Bill would create guidelines for public high school courses on the Bible

Yahoo

13-02-2025

Bible on a school desk in a classroom. (Stock photo by plherrera via Getty Images)
Republicans on an Iowa Senate panel gave initial approval Thursday to legislation creating guidelines for public high school courses on the Bible.
Advocates supporting the bill said teaching the religious text would aid students' understanding of literature and history from a secular perspective. But some critics said the measure would endorse Christian perspectives over other faiths in public schools.
Senate File 138 would direct the Iowa Board of Education to establish course standards for elective social studies classes on 'Hebrew Scriptures or the Old or New Testament of the Bible.' These classes would be for grades 9 through 12 students, would not be mandatory for students to take and would require approval from the school district's board of directors to be implemented.
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The legislation requires the state board and school districts remain in compliance with state and federal laws and guidelines around religious neutrality. These courses 'shall not endorse, favor, promote, or disfavor, or be hostile toward, any particular religion, faith, or nonreligious perspective,' according to the legislation.
Despite the language calling for religious neutrality in these classes, critics said the legislation is still promoting a Christian perspective by highlighting courses on the Bible in public high schools. Connie Ryan with Interfaith Alliance of Iowa said though she is supportive of teaching about religions, public schools classes on religious subjects should should be about all major religions from a secular perspective.
'Just by the very nature of this legislation as written, you would be giving preference in law to one religion over all others,' Ryan said. '… Unfortunately, Bible-specific courses and scores can become nothing more than Sunday school lessons masquerading as instruction about religion. The outcome of narrowly focused Bible courses often becomes a way to endorse one religious perspective in public schools, insisting on a conservative evangelical Christian view and promoting that with public school students.'
But Dr. Bill Jaynes, a professor of education at California State University, Long Beach, said he has conducted research showing 'Bible literacy' has significant benefits for all K-12 students, saying the Bible is referenced in many works of literature and important context for historical events.
'There may be other gains, but what we're looking at is the academic achievement of students,' he said. 'And there is a benefit to students when they are high in Bible literacy — and it not only affects their knowledge in the Bible, but again, their ability to read Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Charles Dickens, on down the line, to understand our history, to understand people of other faiths.'
He also said these courses were constitutional under the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Abington School District v. Schempp. Though the court decision found the mandatory inclusion of religious activity in public schools violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, Jaynes said the ruling also found religious content could be taught at public schools when 'presented objectively as part of the secular curriculum of education.'
Melissa Peterson, with the Iowa State Education Association, said there are no current provisions in Iowa law that prohibit public schools from having courses on the Bible or other religions, noting that she personally took a Bible literature honors course when she was a student in the Iowa City Public School District.
'The reason why we are opposed to this legislation is not necessarily because of the content area, but because of the fact that it's unnecessary and duplicative,' Peterson said.
Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, D-Waukee, said as an ordained Lutheran minister, she believes the study of Christian scripture is important for her faith community, but that 'the task of the community of faith is very different than the task of our public schools.' Trone Garriott said she does not support the legislation as this instruction is already allowed, but that as some advocates for the measure have called for 'encouragement' for public schools to teach this material and that the measure 'advocates for the Bible,' which is promoting Christianity over other religions in a public school setting.
'By only featuring one religious community's scriptures, this legislation is preferencing,' she said. 'It's making a claim that only one is relevant for culture and history, which, in and of itself, is moved to endorse and promote one religious community, which is not constitutional.'
Sandy Salmon, R-Janesville, said the bill sets out guidelines to ensure there are no legal or constitutional issues with teaching courses on the Bible. She said she supports classes on the Bible in public schools because of the 'enormous impact on America and Western civilization' the religious text has had.
'Studies show that too few of our children have been exposed to the Bible and therefore lack the background to understand certain parts of our history and literature, et cetera,' Salmon said. 'A solid grasp of biblical content, its major themes and stories, its characters, its history, poetry, et cetera, is essential to properly understanding American history. That is our history, society and culture.'
The measure advanced 2-1 and is available for consideration by the Senate Education Committee.
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