LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY rechan)

This does not bode well.

Georgia is trying to put two Bible literature courses on school cirriculums.

The real issue comes down to this:

The measure calls for the courses to be taught "in an objective and nondevotional manner with no attempt made to indoctrinate students."

But critics say that while the language may pass constitutional muster, that could change in the classroom if instructors stray.

Maggie Garrett, legislative counsel for the Georgia branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the curriculum approved Tuesday — like the legislation itself — is vague.

"They didn't put in any outlines describing what they can and can't do constitutionally," she said. "The same traps are there for teachers who decide to teach the class."

Some teachers might seek to include their own beliefs or be pushed by students into conversations that include religious proselytizing, Garrett said.

I also think this is a real powder keg if the class does exactly as it says it will do: delivered in an objective and nondevotional manner. Namely, if the class begins looking at the history of the text and the edits that it has went through, and looked at the real-world situations that influenced the writings, then the dominionist parents are going to begin shrieking that their children are receiving the secularist propaganda corrupting their children into thinking the Bible is altered from how God had written it.

Viewing the Bible objectively is going to force the kids to think, and once they start thinking, the genie is out of the bottle. Since it's rather hard not to come away from the Bible with the impression that the OT God is... well, just a vindictive ass. Not to mention really reading some of the stuff in there will make the kids realize "Wow, there's lots of sex and violence and incest and slavery in there."

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This Alternet article talks about the ongoing onslaught of anti-evolution and 'faith-based' initiatives in state governments.

Voucher advocates in Georgia are so desperate to pass a plan giving tax aid to religious and other private schools that they hope to sneak one in through the back door by exploiting a vulnerable population: students with special needs.

The measure, Senate Bill 10, also known as the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Act, would allocate state money to students with disabilities, encouraging them to transfer to private schools.

When the measure was unveiled in January, Holli Cash, a member of the Cobb County School Board, was unimpressed.

Cash, whose daughter has Down's Syndrome, saw through the ruse immediately. By establishing vouchers for a sympathetic population, advocates could then expand the plan to encompass others.

"I think it's just another way to get vouchers for the chosen few," Cash told the Marietta Daily Journal. "It's just another voucher bill."

Cash noted that most private schools in the Atlanta area require testing for admission, and most aren't interested in taking on special-needs students.

Other opponents pointed out that some private schools offer therapies for special-needs students that are unproven and that these institutions tend to be lightly regulated.

The scheme may seem especially callous. Most parents of children with special needs are eager, after all, to get them the best education possible. Playing on these parents' concerns to gain a foothold for vouchers underscores the extreme measures voucher advocates are willing to employ.

Keep an eye out in your statehouse. These people are not going to stop.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY nebris)

"What Happens When a Country Gives Up Religion: as Spain Shows, Nothing Much"