need to address a nation of growing religious illiteracy.

It is crucial that students be taught religion in public schools. How else will students develop morality and a conscience of what is right and what is wrong? Religion also offers an alternative to the evolutionary theory. Without religion being taught, students will assume there are no other options but to believe we came from apes. Teaching religion will force kids to think for themselves and decide truth rather than just accepting whatever the teacher says as truth

I’m opposed to teaching the Bible in public schools primarily because I think it is the responsibity of the parents to teach religion (or not) to their children. And if we are talking about “the Bible” – to which one are we referring? It sounds as if the New Testament is the only one being discussed. That just seems wrong to me. Maybe a comparative religion course where all “bibles” are discussed would be more acceptable – although I don’t think any course of that nature should be mandatory. Parents have the option of sending their children to religious schools if they want more exposure for their kids. And some people don’t want their children exposed to any of these stories – and they have that right as well.

Teaching the Bible in public schools would be a wonderful thing. Exposure the foundations of certain religions may have a positive effect on reducing some of the bias that developes at these early ages. We have found that bias is directly correlated to ignorance ending in violence.
Leaving this sensitive topic up to parents, in many families, is counterproductive. Remember – the apple does not fall far from the tree. This is a rare opportunity to break the chain of hatred that stems from a lack of knowledge of people who are different.
As far as I always understood, the Bible consisted of two Testaments – the old and the new. You can’t have the second without the first.
Also I wanted to mention that religion has been taught in school all along – Greek and Roman Mythology. Guess it is okay to teach religion as long as you change the description, and it has become a dead belief, I think (you never know!).
Thank you for all your interesting views. Hope you had a good weekend.

It is almost impossible to understand Shakespeare and other classic writings without knowing the Bible. The Bible is quoted all over the place in Washington, D.C. It would be helpful to know the context of those quotes. There is no greater book ever written. Talk about a CLASSIC!!!

I strongly believe that the Bible should be taught in schools to further what, hopefully, is being taught in the home. I find it amazing at how so many individuals are opposed to the Bible being taught in schools and being referred to as THE TRUTH. While at the same time, there are inexhaustable hours where anyone can teach and watch virtually every point of view there is about sex and other immoral programs ad-nausiem. This is what amazes me–and we wonder what is happening to the nation and our country.

First before one can teach the bible in the schools, we have to get God back in the schools. And for some people they do not want that.
Its very hard to teach the bible or even mention God in the school’s today for to many people are offened by it. And its called law suit.
Its just like putting an navitity scene up in your yard at Christmas and having your neighbor tell you that you have to take it down because it offends them. And they bring a lawsuit against you.
Kids today cannot even pray, not even at a football games.
Try to pray in school in a classroom and see what happens.
And bring the bible in schools, please, that is a bigger law suit.

I understand that teaching the Bible can be confused with teaching religion. I am a Christian and I am going to school to be a teacher. In a sophmore college class I took we studied the book of Job, Dante’s poetry about hell, and other classical liturature and not one person in class was offended because they had to read a story from the Bible. it is very dificult to study classical lit without looking at works from the Bible. I also find it difficult to study history with out mentioning Jesus, because of the impact that He had. I mean come on, the calender that we use today is based on the birth of Christ. Teaching the Bible in public schools is not about teaching children to pray, it is about teaching history and literature. You could even go so far as to say it can teach maners. It is not nice to kill, steal, or lie. Who doesn’t want their children to know that? So many of us want public schools to reinforce what we teach at home, lets teach our children about Moses and the ten commandments at school to show that we as people in general have always had a problem with our manners. I could go on and on but I will stop here. thank you

I’ve been an advocate for teaching Bible in the public school arena for about 7 or 8 years. After much research I found that it could be done LEGALLY. In fact, it is taught as a literature elective in the public high schools in our school system. Remember this straight from the word of God: …(the word) “will not teturn to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
(Isaiah 55:11). All our job is to make it available to students, God takes care of the rest!!