http://www.al.com/living/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/living/1129886116187690\.xml&coll=1

Opening the books on religion
Teachers at Athens State hope study spreads tolerance

Friday, October 21, 2005
By KAY CAMPBELL
[excerpt]
What are Bibles doing in a for-credit class run by professors at
Athens State University?

The Bible - and the Quran, for that matter - are among textbooks used
in some of the religion classes offered at Athens State. The surprise
some people express that religion classes are offered at a state
school illustrates the confusion many people, even some teachers, have
over the role of religion and religious books in the public classroom.

Dr. Robby White, director of the Center for Religious Studies and
Ethics at Athens State and also a Baptist preacher, says it's easy to
separate his role in the classroom from his role in the pulpit.

"As a pastor, I'm saying, 'This is our story,' " White said last week
as he and Professor Tony Moyers discussed Athens State's program. "As
a teacher, I'm saying, 'This is the story.' I'm trying to promote
understand and goodwill among religions - not indoctrination, but
education."

"If we offer just one perspective, Baptist, Episcopal, or even
strictly Christian, it would violate church and state separation,"
White said.

"We have students from various denominations," Moyers said. "We don't
tell them which one is correct or what they should believe."

There was a time when ASU professors could, and sometimes did, tell
students what to believe. But that was when the school was a Methodist
institution. Alabama accepted the college - the state's oldest,
founded in 1822 - into the state system in 1974.

The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa is the only other state
college to offer a major in religious studies.

Athens State now has 2,650 students, 21 of whom are religious studies
majors. Traditionally the major drew only students planning to become
ministers. But the major provides a solid liberal arts background for
those going into business, law, and other professions, too.

As at other universities offering religion classes, Moyers has seen an
increase in interest from general studies students since the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks.
[end excerpt]




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Posting and reading from alt.politics.usa.constitution OR alt.education

You are invited to check out the following:

The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm

American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.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 [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/

[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the U.S. and a couple from overseas as well]

***************************************************************
. . . 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
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