The Kentucky Senate has put forward a bill. SB 278 would require Kentucky’s Board of Education to create a new, elective, “social studies course.” That doesn’t sound bad at all:

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 156 to require the Kentucky Board of Education to promulgate administrative regulations to establish an elective social studies course on the Hebrew Scriptures, Old Testament of the Bible, the New Testament, or a combination of the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament of the Bible; require that the course provide students knowledge of biblical content, characters, poetry, and narratives that are prerequisites to understanding contemporary society and culture, including literature, art, music, mores, oratory, and public policy; permit students to use various translations of the Bible for the course; amend KRS 158.197 to permit a school council to offer an elective social studies course on the Hebrew Scriptures, Old Testament of the Bible, the New Testament, or a combination of the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament of the Bible.

On the one hand, learning about the Bible can be very important. It is, in most respects, the foundation of Western literature. On the other hand, this class isn’t really about that.

"I do not believe that it's teaching religion. I think it's teaching historical points of view and I think that all children need to be aware of that and I think it's a great idea," said Jenny Caperton, a mother. "As long as it's not forced on the students, I think that they should because that's the reality of the world. We're all from different places and different perspectives. We all believe different ways. I think it would teach children to be more tolerant and to get along better."

For one thing, the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible are not exactly historical points of view—unless this “Bible literacy class” wants to start year one by explaining the Documentary Hypothesis in the creation of the Hebrew Bible and subsequently, the prevailing scholarship on the historicity of the New Testament—including the fact that half of the letters attributed to Paul were most likely not written by Paul—and the use of the Hebrew Bible by first century Jews to inform the birth story of Jesus the Nazarene. But I don’t think the architects of this legislature have any interest in the scholarship of the day or frankly, the scholarship of the last 150 years.

William E. Sharp, ACLU of Kentucky Legal Director, told WKYT that the ACLU of Kentucky "urges legislators to not only consider the mechanism for allowing Bible literacy courses, but also how it is likely to be implemented throughout the commonwealth." "Because although there certainly are acceptable ways to teach about the Bible to public school students - such as teaching comparative religion classes or about the Bible’s relationship to literature, art or music - the fact remains that it is difficult, in practice, to do so in a constitutionally permissible manner," Sharp said. "Moreover, the ACLU of Kentucky maintains that parents and religious leaders, not government employees, should teach religious beliefs to children.”

This is the crux of the problem in a bill such as this. The religious right in this country, not unlike most special interests, have come up with new language (“religious freedom”) and new ways of trying to imbue the public sphere with their religious ideologies.

The Christian Educators Association International, an organization that sees the nation’s public schools as “the largest single mission field in America,” aims to show Christian teachers how to live their faith — and evangelize in public schools — without running afoul of the Constitution’s prohibition on the government establishing or promoting any particular religion. “We’re not talking about proselytizing. That would be illegal,” said Laursen, the group’s executive director. “But we’re saying you can do a lot of things. . . . It’s a mission field that you fish in differently.”

The above excerpt is from a Washington Post article about this very political and “spiritual” assault on teaching and education by Christians, along with groups like the Daniel Project. You can watch the Daniel Project video about their Daniel Weekends, teaching retreats where they give educators much needed emotional (and in this case a lot of spiritual) support; and also tips on how to teach Christianity to young people without getting afoul of that Church and State, no prayer in public schools problem.

An elementary school teacher in rural Kentucky, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid drawing attention to his community, said that after attending a weekend training session, he started scheduling weekly meetings of a Fellowship of Christian Athletes club. Students gather in the school gym just before class begins — a time when they are normally socializing and eating breakfast. Most weeks, at least 75 percent of the school’s students participate, listening and praying as guest speakers and other students offer prayer and testimony. “I feel overly blessed with how much I’m able to do with students as far as faith,” the teacher said.

Is this teacher going to use the Bible literacy class to explain to children that the likelihood that Moses actually wrote the first five books of the Bible is beyond unlikely, it isn’t even attested to in the oldest records of Israelite literature? Probably not. Are these teachers going to explain how the story we all love of Jesus protecting the fallen woman from being stoned—you know the story—isn’t in the original manuscript of John and was added later? Unlikely. Herein lies the fundamental issue with allowing Bible class into schools. It’s all well and good to say children should know the Bible. There are myriad reasons to learn about the Bible, not the least of which is its affect on public policies. But, the people who want these classes think that they themselves know the Bible and they don’t. They know a simplified faith-based reading of the Bible that takes into account none of the research that has been done on it for thousands of years.