On Tuesday, March 29, 2011, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette published an editorial in favor of HB 1032, a bill passed by the House of Representatives during the 88th Arkansas General Assembly paving the way for the Bible to be taught in the state’s public schools, “...where it should have been taught as an integral part of our literature, history and thought.” The editorial begins by culturally equating the Bible with Shakespeare, the two being recognised “...as twin pillars of not just English Literature but Western Civilization. Wherever the English-speaking peoples went, these books would go, for they were compact storehouses of wisdom, strength and beauty.”
Let’s forget about Shakespeare, early in this argument, as he is merely a straw man bending in the wind of political discourse. And let’s accept as a given that the collection of antiquities we call the Bible has had the most pervasive and far-reaching consequences for what we call “Western Civilization.” It is a heritage sewn into the very historic fabric of our being. Denying this, as many left-leaning thinkers do, does not make it so. On the contrary, not acknowledging this basic historical premise is not simple ignorance, it is the blackest propaganda, smacking of Stalinist Russia and Maoist China.
Undoubtedly, the Bible should be taught in public school: as a living artifact of history, a literary coelacanthe whose poignant and often violent evolution mimics our own civilization’s growing pains. The history of the Bible—from the first oral recounting uttered by ancient Sumarians in the crotch of the Tigris-Euphrates, to St. Jerome’s translation into Latin, to Constantine’s legitimization of Christianity, to Martin Luther’s bone-to-pick with Roman Catholicism, to King James I convening the Hampton Court Conference in 1604 to address problems detected by the Puritans in earlier English translations—is a heady story indeed, full of drama and intrigue too depraved to have been fiction.
Article comments
1 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Good Article...
Hell, we can't even teach proper fact-based history accurately. What's going to happen to the students when the teachers have to try and navigate & translate that unintelligible mess.
The major problem I have with comparing Shakespeare to the bible is that Shakespeare's work has always been considered food for thought,yet, fiction nonetheless.
2 - Mike Swims
I agree with Brian's first sentence, and his first sentence only. Everything else was obviously a biased opinion.
The fact remains, however, that we are now rewriting history to make it seem "less offensive" to others. We don't even teach that correctly. Is this another step in minimizing the Bible? Who knows. We'll just have to wait and see.
However, when we try to teach any religion with a sectarian viewpoint is doomed to fail. To use an analogy, it's like trying to change a tire on the Mars Rover using a carrot and a toothpick. It wont work.
3 - Dr Dreadful
However, when we try to teach any religion with a sectarian viewpoint is doomed to fail. To use an analogy, it's like trying to change a tire on the Mars Rover using a carrot and a toothpick. It wont work.
Then it's best not to teach it at all. Using the importance of the Bible in American history as an excuse, while this is quite true, won't work. People of many other religious traditions have also contributed to America. Native American religions were already here; after the Christians came Chinese laborers with their Daoist and Buddhist beliefs, then Mormons, then Jews, then Muslims, then Hindus and so on. Many of them were just as faith-driven as the Mayflower pilgrims.
I disagree that it's not possible to teach about a religion from the outside. You may not end up with a deep understanding of the religion itself, but you will understand its influence on culture and history. If you want more than that, a church/shul/mosque/temple can teach you better than any school could.
4 - C. Michael Bailey
To Dr. Dreadful: If you have not read it, you might find Stephen Prothero's " Religious Literacy - What Every American Needs to Know - and Doesn’t." This is the heart of my position in general.