Studying the Bible in high school

Amanda reports on a move by Georgia Democrats to offer an elective on the Bible in high schools:

Reviving a controversial religious measure debated years ago, a group of Senate Democrats on Wednesday introduced a bill to create an elective high school class to teach the Bible.

If approved, the legislation would authorize the state Board of Education to adopt a state-funded academic course covering the good book's influence on literature, art, music, culture and politics.

"Are they kidding?" asked an incredulous Jeffrey Selman, a Cobb County father who fought evolution disclaimers in students' biology textbooks. "That's just a disguise to put the Bible back in the classroom."

Democrats downplayed the religious nature of the proposal, saying that to be well-educated, students must understand biblical allusions in Shakespeare or the religious roots of American democracy.

But Republicans criticized the move as simply pandering to faith-based voters in an election year.

"The Democrats are learning this year what Republicans for decades had to realize: When you are completely shut out of control, you have to play on the margins," said Matt Towery, a former GOP lawmaker who now runs an Atlanta political media firm. "This is reminiscent of many of the things we --- when I was a Republican state legislator --- had to introduce when we were in the minority."

The proposal, sponsored by Sens. Tim Golden of Valdosta, Doug Stoner of Smyrna and Kasim Reed of Atlanta, does not mandate a Bible studies course.

It only authorizes the state board, which is appointed by the governor, the option of creating one --- a move the Democrats say is necessary to protect school systems that choose to teach the classes.

"This is not about teaching faith. Teaching faith is up to the parents, not the public schools," said Golden, the lead sponsor. "But teaching Bible literacy is so important because . . . the impact of the Bible on literature, arts, music history and politics is woven into the very fabric of our society."

I happen to think this is a terrific idea -- if done correctly; "correctly" being to teach the Bible as literature.

For reasons that are a mystery to me still, but largely have to do with terror of new situations an immaturity, I chose at the age of 18 to go to Moravian College, a pissant little liberal arts school in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I spent four of the worst years of my life there. It was at Moravian that I really discovered anti-Semitism for the first time. It was at Moravian that I knew for certain that I was a weird geek and would forever be shunned by the pretty and the popular. Only an equally weird geeky boyfriend kept me sane for the last 2-1/2 years of being there.

One of the few rare highlights from my time there was the mandatory religion course. Yes, really. Of course, me being a Christ-killer, however lapsed, meant that "Old Testament" was the one course I could see myself taking. And for all that the professor was the kind of condescending grammar Nazi who gave me an A- instead of an A on a paper for referring to "raising" children rather than "rearing" children, it was, along with Art History, the most intersesting course of study in my entire four years. In fact, I was so intrigued that I elected to take a course in Biblical Hebrew in my senior year -- a decision which ended up winning me the Moravian Theological Seminary language prize in 1977 -- simply for having the best grade in the class of three people who took this course.

The reason why a course like the one I had in college would be so invaluable if taught in the public schools is that it would place the Bible in historical context, and teach students the Bible as allegory, as literature, as a means of trying to explain that which is inexplicable, and within the context of other mythical archetypes at the time. Toss in a little Joseph Campbell, and you'd have a hell of an interseting course.

The genius of this sort of proposal is that it would SEEM to give the Christofascists what they want -- Bible study in the public schools. The problem is that we're not talking about teaching the Bible as literal truth, but making an objective study of the book's importance to western culture -- which is not exactly what the religious freaks have in mind. Still, I think it's a brilliant idea, because it forces the Zombie Brigade to admit that what they really want is the Bible taught in the context of their own form of Christianity, and not just a return of the Bible to the schools.

Props to Georgia Democrats, for a brilliant and cynical ploy worthy of the Rove Machine, albeit one which could actually benefit the students who take such a course.