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Opinion
 

Staff Editorial

                        Robyn Morrow             Chris Elliott                        
                                               John Arterbury       Caitlin Cuppernull

Proposal to put Bible in school, might not get far 

House Bill 1287, which would allow Texas school districts to teach the Bible as a text in literary courses, could be beneficial to some students, if executed to perfection, but it looks like a bill asking for trouble.

The logic behind the proposal is on point. The Bible has had a huge impact in Western Civilization. Wars were waged on behalf of its text and teachings. The Bible has had a direct effect on American culture, values and history in some way.

That's exactly what Warren Chisum envisioned when he wrote the bill.

"We're not going to preach the bible," Chisum said to the Houston Chronicle. "We're going to teach the Bible and how it affects all of our writings, documents and the formation of our government."

It should be noted, however, that Chisum, a Republican from Pampa, has frequently proposed and resurrected bills to ban gay marriage, and keep abortion clinics out of Texas.

The likelihood of most teachers conducting the course with objectivity is slim. Discussions in classes on such a sensitive topic are bound to break out and it's human nature to want to insert your own two cents. The teachers for these high school courses would have to undergo some additional training. 

A solution could be to assimilate the historical value of the Bible into the curriculum and textbooks for history classes. Clips of the Bible's text could be used as examples. If it's done for Greek and Roman mythology, including some text from the Bible is justified.

The controversy will outweigh the benefits of the bill. There is no doubt that lawsuits from parents who do not want their children to be exposed to Christianity will soon follow. Narrow-minded people will take the courses just to preach their views and shoot down others.

It will be interesting to see how far this bill will make it.