Bible goes back to school
Starting this fall, high school students wanting to learn about Moses, Christ, Noah and the Prodigal Son will have state sanction to do so.
On Feb. 11, 2009, the Knox County School Board sanctioned how the Bible should be taught in public the schools.
The curriculum is in response to 2008 legislation, which authorized the state to create a course for nonsectarian, nonreligious, academic study of the Bible.
State officials said an attempt has been made to develop principles safe from court challenges. But others believe state-approved Bible courses would violate church and state separation, depending on who is teaching the course.
Hedy Weinberg, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of The State, has concerns that the classes would be used to proselytize. But there are few details on how the classes will be run.
“Whether these classes are constitutional depends on who teaches them and how they are taught,” she said.
The guidelines do not recommend a specific textbook or require that teachers make use of literature from other religions available to students. The course covers biblical readings, how historical figures such as President Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. used the Bible, and the timeline of biblical events, among other topics.
State officials looked to other states with Bible courses, including Texas, Alabama and Georgia, when developing curriculum and determining what legal pitfalls to avoid.
Bible courses in Knox County have been popular with students and problem-free, and educators do not expect to see a huge increase of schools in Tennessee that will offer the course.
The course is an elective, meaning high schools can choose whether to offer it to students as a social studies credit, and
students can decide whether to take it. Before the state-approved curriculum, school districts could develop and offer their own courses on the Bible, and according to state social studies specialist Brenda Ables, some of these classes have been offered for years.
Students will learn the content of the Bible and its historical context. They'll also learn that different traditions organize the Bible differently.
Ables said the legislation actually complicates the issue because it doesn't require districts with existing Bible courses to convert to the state's curriculum.
State officials now agree that the focus must shift to properly training educators who will teach the course.
