Why not Bible study in schools?

[joeboonda]

how do you teach atheism exactly...as far as I can tell atheism is not believing in a god and nothing else.

For shame they decided to stick with proveable facts and world wide accepted sciences, theories and classes in school. How dare they.

lol, ok they dont TEACH atheism, and I am glad they teach sound facts in school. All I am saying is that in America, there was a time when they taught the Bible, the ten commandments, prayed aloud the Lord's Prayer, and actually had prayer in school. I am not saying that I think its very possible or probable that they ever will again, so please don't attack me for such a small thing.

 

[Jaymes]

There was also a time when slaves were acceptable.

I'm sorry if anyone has come off as attacking. The Bible in school is just something we all seem to have strong feelings about.

 

[nonda]

There are other ways for kids to learn about morals then teaching the bible, and also it is not the schools job to teach the kid’s morals that’s the parents job because it is their child and they may not wan their child to exposed to the values that the school thinks are right. Also you could never decide which morals are "better" it is all a matter of opinion and is a personal decision that can't be controlled by the state.



The reason there is more shootings at public schools is because (usually) only the elite and upper middle class go to private schools because their parents can afford it but people who live below the poverty line have no choice but to go to public school. Also if a private school can select the kids that go to their school if a child has a history of violence they can deny him, public schools don't have that option, so that claim even though true proves nothing.

My childern go to public school! Since when did it cost money to teach our childern the difference between right and wrong. Yes it is our jobs as parents to teach them morals, but the schools job too. I send my childern to school to learn not to possibly be harmed. That is where bible study falls into play. Teachings of good behavior and how students should treat another. Kids learn through example why not start with the bible. If you have anyother suggestions on how this can be done please do so. Oh yeah . PTO or PTA only voices the opinons of the parents whos childern our in sports or acdemic programs.

 

[nonda]

Add one where? From what other subjects do you suggest we subtract time for teaching Bible stories? Are you also going to teach the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, the Torah, the Book of Mormon, the Tao Te Ching, Buddhist religious texts, the I Ching.. etc, etc, etc?

If you want to teach your kid Bible stories, do so at home or church. It's not the school's job, they have enough to teach.

How about Study hall. Maybe if we took up most of their time while in school, students probally won't that much time to get into trouble!! I take it you do not have childern in shcool yet or any kids at all for that matter.

 

[Jaymes]

Kids learn through example why not start with the bible. If you have anyother suggestions on how this can be done please do so.

Why not start with the Tao te Ching or Quran or Satanic Bible or Buddhist Sutras? I see no reason to promote one over the other.

 

[nonda]

Why not start with the Tao te Ching or Quran or Satanic Bible or Buddhist Sutras? I see no reason to promote one over the other.

Ok only if those bibles or religions will he start the stop to students harming other students in school. People wine about what happens or needs to be done but never put a foot foward to help. I was merely putting out a option!!

 

[Jaymes]

What makes you think religion will stop kids from hurting each other? Kids have always been cruel. I've had a self-professed 'Christian' hold me at scalpel-blade point because I pointed out she was making the incision randomly instead of doing the lab like we were supposed to do. Religion isn't going to help in these situations.

 

[The Giz]

If a school offers Bible...why do people assume its FORCE? Thats prolly the more ignorant inconsistancies I see that go along with any school having an elective class on any faith.

The reason people assume by force is because if you want to teach the "morality" of the bible to students that way there will be less violence, then it must be mandatory. Because if you teach some students the difference between right and wrong and others not then what are you really accomplishing? That said you can't force morality, a subjective matter, down people's throats especially children because children are very susceptible to what authority figures tell them. Having a bible study in school would be very convenient for christian families because that's just one less thing they'd have to worry about. However, all other families would have even more work on their hands explaining to their children that their teachers are "wrong". Which in turn seems to me would make children lose faith and respect for authority.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Kids learn through example why not start with the bible.

Where we can justify the biocide of the Flood, the mark of Ham, the killing of the first-born prior to the Exodus, the genocide of the Midianites, and the ethnic cleansing of the Amalekites?

Where we can justify a backward attitude towards women?

Where we can characterize same-sex relationships as abominations deserving death?

Of course, we would not confront this ugliness were we to teach, say, the religion of the Deists, or the views of Spinoza's Pantheism, or perhaps the tolerance of Bahai. And we certainly would not face such ugliness were we to teach Confucianism or Secular Humanism or even Ethics.

Perhaps one of these latter options could be seen as a reasonable compromise. Somehow, however, I suspect that those who want the Bible in the class will strongly reject such an approach.

 

[Scuba Pete]

The Bible has no place being taught in public schools as part of their curriculum.

It also has no place being banned in schools. Bible studies should be allowed as much as an athletic event, or the band. Clerics of all faiths should be given room to conduct studies of THEIR religion ON CAMPUS and without prejudice. It does not matter what others think or believe. The first amendment tells us that we can pass NO LAW concerning a religion. This does not mean "seperation" as most of the athiests would define it. It means INCLUSION of all beliefs no matter how silly they seem to Deut. Room should be given to ALL non-profits, including the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts and the Gay Rights Movement. No one is special and ALL should be supported.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

The Bible has no place being taught in public schools as part of their curriculum. It also has no place being banned in schools. Bible studies should be allowed as much as an athletic event, or the band. ... It means INCLUSION of all beliefs no matter how silly they seem to Deut.

I completely agree.

 

[Green Gaia]

How about Study hall. Maybe if we took up most of their time while in school, students probally won't that much time to get into trouble!! I take it you do not have childern in shcool yet or any kids at all for that matter.

You'd be wrong in your assumption. I do have children, one in school. I teach them morals at home and church, I don't expect the schools to be a parent for me.

 

[niamhwitch]

I take it you do not have childern in shcool yet or any kids at all for that matter.

Hmm, I am not Maize, but if I were her, I would be offended by that assumption... even if it were true.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

The truly offensive implication is that ethical conduct requires Christian education.

 

[joeboonda]

Where we can justify the biocide of the Flood, the mark of Ham, the killing of the first-born prior to the Exodus, the genocide of the Midianites, and the ethnic cleansing of the Amalekites?

Where we can justify a backward attitude towards women?

Where we can characterize same-sex relationships as abominations deserving death?

Of course, we would not confront this ugliness were we to teach, say, the religion of the Deists, or the views of Spinoza's Pantheism, or perhaps the tolerance of Bahai. And we certainly would not face such ugliness were we to teach Confucianism or Secular Humanism or even Ethics.

Perhaps one of these latter options could be seen as a reasonable compromise. Somehow, however, I suspect that those who want the Bible in the class will strongly reject such an approach.

A bit angry,eh? The generation before the flood had become completely violent and evil, and God destroyed them with sorrow, promising not to again. The killing of the Egyptians first born was a last resort because of the hard heart of Pharoah, the killing of the Amalekites and the Midianites, was due to their being extremely, extremely evil in the sight of God. Women are to be loved as we would love ourselves, to dress modestly, not speak in tongues, or usurp authority over a man in church and to have a covering when they prayed (hair), and Jesus forgave the woman caught in adultery, Proverbs 31 is a beautiful ode to a wife, so its not backward. Death of same-sex people was to the Jews in the old testament because it was an abomination to God, and they were his chosen people and were to be set apart. The new testament does not say to kill them, but to love one another in Christ. The Bible teaches us to love all people and respect them and treat them as we want to be treated, that is not a bad thing. So lighten up a bit, okay?

 

[Pah]

I thought sure this was a debate until I looked at where it was - in General Discussion. The Discussion section is for just posting an opinion not in contesting another's opinion or having to defend your own.

Some people put a thread in Discussion just for that purpose. Don't continue to ruin it for those who have that idea.

NOW you can debate!

 

[Jaymes]

Punishing every firstborn in Egypt because of the acts of one? Nice...

I sure hope God doesn't get angry and decide to punish every firstborn in the US over the acts of President Bush.

 

[ch'ang]

My childern go to public school! Since when did it cost money to teach our childern the difference between right and wrong. Yes it is our jobs as parents to teach them morals, but the schools job too. I send my childern to school to learn not to possibly be harmed. That is where bible study falls into play. Teachings of good behavior and how students should treat another. Kids learn through example why not start with the bible. If you have anyother suggestions on how this can be done please do so. Oh yeah . PTO or PTA only voices the opinons of the parents whos childern our in sports or acdemic programs.

I would just like to let you know that I am currently going into my sophomore year of a public high school so I meant no offense by my first statement, its just the facts. Secondly it is not the schools job to baby-sit the kids attending, they are there to teach about Science, Math, English and History not to teach kids about what is right and wrong (partly because they are subjective while all the aforementioned subjects are not). It is the parent’s job to teach their kids what is right and wrong in their world view not make the school responsible for it.

 

[joeboonda]

Punishing every firstborn in Egypt because of the acts of one? Nice...

I sure hope God doesn't get angry and decide to punish every firstborn in the US over the acts of President Bush.

I hope he doesn't punish us for killing millions of our own babies!!!

The Egyptians were killing the male babies of the Jews for 400 years, so it was just, but talk to Him if you don't like it, I didn't do it.

 

[Jaymes]

That's one way to avoid the point, yes.