[Vision2020] Boise Man Seeks to Put Bible Education in IdahoSchools

[Kai Eiselein]

Joe,
I'd support you teaching logic to grade schoolers, but only if you dressed 
and acted like Spock.
Can you do the one raised eyebrow thing?

Live long and prosper.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Campbell" <philosopher.joe at gmail.com>
To: "Sue Hovey" <suehovey at moscow.com>
Cc: "Moscow Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 7:30 AM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Boise Man Seeks to Put Bible Education in 
IdahoSchools


> Great post, Sue! Maybe I should start a petition to teach logic in
> grade school. I'd have less of a problem with folks taking a Bible
> course as an "elective" if they had to take logic along with it.
>
> Joe Campbell
>
> On Jun 22, 2009, at 10:37 PM, "Sue Hovey" <suehovey at moscow.com> wrote:
>
>> Great idea.  I'll teach it.  I had a  high school Bible class
>> once...It was
>> taught by a wonderful man, our Southern Baptist pastor, and I hung
>> on every
>> word he said. I recall he told the one Catholic in the class he
>> didn't have
>> to believe everything in the lectures, but he needed to take notes
>> so he
>> could give the correct answers on the quizzes.   Then I went off to
>> Baylor
>> University and learned a lot more about the Bible (King James version,
>> naturally)--especially the New Testament. I know for a fact that Jesus
>> didn't turn water into the drink we know as wine--it was more like
>> Kool Aid.
>> (Remember, we didn't dance at Baylor either.)   I'd have a bit of
>> problem
>> teaching the Bible as "the greatest book ever written," as I've read
>> quite a
>> few books with considerably more literary merit--(I'm thinking
>> Huckleberry
>> Finn.)  It couldn't be taught as fiction--that would antagonize
>> fundamentalists, or as history--historians would bring suit, or as
>> science
>> (well maybe in Idaho).  And in high school I'd probably decide not
>> to deal
>> with Song of Solomon, or the admonition to burn witches (high school
>> students sometimes have a bit of trouble with inference:  "if
>> witches tend
>> to be female, then females tend to be teachers, therefore teachers
>> tend to
>> be witches--we'll use the homecoming bonfire."
>>
>> Even with my credentials, fundamentalist parents would consider me
>> not a
>> good choice. They would be correct.   And of course we couldn't have a
>> Jewish teacher--no New Testament; or an athiest or agnostic, or even a
>> deist--not religious enough.  An LDS?  Heavens, they'd probably use
>> the Book
>> of Mormon as a supplemental text.  A Jehovah's Witness--thank goodness
>> they'd refuse, but they'd want to distribute their literature.  Not a
>> Unitarian either, everyone just knows they don't have a good handle on
>> belief.  Even the  KKK, when they burned crosses in the South, planted
>> question marks ? in the yards of Unitarians.
>>
>> Seriously,  even as an elective course, an appropriate and
>> historically
>> accurate teaching of the Bible as literature would be impossible.
>> Perhaps
>> it caused limited damage in my little homogeneous hometown of  50
>> years ago,
>> but even though we had a wonderful, compassionate, intelligent
>> teacher, he
>> was unable to distance himself from doctrine.  And he would have
>> faulted
>> himself as a minister had he done so.  I think a serious, intelligent
>> teacher would be equally incapable of designing a curriculum which
>> would be
>> inoffensive to the students who might elect that high school class.
>> And if
>> it were, I doubt it would be worth the students' time.
>>
>> When you are offered the chance to sign that petition, think about
>> it, and
>> then refuse.
>>
>> Sue Hovey
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
>> To: "Moscow Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>> Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 8:21 AM
>> Subject: [Vision2020] Boise Man Seeks to Put Bible Education in Idaho
>> Schools
>>
>>
>>> Courtesy of today's (June 22, 2009) Moscow-Pullman Daily News.
>>>
>>> ----------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> Boise man seeks to put Bible education in Idaho schools
>>> Petition supports ballot initiative allowing non-sectarian study of
>>> the
>>> Bible
>>> By Halley Griffin, Daily News staff writer
>>>
>>> Chuck Seldon is a man on a mission.
>>>
>>> The Boise resident is working hard to bring Bible study back to
>>> public
>>> schools in Idaho, in the form of elective history or literature
>>> classes.
>>>
>>> "We have a year and a half to get 51,000 signatures, and then it
>>> goes on
>>> the ballot and we've got the Bible back into the public schools,"
>>> said
>>> Seldon, 77, a retired educator and founder of Our Godly American
>>> Heritage,
>>> a group working to bring Bible curriculum back into public schools.
>>>
>>> He must gather at least 51,000 signatures from registered Idaho
>>> voters to
>>> get the initiative on the 2010 general election ballot.
>>>
>>> The initiative would add a section of Idaho Code authorizing school
>>> boards
>>> to offer an elective Bible course in public secondary schools.
>>>
>>> The proposed statute reads, "Recognizing that the United States
>>> Supreme
>>> Court declared in Abington v. Schempp (1963) that '(t)he Bible is
>>> worth of
>>> study for its literary and historic qualities' and that 'such study
>>> of the
>>> Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as a part of a
>>> secular
>>> program of education' is consistent with the First Amendment of the
>>> United
>>> States Constitution, it shall be lawful for any local school board in
>>> Idaho to allow for elective Bible course curricula to be approved and
>>> offered in its public secondary schools."
>>>
>>> The Idaho Constitution states that "no sectarian or religious
>>> tenets or
>>> doctrines shall ever be taught in the public schools," but Seldon
>>> says the
>>> proposed statute forbids the endorsement of sectarian or
>>> denominational
>>> doctrine in the elective classes.
>>>
>>> Seldon and his wife "left the public schools in 1973 because we
>>> didn't
>>> like the direction they were going, and so we started setting up
>>> Christian
>>> schools around the world," he said.
>>>
>>> Seldon said he first heard of the National Council on Bible
>>> Curriculum in
>>> Public Schools, another group pushing for Bible curriculum in public
>>> schools, when he moved to Idaho to retire.
>>>
>>> The group's Web site claims its Bible curriculum has been voted
>>> into 487
>>> school districts in 38 states to date.
>>>
>>> Seldon said he got very excited when he learned about the project and
>>> decided to dedicate the rest of his life to the cause.
>>>
>>> "There's hope for our public schools. The greatest book ever
>>> written, and
>>> it's not in the public schools? It's amazing," he said.
>>>
>>> University of Idaho student Kate Carlson said she supports Seldon's
>>> project, and would willingly add her signature to the petition.
>>>
>>> "I am Christian and I fully believe in religious education," she
>>> said.
>>> "And not making people do it, but giving them the option. I
>>> definitely
>>> think it would be a good thing."
>>>
>>> Moscow resident Sharon Andres agreed.
>>>
>>> "I think that would be great," she said. "They throw everything
>>> else at
>>> the kids."
>>>
>>> ----------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> Comments?
>>>
>>> Tom Hansen
>>> Moscow, Idaho
>>>
>>> "The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to
>>> change
>>> and the Realist adjusts his sails."
>>>
>>> - Unknown
>>>
>>>
>>> =======================================================
>>> List services made available by First Step Internet,
>>> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>>>              http://www.fsr.net
>>>         mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>>> =======================================================
>>
>> =======================================================
>> List services made available by First Step Internet,
>> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>>               http://www.fsr.net
>>          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>> =======================================================
>
> =======================================================
> List services made available by First Step Internet,
> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>               http://www.fsr.net
>          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> =======================================================