Bible class in schools: legislating what’s already legal

by David Safier

This bill isn't a dog whistle. It can be heard by all sentient beings. Terri Proud has a bill — two, actually — that would require the State Board of Ed to create a course, "The Bible and its Influence on Western Culture," which can be taught as an elective in Arizona public high schools. The thing is, any high school can create and teach a course like that already, so long as it maintains religious neutrality. (Proud's bill, by the way, emphasizes the class must maintain religious neutrality, so she's not changing anything.)

The two bills are HB 2563, which lays out chapter and verse — so to speak — about the course, and HB 2473, which inserts a short paragraph about the course.

News flash: The Bible can be used as a source in public education right now, so long as the teacher is teaching, not preaching. If any principals or school districts forbid that kind of instruction, the ADOE should correct them immediately, because they're risking a law suit. In the 1970s, the Portland-area public school where I taught had an elective course, The Bible as Literature. No problem whatsoever. Over the course of my tenure as an English teacher, I made regular use of the King James version of the Cain and Abel story and the Binding of Isaac story, handing out copies of the text to my students and going over them together. I referred to other Biblical references regularly. I used religious art on a number of occasions. All OK.

Proud is trying to push the Christian Elephant's trunk inside the public education tent. The rest of the body, she hopes, the "preaching" part, will follow.