Georgia on My Mind...
I consider myself fairly rigid on the issue of church and state separation, but I can’t bring myself to condemn the recent decision by a Georgia public school to allow a Bible literature class. Provided the class is taught correctly, and there is absolutely no endorsement or encouragement of any sort of religion dogma, then I cannot bring myself to oppose teaching an important part of the Western cannon to public school students. In college, I took exactly the sort of course that the legislature is proposing, and I will say that English Literature and the Bible – a comparative literature course that examined both Biblical stories and important Western secular literature that incorporated the themes – was one of the most interesting classes that I took, and it certainly made a lasting impression. The truth is that the Bible is a significant part of Western Culture and Western history, and I wish I had been taught more of it as a young student. No, it’s not a cornerstone for American Law. It is however, a crucial part of understanding the Western experience. Let there be light.
