Alabama House turns down bill to teach Bible course

2/7/2006, 6:30 p.m. CT

By BOB JOHNSON
The Associated Press

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama House on Tuesday turned down a bill that would have allowed public high schools to offer a course teaching the literary and historical significance of the Bible.

The bill was sponsored by House Majority Leader Rep. Ken Guin, D-Carbon Hill, and supported by Speaker Seth Hammett, D-Andalusia, but Republicans objected to the bill naming a specific textbook to be used in teaching the class.

A procedural vote to bring the bill up for debate failed on a 49-42 vote, with 60 percent or 56 votes needed. The vote fell mostly along party lines with 49 Democrats voting "yes" and 39 Republicans and three Democrats voting "no."

Guin said he is going to continue to talk to lawmakers about the bill and could attempt to bring it up again later in the session.


Guin said the bill would encourage schools to teach the Bible's influence on literature, art and other subjects, which he said is already legal. He said the proposed textbook "The Bible and Its Influence" does not teach students what to believe but helps them understand references to the Bible in literature, art and other subjects. The book was developed by the Bible Literacy Project.

"We need to give children an understanding of how the Bible has influenced the society around them," Guin said.

But opponents said naming a textbook would bypass the textbook selection process established by the Alabama Board of Education and by local school boards.

Rep. Jeremy Oden, R-Vinemont, said the Legislature has never passed legislation that named a specific textbook to be used in schools.

Some Republicans also questioned the content of the book.

"You've been told if you're against teaching this book, you're against the Bible, that's not the case," said Rep. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale. Beason questioned the appropriateness of some of the questions the textbook asks students, such as: "Did Adam and Eve receive a bad deal?" and "If God is good, why does he allow bad things to happen?"

Speaker Pro Tem Demetrius Newton, D-Birmingham, spoke in favor of the Bible course, saying it would be a great opportunity to expose students to the "amazing" stories in the Bible.

"When I think of what this book (The Bible) can do, I think about Corinthians as being one of the greatest love stories ever told," Newton said.

After the vote, some Democrats accused Republicans of voting against the bill for political reasons.

"They didn't think of it first. They didn't want the Democrats to get credit for it," said Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery.

But House Minority Leader Rep. Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, said most Republicans would have supported the bill if it had not named the textbook. He said he doesn't think the vote will hurt GOP lawmakers who face re-election this year.

"I don't think people are going to believe that Republicans are against religion and don't want the Bible taught in schools," Hubbard said.

End Article,
Start Opinion here;

O.k. so the Republicans say it's not political, the Democrats say the Republican's are just mad because they didn't submit the bill first. So I have two questions, if it isn't political, why comment that you don't think this will effect the upcoming election, and two if the Republicans are "mad" that the Democrats beat them to the punch, they have had many opportunities to do this.

Let's face it, religion and politics should not be mixed, in any capacity. Should you allow an elective in school to study a religion, you should NOT dictate, mandate, recomend nor require any book or materials. I belive the republicans were in the right for voting down the bill, but for the wrong reasons, as well as I think the Democrats were on the right track with the idea for the bill, but the wrong wording, and possibly agenda. Another thing to consider, if they require a certain book for the christians, do the muslims, buddhists, shintoists and hindus get to choose their materials, or have free selection.

The main problem here is government is trying to dictate christianity, rather than promote freedom of religion. Should they promote freedom of religion, there would not even be a hint of controversy in passing a bill allowing religion to be studied in school, though it should be an elective. Think of this, if the school systems were to teach a theocratic christian ideal in the educational system, to educate and create christian followers and believers, as is trying to be done by the fundamentalists, then our education system would not be much unlike the education systems in the middle east, where the Muslim religion is dominate.

So, just because a majority believes an ideal is right does that make it so? Years ago the world as a whole thought and agreed the world was flat, then you had the many Greek Gods, later Egyption Gods, and even Roman Gods. All of those citizens believed in those ideas, though later all have been proven wrong.

My point is should we as a united democracy, be so myopic that we are not objective, nor open minded to the ideals and opinions of others, we will never move forward, but fall behind not only as a civilization, but as a people. The truth is out there, we just have to be willing to receive it, and with objectivity, and a willing rationalization we can take these varying opinions and beliefs, and construct the whole picture with all of the pieces. We just have to be humble enough to realize that we do not have all of the answers, and are willing to admit that.

Snappy