RALEIGH — Public high schools in North Carolina could offer elective Bible classes if a bill introduced in the state Senate Feb. 26 is adopted by the General Assembly.
The bill by Republican Sen. Stan Bingham of Denton, N.C., would permit boards of education to authorize courses on the Old or New Testaments, or both, for 9th to 12th grade students.
Teachers would be required to “follow federal and state law in maintaining religious neutrality and accommodating the diverse religious views, traditions, and perspectives of the students” and “not endorse, favor or promote, or disfavor or show hostility toward any particular religion, nonreligious faith, or religious perspective.”
If approved by the General Assembly, a bill would permit elective Bible classes in North Carolina’s public schools.
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Sixteen other senators have agreed to co-sponsor the proposal, including four Democrats.
K. Hollyn Hollman, general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, said conducting Bible classes in public schools can be done “within constitutional parameters that prohibit schools from advancing religion” but added it can be difficult.
“The legislature, and any schools that offer the courses, need to think through and clearly articulate the reasons for such courses and how they will be conducted,” she said. “The classes should be designed for legitimate educational purposes, such as teaching about the Bible’s literary value or influence in history, as opposed to for devotional purposes.”
Texas public schools encountered those challenges when the state legislature adopted similar legislation in 2007. Though Texas law mandates neutrality in teaching Bible courses, a study this year by the Texas Freedom Network claimed many school districts largely ignored that requirement — and enforcement has been spotty.
The Freedom Network, a religious liberty advocacy group, found that instruction often presented a conservative Protestant perspective, including a literal interpretation of the Bible, and that Judaism was interpreted “through a distinctly Christian lens.”
The group also found many Bible classes maintained “that the Bible provides scientific proof of a 6,000-year-old Earth … and that the United States was founded as a Christian nation based on biblical Christian principles.”
Last year public schools in Buncombe County — which includes Asheville — grappled with issues related to religion in the classroom, after some parents protested when Gideon Bibles were distributed to students on campus during school hours.
In December the county’s board of education reviewed a new regulation, not yet adopted, that would require each school to set aside one day a year on which religious and non-religious organizations would “make available written materials” at an event held after school hours, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times.
Robert Dilday ([email protected]) is managing editor of the Religious Herald.