I saw a news article Friday about the ongoing Attorney General review of our so-called Bible course law. During their last session the state legislature, lacking anything better to do, passed HB-1287 which seems to require public high schools to offer an elective course in Bible study. To anyone who's thinking clearly, this seems to be a lawsuit just waiting to happen, although supporters of the law insist the course will be nonsectarian and the bible will be studied as a literary or historical document, rather than as the divine word of God. Right.
Since Texas evangelunicals haven't fared too well with their school voucher schemes, they're doing the next best thing and trying to gradually transform public schools into appendages of the Southern Baptist church. This effort has been going on for years and offends people like me, who think government should stay out of the religion business and vice versa. All I need to know about the current law is that Warren Chisum was one of its House sponsors, Chisum being among the lowest of the scuzzy conservative lowlifes in Austin.
You can bet that if the Bible course is taught with any degree of neutrality, the evangelunicals will be raising hell. That's all you need to know to realize this deal is totally bogus.
Here's what I'd like to see: a mandatory public high school course for seniors that teaches religion on a comparative basis. In general terms, the curriculum would include an overview of the world's major religions: Christianity (both protestant and Catholic versions), Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and the Asian religions such as Shinto and Taoism. The course would focus on how the religions are similar, and how they differ. What, if anything, do they all have in common ?
We live in a world where fundamentalist elements in the world's two largest religions each want to exterminate the other's infidels. When wars are fought over religious differences, I can see an argument for making sure our younger generation gets a proper education in what all the fighting's about. Of course, the last thing people like Warren Chisum want is to have high school seniors taking an objective look at all the major religions. Little bastards might convert to Buddhism if they start thinking about it. Can't have that; need warm bodies for the religious wars.
I saw this on the internet, so it must be true: About 33 percent of the world population is Christian. That leaves nearly 70 percent of the world to be divided up among the non-Christian religions and the atheists. Kids in places like Forney, Texas need some perspective-- in the rest of the world, they're just another minority group.
"Chisum being among the lowest of the scuzzy conservative lowlifes in Austin."
ReplyDeleteI must say, if he's pissing off Austin and other liberals, then he's doing a great job representing his constituency. As an experiment, go knock on 100 doors in the Texas Panhandle and ask them how he's performing the job they elected him to do. I think you'll find his approval ratings among the highest in the state. This is probably the reason he's only been contested once in 20 years, twice if you count his initial election. I think you'd also be surprised if you found out what Legislative Members think of him; despite their differences most find him a fair and approachable person.