Has God Assigned A Surrogate
So let’s see if we put the Bible in the school are we going to kick out the #Jewish children who are waiting on the #Messiah do we kick out the #Muslim for reading the #Quaran do we kick out the #Athiests do we kick out the children of parents who don’t believe in #Tithing do we kick out the children of #Divorced parents do we kick out the children of parents that only pray on or attend services on #Saturday do we kick out the teachers for all the above do we not hire teachers who attend Secular college/universities do we not hire teachers who don’t believe in God how many sins can a child/parent/teacher commit in a day week month – who will keep track – will the #trackerkIntroducing the Bible into schools raises questions about inclusivity. Would this mean excluding #Jewish children awaiting the #Messiah, or #Muslim children reading the #Quran? What about #atheists, children of non-tithing or divorced parents, or those whose families worship on Saturdays? Would teachers be dismissed, fired or not hired for these reasons, or for attending secular colleges, or for disbelief in God altogether? How would we monitor the myriad of potential transgressions, and would the monitor(s) themselves need to be sinless? This debate comes as states face scrutiny for allocating millions in taxpayer dollars to promote religion in schools.
·
Separation of Church and State
Did you know – The words “separation of church and state” do not appear in the U.S. Constitution?? Nearly half a centry after the Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling striking down school-sponsored prayer, Americans continue to fight over the place of religion in public schools. Indeed, the classroom has become one of the most important battlegrounds in the broader conflict over religion’s role in public life.
The Schempp family, pictured above, brought suit that led to a 1963 ruling by the Supreme Court in Abington School District v. Schempp that banned bible reading and the recitation of The Lord’s Prayer in public schools, saying that it violated the First Amendment’s establishment clause requiring separation of church and state.
Ohio – Bibles in the Classroom
Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters above says schools must now use the Bible in the classroom.
Claim: The Oklahoma state superintendent has the authority to require specific content be taught in public schools.
Source: Walters told NBC News he has the legal authority to require the Bible in classroom instruction and that teachers who don’t comply could lose their teaching licenses.
Fact check: Mostly false
The Oklahoma Attorney General’s office has said that Walters has no legal authority to require certain content be taught by sending a memo to school districts.
State law gives local school districts the exclusive power to determine “the instruction, curriculum, reading lists and instructional materials and textbooks.”
The Oklahoma Board of Education, which Walters chairs, is responsible for adopting academic standards. The standards set a basic framework for what students should know by the end of each school year, according to state law. The Board of Education also has the power to revoke teaching certifications for willful violations of state or federal rules.
Claim: Oklahoma law already allows the Bible to be taught in public schools.
Source: “Oklahoma law already explicitly allows Bibles in the classroom and enables teachers to use them in instruction,” Phil Bacharach, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office said in statements to several media outlets.
Fact check: Mostly true
In 2010, the Oklahoma Legislature passed and then-Gov. Brad Henry signed a bill allowing public high schools to offer students elective courses on the Old and New Testaments of the Christian Bible, to teach “students knowledge of biblical content, characters, poetry, and narratives that are prerequisites to understanding contemporary society and culture, including literature, art, music, mores, oratory, and public policy.” The law also requires that the class maintain religious neutrality, accommodate other religious perspectives of students and not promote or disfavor a particular religion or lack of religious belief or run afoul of state and federal constitutions. That last part is a requirement for the law to be valid, as Oklahoma’s constitution explicitly prohibits taxpayer money and resources from being spent for religious purposes or instruction. When the Legislature tried to remove that state constitutional prohibition via a ballot measure in 2016, Oklahoma voters solidly rejected the attempt.
-Clifton Adcock
State law prohibits the teaching of sectarian or religious doctrine in Oklahoma public schools but allows the reading of Scripture. The current Oklahoma academic standards do not list the Bible as a required text in public instruction. The standards do not mandate any specific curriculum or dictate how teachers should teach. The Bible is not listed as a material to be taught in reference to historical documents such as the Mayflower Compact, letters from a Birmingham Jail or the Declaration of Independence.
The Oklahoma State Department of Education did not respond to a request for comment.
-Maddy Keyes
Claim: The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution do not mention separation of church and state.
Source: “The separation of church and state appears nowhere in the Declaration of Independence or Constitution,” Walters said in an interview with PBS News.
Fact check: True but misleading
It’s true that the phrase “separation of church and state” does not appear in the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution, but the First Amendment’s establishment clause states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
The concept of “separation of church and state” has been in use throughout American history, according to historical records. Thomas Jefferson said in an 1801 letter that the establishment clause was intended to create “a wall of separation between Church and State.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the establishment clause also applies to states.
The Frontier reached out to Walters and a spokesman for the superintendent maintained that his statement was true.
-Jazz Wolfe
Source: www.readfrontier.org
Summary
- So let’s see if we put the Bible in the school are we going to kick out the #Jewish children who are waiting on the #Messiah do we kick out the #Muslim for reading the #Quaran do we kick out the #Athiests do we kick out the children of parents who don’t believe in #Tithing do we kick out the children of #Divorced parents do we kick out the children of parents that only pray on or attend services on #Saturday do we kick out the teachers for all the above do we not hire teachers who attend Secular college/universities do we not hire teachers who don’t believe in God how many sins can a child/parent/teacher commit in a day week month – who will keep track – will the #trackerkIntroducing the Bible into schools raises questions about inclusivity.
- Schempp that banned bible reading and the recitation of The Lord’s Prayer in public schools, saying that it violated the First Amendment’s establishment clause requiring separation of church and state.
- Walters told NBC News he has the legal authority to require the Bible in classroom instruction and that teachers who don’t comply could lose their teaching licenses.
- “Oklahoma law already explicitly allows Bibles in the classroom and enables teachers to use them in instruction,” Phil Bacharach, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office said in statements to several media outlets.
- Brad Henry signed a bill allowing public high schools to offer students elective courses on the Old and New Testaments of the Christian Bible, to teach “students knowledge of biblical content, characters, poetry, and narratives that are prerequisites to understanding contemporary society and culture, including literature, art, music, mores, oratory, and public policy.
