'Texas Public Schools Now Required To Teach The Bible' (West: bill, rated)

[theloneranger]

Originally Posted by Mary R.

Don't panic, the Ten Commandments are still being taken down, your president's staff insisted on the covering of the signage/symbols of Christ at Georgetown Univ. and ignored the National Day of Prayer (no White House event this year), the ACLU is still your ally in the secularization of America, 'In God We Trust' should be off your money soon, and Christmas trees are still shunned (and even illegal) in parts of New York/New Jersey. I suggest we consider the passion of Thomas Jefferson, who spoke these words that are etched on the wall of his memorial in Washington, D.C.: 'I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.'"

I don't know where the Ten Commandments are being taken down...most of the monuments were commissioned by Protestants and thus have the order down wrong anyways. The monument at the Texas Capitol is still there, and I haven't heard of any other movement to remove monuments to the Ten Commandments.

As for the "Christian symbolism" at Georgetown, the simple fact is that Obama was not giving a religious speech and the monogram of Christ's name (a Catholic symbol, by the way, which I can tell you aren't) simply did not fit in with the rest of the backdrop Georgetown had installed. It had nothing to do with Obama's theology, as he is a Christian, and had everything to do with making sure the backdrop actually looked professionally done and did not simply feature religous imagery floating in the midst of American flags and the White House logo, which would be inappropriate. The "Cross" was actually a crucifix, another thing which I can't see why you're angry about as evangelical right-wingers traditionally don't display crucifixes. The symbolism was all Roman Catholic, and like respectable citizens, the Jesuits covered the imagery to make sure the attention was on the President.

Why on earth you'd want God's name on something as dirty as money is beyond me. The vast majority of American bills have traces of cocaine on them--not something I want the name of God associated with.

Jefferson was opposed to Christian fundamentalism...in fact, he rewrote the Bible to exclude the miracles and the insistence on the divinity of Christ while leaving the moral teachings in.

This administration's respect for the seperation of church and state has been far superior to the Bush regime's. I don't even know why Bush behaved like such a Bible beater when the church he attends, Highland Park UMC, is relatively moderate-to-liberal theologically.

[mlassoff]

Originally Posted by nerdygirly

]Cause it kinda of irritated me when my son's science teacher told him the world in all likelyhood was only 6000 years old.

And we're going to trust that the BIBLE will be treated with an appropriate myth/literature perspective when state SCIENCE teachers are spreading this nonsense?

[catman]

Wow. A science teacher stated that? Incredible. Who needs the Bible to mess thing up when we have teachers like that?

[TexasTheKid]

Originally Posted by catman

Wow. A science teacher stated that? Incredible. Who needs the Bible to mess thing up when we have teachers like that?

Yep. Apparently it's not an elective afterall. The class is required and it's called science.

[achickenchaser]

Originally Posted by nerdygirly

On a side note though...since this class is being introduced can they start teaching evolution and big bang theory in science again? (rather than hastily gloss over it) Cause it kinda of irritated me when my son's science teacher told him the world in all likelyhood was only 6000 years old.

The world is roughly estimated at around 4.5 billion years old. Where in the world did this "science teacher" come up with such nonsense? There's physical evidence that dates it back to at least 3.8 - 3.9 billion years. Lemme guess....an old Earth doesn't agree with the Bible

Evolution should be taught to all kids in public schools. It isn't? Hearing this makes me sorta glad I don't have kids in school yet.

Bible bashers like to claim well "it's just a theory" so maybe it's not true. Newsflash: Technically speaking, there is no such thing as a scientific fact. Gravity is just a theory; the Earth rotating around the sun is just a theory. Perhaps we should have a counter argument taught against those two theories as well just to be fair. No? A bit ridiculous? No more silly than arguing against evolution (or is it eviloution?).

Millions of scientist have all come to the same conclusion on evolution. Arguing against it is the equivalent of arguing that tires aren't round and don't roll.

I see you live in Mauriceville. Well, that explains a lot of the problems right there. I'm sorry.

[TXNGL]

"Evolution should be taught to all kids in public schools. It isn't? Hearing this makes me sorta glad I don't have kids in school yet."

It is, actually. Just drives the young Earth creationists insane and they're very vocal about it. :-)

[achickenchaser]

Originally Posted by TXNGL

"Evolution should be taught to all kids in public schools. It isn't? Hearing this makes me sorta glad I don't have kids in school yet."

It is, actually. Just drives the young Earth creationists insane and they're very vocal about it. :-)

That's good to hear. I was about to go insane myself from the thought of it not being properly taught

[nerdygirly]

I agree with you all science teachers shouldn't be teaching the young earth theory, but a great many of them do(at least in this area) and glaze over everything else, inluding evolution (my son is in 8th grade and has yet to learn anything about evolution in school at all, I have a niece who graduated last year and never did). It is sad but my son is in 8th grade and has gotten in trouble more than once for debating science teachers on these topics (not being disrespectful, just telling them the vast majority of th scientific community disagree).

Back to the topic tho, I agree mlassoff with your comment about bible teachers treating the class as myth/literature, I doubt the majority of them well. It is incredibly hard for teachers to seperate personal views from their teaching especially when it comes to something like their religion (which many people believe defines them) which I the main reason I think such a class is better off not in public schools. History teachers have a time period in history they get a little more excited about, economics teachers think some things are more important than others, and english teachers prefer some books to others. So a teachers view points come out whether we want them to or not. I think it will be to hard to find truly non-bias teachers to teach a class like this.

And yeah I am in Mauriceville (my husband grew up here) but I do wanna move in a year or so hehe small towns just aren't for me!

[TXNGL]

I agree with you all science teachers shouldn't be teaching the young earth theory, but a great many of them do(at least in this area) and glaze over everything else, inluding evolution (my son is in 8th grade and has yet to learn anything about evolution in school at all, I have a niece who graduated last year and never did). It is sad but my son is in 8th grade and has gotten in trouble more than once for debating science teachers on these topics (not being disrespectful, just telling them the vast majority of th scientific community disagree).>>

There are state guidelines for each grade and subject (too many, IMO) . Are these not being followed? Evolution falls under biology. Did your niece not take biology?

[mlassoff]

This term 'Young Earth Theory' (which is new to me) lends the concept too much credence. It's flat out wrong, completely against science and is based solely on religious doctrine. It has no place in school. If you are teaching this "theory" in a science class you should be fired.