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Sound Off: Should Bible Classes Be Taught In Public School?

How would you like to take Sunday School classes during the week? Would you want to learn about the Bible at school? Those questions have sparked much debate in Texas' Ector County.

Back in 2005, the school board voted to offer a Bible elective course entitled "The Bible in History and Literature," created by National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, a private organization. The course teaches the King James version of the Bible using material produced by the NBBCPS and the Bible as a student textbook.

Now, the American Civil Liberties Union and the People For the American Way Foundation are fighting to terminate the course by suing the school district on behalf of rights of concerned parents. The course, they argue, violates religious liberty because "is not educationally objective, but instead promotes and endorses religion generally and a particular religious interpretation of the Bible specifically." For example, part of the curriculum requires students to memorize biblical passages and explain how it has affected their lives. The class' supporters, on the other hand, say that Bible classes are constitutional, as supported by the Supreme Court in carious past cases. (The ACLU counters that while public schools teach about the Bible, the course in question teaches specific views, which, they say, violates of the First Amendment.)

What do you think: should Bible classes be taught in public school? What's the line between teaching about the Bible as a piece of literature, and promoting religious views? Sound off now!

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