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

Sue Hovey suehovey at moscow.com
Wed Jun 24 20:56:51 PDT 2009


Ha...and that shows just how much you know.

Sue H.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
To: "Sue Hovey" <suehovey at moscow.com>
Cc: "Kai Eiselein" <editor at lataheagle.com>; "Joe Campbell" 
<philosopher.joe at gmail.com>; "Moscow Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 7:11 PM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Boise Man Seeks to Put Bible Education in 
IdahoSchools


> Sue stated:
>
> "Kai, his raised eyebrow wouldn't be enough....his ears aren't the right
> shape."
>
> To which I suggest:
>
> In Klingon:
> "yIchId tlhInganpu' tu'lu'be' 'e' luSov SenwI' rIlwI' je."
>
> English transplation:
> "Come on, everyone knows that Klingons don't exist!"
> (http://kisa.ca/klingon-phrases.html)
>
> DaHjajaj QaQ Daghajjaj, Moscow.
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
>
>> Kai, his raised eyebrow wouldn't be enough....his ears aren't the right
>> shape.
>>
>> Sue
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Kai Eiselein" <editor at lataheagle.com>
>> To: "Joe Campbell" <philosopher.joe at gmail.com>; "Sue Hovey"
>> <suehovey at moscow.com>
>> Cc: "Moscow Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>> Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 8:25 AM
>> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Boise Man Seeks to Put Bible Education in
>> IdahoSchools
>>
>>
>>> 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
>>>> =======================================================
>>>
>>
>> =======================================================
>>  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
>> =======================================================
>>
>
>
> "The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
> and the Realist adjusts his sails."
>
> - Unknown
>
> 



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