Georgia House Approves Funding For Bible Study Courses

[Great Spirit]

This is wrong and the government should never approve funding for religious studies however good it may sound. This sounds more like a theocracy than democracy. It is against the separation of church and state. Contrary to popular belief, Amerika was not founded by Christian men in an orthodox sense. They were members of the Masonic Order, a supposed gentlemen's organization tied with the Illuminati.
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http://www.lp.org/article_306.shtml

By Matthew Dailey

The Georgia House of Representatives on Monday overwhelmingly passed legislation that would allow public high schools to offer courses on the Bible.

The bill, if signed into law, would allow elective courses on the history and literature of the Old and New Testament, using the actual Bible as text, according to the Gainesville Times.

Rep. James Mills thinks there's nothing wrong with having a Bible as a classroom textbook in a public school. Mills stated, "This is a start, and I think it's a long time overdue, to offer a course on the history of the Bible." According to Mills, everyone should learn the history of the Bible. He added, "It's part of our history, whether you're a Christian or an atheist."

Dr. Bill Coates, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Georgia said he supports the idea of a Bible study course because so much of culture, history and laws are based on the religious text.

Yet Dr. Coates is concerned that public schools would become an outlet for spiritual matters. He stated, "As appropriate as it is to teach the Bible in public schools, the place for spiritual guidance is the home and the church. We can never rely on the schools to do what our homes and churches may fail to do."

Maggie Garrett, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia says the legislation is favoring Christianity over other religions by the excluding other religious books.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that in committee some Georgia House members were concerned that the measure favors Christianity over other religions, yet no representative rose to speak against the bill on Monday.

[mont974x4]

It's an elective so I see no issue. It's far diferent than forcing students to study the Koran (which some places have) or forcing the teaching of evolution.

I think either all these should be taught equally or none taught at all. I actually prefer option 2 in gov't funded schools.

[MoonStarer420]

I think your sunglasses are on a little too tight there snoopy.

Evolution is a theory of science, and science not religion should be taught in school.

[verklingen]

Look guys, whether you like it or not, states have rights. I see states rights as the best feature of our United States Constitution because it allows the constituents of a large area a certain form of autonomy if they can find the votes for it.

Example: A state ought to be able to outlaw abortion if it so chooses. This will cause no problems, because other states will certainly have their own laws which allow abortion and any maidens willing to have their uterus scraped can mosey on over the border.

Whining about what other states do is a waste of energy. Everyone is always talking about "live and let live," but who follows it? If the prevailing sentiment in Georgia is to allow an elective study course to focus on the christian Bible, let it be. Where's the harm, and is it worth your getting angry over?

[mont974x4]

Moon, I think evolution requires a measure of faith equal to the faith required for me to believe in creation. Furthermore, since we can all agree evolution is a theory and required school classes should be teaching fact then at least make it an elective and not required. Besides, as a parent I should be the one deciding what my kids learn not the government.

[MoonStarer420]

I think evolution requires a measure of faith equal to the faith required for me to believe in creation... Well your beliefs are not supported by evidence, while evolution is. Why are human fossils (or other species today) not found below the KT layer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous-Tertiary_extinction_event)? What other theory fits for what has happened the last 4.5 billion years? What about the rapid mutation of bacteria and viruses? It's not that it takes faith to believe evolution, just some incentive to understand how speciation works. What makes any part of evolution impossible or improbable?


Furthermore, since we can all agree evolution is a theory and required school classes should be teaching fact...as a parent I should be the one deciding what my kids learn not the government.
There are no facts in science; every "fact" in science is still considered a theory. If you feel like you need to control what they learn then maybe you should home school them instead of tying to prevent others from learning.

[mont974x4]

Well, first I guess it depends on your opinion of how old the earth is. I don't believe it's older than about 10,000 years. The carbon dating etc. has been proven to be far less accurate than we were told. Furthermore, I think the immense pressure from the flood (which every ancient society has an account of) would explain fossils etc. Also, there is no fossil record or any evidence to support evolution in the traditional sense....no cross species evolution. I do believe in adaptation. For example, God created the first dog and the species adapted into the many breeds we now have.

BTW, I do homeschool and I will be teaching my sons all sides of the issues equally.

[MoonStarer420]

I don't believe it's older than about 10,000 years. The carbon dating etc. has been proven to be far less accurate than we were told

...pressure from the flood...would explain fossils etc.

There are many other physical characteristics of our Universe that tell give us ages. The cosmic microwave background gives us an age for The Universe to be about 14 billion years old. Globular clusters give us a minimum age of at least 10 billion years.

You haven't answered my previous question: Why are human fossils (or other species today) not found below the KT layer? "...fossilized sedimentary layers found all over the world...contain a concentration of iridium hundreds of times greater than normal." It in fact has a very similar concentration of iridium as asteroids in space. Where was the record of this impact in the bible or in human history? Or even any of the other major impacts? Boltysh crater (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltysh_crater), Silverpit crater (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverpit_crater), Eagle Butte crater, or the Vista Alegre crater.

These are all huge events that would have been very noticeable and very problematic to any living thing on the Earth during these impacts. A 1 km objects would release in 10,000 megatons of TNT into the Earth and into the atmosphere. That's equivalent to setting off 500 atomic bombs. Some of these craters indicate objects much larger that that.

[MoonStarer420]

BTW, I do homeschool and I will be teaching my sons all sides of the issues equally.

Will you teach the geocentric model of the solar system as equally as the heliocentric one?

[Great Spirit]

Well, first I guess it depends on your opinion of how old the earth is. I don't believe it's older than about 10,000 years. The carbon dating etc. has been proven to be far less accurate than we were told. Furthermore, I think the immense pressure from the flood (which every ancient society has an account of) would explain fossils etc. Also, there is no fossil record or any evidence to support evolution in the traditional sense....no cross species evolution. I do believe in adaptation. For example, God created the first dog and the species adapted into the many breeds we now have.

BTW, I do homeschool and I will be teaching my sons all sides of the issues equally.Hmm...Christian fundementalists believe the Earth is only around 6-7 thousand years old too to fall in with biblical teachings, despite science saying it is billions of years old which I believe.

When you get past the dogma, life makes more sense. Live and let live!