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The following article appeared in 'The Columbus Dispatch' on Friday, June 24th. It's probably controversial, but I think it connects with points I've attempted to make in my Nudity and Religion topic concerning the seeming conflict between CFF's homepage and the rules governing what can be discussed, and how, in the forums. It's my impression that simply quoting the Bible--uncommented upon--in the forums would, chances are, be considered hateful / flaming, with the poster or replier being warned or banned.
Today I drilled down to read the rest of the "Why Nude Recreation?" article which starts on the homepage. It gets much more specific, and I think several would think, objectionable. Seems to me that talking about Jesus and sin and quoting New Testament scriptures, as "Why Nude Recreation" does, would be unacceptable to some people here.
Here's the editorial:
As cornerstone of culture, Bible should be taught in public schools
Friday, June 24, 2005
PAU L GREENBERG
In this age of biblical illiteracy, the good news is that some public schools are offering classes in the Bible — much like monks in the Dark Ages laboriously copying the works of Plato and Aristotle in the sure faith that one day there would be a renaissance of classical learning.
But we live in times when the Book may be given a wide berth by prudent school administrators, lest they be accused of mixing church and state and wind up on the wrong side of a lawsuit.
These days there are few more effective impediments to education (and many another worthwhile endeavor) than the threat of litigation. This time it's the Bible that's been the victim of that well- known chilling effect. Sue one school district, and you can instill fear in a thousand others.
This is how the law of the land, or rather an exaggerated caricature of it in the minds of educators, winds up promoting ignorance.
How strange: Inquiring minds might be urged to study every failed prophet from Karl Marx to Che Guevara, but they're told not to eat of the Tree of Life in the midst of the garden. The most profound of books, both deeply conservative and genuinely revolutionary, is the one declared off- limits.
How did we get to this pass? Through a series of vague, confusing court decisions that left educators fearful of crossing some imagined line. The separation of church and state is a wholesome precaution in a free country. Unfortunately, it's been equated with the separation of religious ideas from American life. Can't be done. Not in a nation founded in the faith that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. (Talk about a concise summary of the theory of natural law!)
For the timid, or downright fearful, the safest course for public education has been to avoid any discussion of spiritual values. The result: Many students are sent out into the world without having been exposed to the King James Bible, which is not only Holy Scripture but a cornerstone, if not the very foundation, of English literature.
In such a culture, or absence of culture, ignorance has flourished.
According to a survey sponsored by the Bible Literacy Project, only one out of three American teenagers could say who in the Bible asked, ‘‘Am I my brother's keeper?" And only a third knew what happened on the road to Damascus.
To quote one teacher: ‘‘I'll make comparisons . . . like Noah and the ark, or like Moses, and I'll have kids kind of look at me: ‘Who's Noah?' ‘Who's Moses?' "
Another teacher felt compelled to drop Charles Portis' True Grit from the class reading list because, although it's the kind of book you'd think would be perfect for young Americans, the kids were stumped by its biblical allusions.
There's hope. Here and there, courses in the Bible as literature are springing up.
Both the National Bible Association and the First Amendment Center agree that the Bible should be offered in public school. So do the National Association of Evangelicals and People for the American Way, outfits that seldom agree about anything else.
God bless 'em all.
So long as public schools educate instead of indoctrinate, so long as they teach rather than preach, they should have no problem staying on the right side of the Constitution.
Of course it'll require some judgment, a little common sense and maybe a handy set of guidelines to conduct a class in the Bible as literature rather than as religious doctrine. But there are a lot of teachers out there capable of teaching such a course, and it would be a shame to go on turning out high-school graduates who are biblical illiterates.
Paul Greenberg is the Pulitzer prizewinning editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat- Gazette.
[email protected]
Today I drilled down to read the rest of the "Why Nude Recreation?" article which starts on the homepage. It gets much more specific, and I think several would think, objectionable. Seems to me that talking about Jesus and sin and quoting New Testament scriptures, as "Why Nude Recreation" does, would be unacceptable to some people here.
Here's the editorial:
As cornerstone of culture, Bible should be taught in public schools
Friday, June 24, 2005
PAU L GREENBERG
In this age of biblical illiteracy, the good news is that some public schools are offering classes in the Bible — much like monks in the Dark Ages laboriously copying the works of Plato and Aristotle in the sure faith that one day there would be a renaissance of classical learning.
But we live in times when the Book may be given a wide berth by prudent school administrators, lest they be accused of mixing church and state and wind up on the wrong side of a lawsuit.
These days there are few more effective impediments to education (and many another worthwhile endeavor) than the threat of litigation. This time it's the Bible that's been the victim of that well- known chilling effect. Sue one school district, and you can instill fear in a thousand others.
This is how the law of the land, or rather an exaggerated caricature of it in the minds of educators, winds up promoting ignorance.
How strange: Inquiring minds might be urged to study every failed prophet from Karl Marx to Che Guevara, but they're told not to eat of the Tree of Life in the midst of the garden. The most profound of books, both deeply conservative and genuinely revolutionary, is the one declared off- limits.
How did we get to this pass? Through a series of vague, confusing court decisions that left educators fearful of crossing some imagined line. The separation of church and state is a wholesome precaution in a free country. Unfortunately, it's been equated with the separation of religious ideas from American life. Can't be done. Not in a nation founded in the faith that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. (Talk about a concise summary of the theory of natural law!)
For the timid, or downright fearful, the safest course for public education has been to avoid any discussion of spiritual values. The result: Many students are sent out into the world without having been exposed to the King James Bible, which is not only Holy Scripture but a cornerstone, if not the very foundation, of English literature.
In such a culture, or absence of culture, ignorance has flourished.
According to a survey sponsored by the Bible Literacy Project, only one out of three American teenagers could say who in the Bible asked, ‘‘Am I my brother's keeper?" And only a third knew what happened on the road to Damascus.
To quote one teacher: ‘‘I'll make comparisons . . . like Noah and the ark, or like Moses, and I'll have kids kind of look at me: ‘Who's Noah?' ‘Who's Moses?' "
Another teacher felt compelled to drop Charles Portis' True Grit from the class reading list because, although it's the kind of book you'd think would be perfect for young Americans, the kids were stumped by its biblical allusions.
There's hope. Here and there, courses in the Bible as literature are springing up.
Both the National Bible Association and the First Amendment Center agree that the Bible should be offered in public school. So do the National Association of Evangelicals and People for the American Way, outfits that seldom agree about anything else.
God bless 'em all.
So long as public schools educate instead of indoctrinate, so long as they teach rather than preach, they should have no problem staying on the right side of the Constitution.
Of course it'll require some judgment, a little common sense and maybe a handy set of guidelines to conduct a class in the Bible as literature rather than as religious doctrine. But there are a lot of teachers out there capable of teaching such a course, and it would be a shame to go on turning out high-school graduates who are biblical illiterates.
Paul Greenberg is the Pulitzer prizewinning editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat- Gazette.
[email protected]
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