| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"" |
| Date: |
21 Aug 2005 12:38:53 PM |
| Object: |
Class tests state, church separation |
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/living/religion/12317793.htm
Class tests state, church separation
[excerpt]
Bible course criticized for its place in Texas public school
RALPH BLUMENTHAL AND BARBARA NOVOVITCH
New York Times
HOUSTON - When the school board in Odessa, Texas, voted unanimously in
April to add an elective Bible study course to the 2006 high school
curriculum, some parents dropped to their knees in thanks that God
would be returned to the classroom.
Others, though, assailed it as an effort to instill religious training
in the public schools.
Hundreds of miles away, leaders of the National Council on Bible
Curriculum in Public Schools notched another win. An advocacy group
based in Greensboro, the council has been pressing to get school
boards nationwide to accept its Bible curriculum.
The council calls its one-year course a nonsectarian historical and
literary class within constitutional guidelines requiring separation
of church and state.
But a growing chorus of critics says the course conceals a religious
agenda. Some say it ignores evolution in favor of creationism and
gives credence to dubious assertions that the Constitution is based on
Scripture, and that "documented research through NASA" backs the
biblical account of the sun standing still.
The council reports that its Bible study course is being taught in 21
public school districts in North Carolina and nine in South Carolina.
The council explains what it does and why at www.bibleinschools.net.
[end of excerpt]
***************************************************************
You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members]
For people in Hampton Roads area of Virginia you are also invited to join
NORFOLK/VA. B. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE MEETUP GROUP
http://churchandstate.meetup.com/47/
Virginia Chapter Americans United for Separation of Church and State
http://au-va.org/
***************************************************************
.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
"Dedicated to combatting 'history by sound bite'."
Now including a re-publication of Tom Peters
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE HOME PAGE
and
Audio links to Supreme Court oral arguments and
Speech by civil rights/constitutional lawyer and others.
This site is a member of the following web rings:
Freethought Ring--&--Freethought, Religion & Beliefs Ring
The First Amendment Ring--&--The Church-State Ring
American History WebRing--&--The History Ring
Let Freedom Ring--&--Religious Freedom Ring
Law Issues Ring--&--Legal Research Ring
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