Elective Bible Courses Victory and Update
Why Elective Bible Courses in Public Schools?
Purpose – to help students understand history and culture, and great works of art and literature. See the following examples:
o Literary works - Shakespeare, John Milton, Canterbury Tales
They presuppose that one has some knowledge of the Bible and that knowledge will assist in a greater understanding of such literature.
o Arts - Painting of the Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci (considered “one of the most widely appreciated masterpieces in the world).
The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy -“No one in the English-speaking world can be considered literate without a basic knowledge of the Bible…The Bible is also essential for understanding many of the moral and spiritual values of our culture, whatever our religious beliefs.”
· The American School Board Journal reported in 1998 that 80% of the respondents to its poll favor teaching the Bible in public schools.
· Constitutional: The United States Supreme Court has stated –
“[I]t might well be said that one's education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization. It certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment,” School Dist. of Abington Township v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 225 (1963)(June 17, 1963)
The “study of religions and of the Bible from a literary and historic viewpoint, presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, need not collide with the First Amendment's prohibition…” Epperson v. Arkansas, 393 U.S. 97, 106 (1968)(November 12, 1968)
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