- What Bible courses are available to students? *Introduction to Hebrew Bible/Old Testament; *Introduction to New Testament; *Advanced Hebrew Bible/Old Testament; and *Advanced New Testament
- Which courses are currently offered? These courses were offered in the Spring of 2014: Introduction to Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, and Introduction to New Testament.
- Can these classes be offered in a public school setting? YES
- Don’t they violate the separation of Church and State? NO, since the purpose is educational, it does not violate the separation of Church and State. The US Supreme Court has ruled several times on this.
1948 McCollum v. Board of Education – “Nearly everything in our culture worth transmitting, everything which gives meaning to life is saturated with the influences derived from paganism, Judaism, Christianity (Protestant and Catholic) and other faiths accepted by a large part of the world’s peoples.”
1963 Abington Township v. Schempp – “In addition, it might well be said that one’s education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization . It certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment.
1980 Stone v. Graham – “the Bible may constitutionally be used in an appropriate study of history, civilization, ethics, comparative religion, or the like.”
