Required readings would include passages from Old and New Testament for students in middle school
The conservative-majority Texas State Board of Education is considering adding at least 15 passages from the Bible to a required reading list as part of English lessons in public schools – the latest push from conservatives to implement Christianity into school curriculums.
Beginning in middle school, Texas students could be forced to read stories from the Bible including Jonah and the Whale, David and Goliath, and Lamentations 3 in addition to passages such as The Definition of Love from the New Testament, according to the list reported by the New York Times.
The new proposed changes have raised concerns from advocacy groups and academics who believe the changes will teach children a one-sided history lesson and “indoctrinate” students.
See you in court, Pharisees.
They gonna be real angry when they get to Leviticus and find out what foods they can’t eat…
Lol, jk they’ll skip the inconvenient sections.
Good, the best way to get more atheists is to force students to read the Bible.
it’s ridiculous tripe
I was finishing elementary school in the late 1960s, in extreme right wing Anaheim, California. Twice a month, the (public) schools had something called “released time religion.” Two trailers would pull up to school, one for the Catholics and one for the Holy Rollers. The kids whose parents had signed a release would spend the afternoon learning Jesus things. The rest of us were expected to sit quietly, reflecting on our moral inadequacy for not being in the trailer.
As you might imagine, the majority of students who did go to the trailer, took umbrage at those who did not. And even then, I noted that there was nothing for the Jewish or Muslim or Hindu kids.
As soon as they replace aircraft carriers and guns with thoughts and prayer.
I don’t care what the bible says.
Like others in here, I have a lot of concerns about indoctrination and separation between religion and government. However, I can see a serious argument for Jonah and the Whale and especially David and Goliath as cultural touchstones that are regularly referenced in modern media. Other stories may be a harder pitch, maybe Cain & Abel?
Yeah, if I set aside my deep seated hatred for religious people undermining the Texas public education system-
I do actually think some of those stories are relevant literature to have read, alongside beowulf, epic of gilgamesh, the Iliad, arthurian legends, etc.
Kids, there’s plenty of verses to read from if you’re called upon. Try this one first:
NIV Ezekiel 23:20 “There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.”
I don’t mind them reading the Bible, if they are able to read the whole thing, one end to the other. For many people, a thorough reading of the bible beginning to end is what causes them to question Christianity and realize that it is a population control tool for those with power (and riches), not the word of a God. It is such an incoherent mess that cannot literally be followed - if you follow one edict, you break another. Reading it destroys the idea that an all powerful, all knowing God was it’s roundabout creator. If there was a God surely it could have done a better job, even using inadequate humans to produce the product. So, after reading, you know it was a man made project. The Koran and Torah yield similar results. I think that is the main reason why religions try, or have tried in the past, to restrict reading to a select few leaders and try to keep the propaganda to what they want it to mean at any given time in history.
The Koran and Torah yield similar results. I think that is the main reason why religions try, or have tried in the past, to restrict reading to a select few leaders and try to keep the propaganda to what they want it to mean at any given time in history.
Regarding the Koran, your statement is verifiably false. It was widely read and memorized by the masses so that a select few leaders couldn’t control what they want it to mean.
Do you know how long and boring that is? This would be like just a dozen pages.
Sure. Throw in major stories from other religions, Along with Native People’s, too.
There are some passages they could read to open their eyes about religion. Those that their pastor never uses in church…
Abolish government schools
I went to Christian school. It’s worse.
And replace with…? Thanks for the fruitless comment.
Texas recently passed a law preventing books that involve sex from being in libraries. The story of Lot and his daughters, and the famous quote in Ezekiel mean the bible should be banned under that law.
Force them to read the whole bible. Nobody who actually reads the bible remains a theist.
Talk about how to get kids to reject religion. Do they think this is going to convert these kids?
I don’t think it’s about conversion. I see it as keeping those already born and entrenched having it normalized as part of a “christian nation” to further prevent critical thinking.
