Ethics

Tennessee Passes Bible Elective Law

By Ed Brayton

A bill has passed the Tennessee legislature and been sent to the governor that would authorize the development of a Bible as history and literature course in the state's public schools. The bill authorizes the state board of education to "develop and adopt a curriculum for a state funded elective course consisting of a nonsectarian, nonreligious academic study of the Bible and its influence on literature, art, music, culture, and politics."

So that means they're not using an off-the-shelf curriculum like NCBCPS or the Bible Literacy Project but will develop their own curriculum standards. This bears watching as it develops to make sure that the curriculum meets the legal standard of being scholarly and objective rather than proselytizing.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on May 24, 2008 (boomark / email).