Shift Happens

As in "paradigm shift"...

Here is a YouTube presentation that puts a lot of things related to the information explosion into perspective:

Congress's copyright fight puts open access science in peril: Page 1

Congress's copyright fight puts open access science in peril: Page 1:

"In recent years, scientific publishing has changed profoundly as the Internet simplified access to the scientific journals that once required a trip to a university library. That ease of access has caused many to question why commercial publishers are able to dictate the terms by which publicly funded research is made available to the public that paid for it.

Open access proponents won a big victory when Congress voted to compel the National Institutes of Health to set a policy of hosting copies of the text of all publications produced by research it funds, a policy that has taken effect this year. Now, it appears that the publishing industry may be trying to get Congress to introduce legislation that will reverse its earlier decision under the guise of strengthening copyright protections. ..."

As this article points out, the taxpayer pays not only for the research, but the publication costs -- yet is charged once again for reprints.

A researcher who publish the results of his or her research is often required to sign over the copyright to the publisher, thus losing the right to make copies of the paper for a class without paying a fee for offprints. The cost to a library for a journal subscription is pretty high as well. No wonder the publishers are fighting this new law (about a year old), and are trying to get it overturned or modified heavily in their financial favor.

The existing law was meant to make the results of research more available to the public and this would be a major step backward.

Caesar's Sectarians | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

Caesar's Sectarians | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction:

"The state of Colorado wants to encourage religious people to get an education and participate fully in democracy. For example, it provides scholarships even to residents who want to attend a private religious college in the state. You can use them at the Jesuits' Regis University or the Methodists' University of Denver.

Then again, you can't use them at the Buddhists' Naropa University or at Colorado Christian University (CCU), a nondenominational evangelical school."
...
"In short, as Judge Michael McConnell wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel, "the Colorado exclusion expressly discriminates among religions, allowing aid to 'sectarian' but not 'pervasively sectarian' institutions, and it does so on the basis of criteria that entail intrusive governmental judgments regarding matters of religious belief and practice." ..."

Hmmm. It sounds like the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals is looking at not only the First Amendment Establishment Clause, but the Free Exercise Clause as well:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The Colorado Legislature, reacting to a Supreme Court ruling, and set up six tests from distinguishing "sectarian" from "pervasively sectarian", and it was these tests that seemed to encroach on belief and practice.

I can think of at least one Presbyterian College in central Kansas that would have been denied scholarship money on the basis of this overturned law, and another Presbyterian College in central Missouri that would have been OK.
According to this Christianity Today editorial, the state of Colorado is not going to appeal.

Redeeming Law | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

Redeeming Law | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction:

"Bob Cochran came to faith in the early 1970s as a first-year law student at the University of Virginia. His life transformed, the son of a Baptist preacher contemplated leaving law school to go to seminary. At that time, he could imagine no way to express his newfound faith as a lawyer.

Fortunately, Tom Shaffer, a Notre Dame professor who would later write On Being a Christian and a Lawyer, came to Virginia as a visiting professor. A seminar on law and religion met at his home, opening in prayer (Cochran imagined university founder Thomas Jefferson's distress), and ending with beer. Says Cochran: 'It was an eye opener.' Cochran began to understand how his legal career could be a Christian vocation—an understanding he has spent most of his career developing and passing on to others. ..."

Tim Stafford was written an informative article on how lawyers in general and one in particular have been able to heed the call of God as they navigate the intricacies of the law.

Stafford notes that of the 196 law schools accredited by the American Bar Association, about 15 are Christian. Cochran, who is the subject of the first part of this article, points out that the legal profession in the US is largely an outgrowth of the Judeo-Christian tradition and thus Christianity is not as much in tension with the underpinnings of the law as it might be in other disciplines.

The articles ends with a Lincoln quote, and as tempting as it is for me to quote it here, I'll let you all read the full article. Besides which, I don't have time to run down the source of the quote, and I do try to at least get close to the primary source....

U.S. among most Bible-literate nations: poll | U.S. | Reuters

U.S. among most Bible-literate nations: poll | U.S. | Reuters:

"VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Americans are among the world's most 'Bible-literate' people and Spaniards, French and Italians are among the most ignorant about what the 'good book' says, according to a new study released on Monday.

A poll carried out in nine countries -- the United States, Britain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Russia, Italy, Spain and Poland -- also showed Americans were most willing to donate money to spread the message of the Bible. ..."

I suspect interpretation of these results depends a lot on what questions were asked and how the respondents were selected. Stephen Prothero's book Religious Literacy has a bit more pessimistic take on the state of religious literacy in the USA.

Or another way to look at it, if the USA is setting a standard, then the bar is pretty low...

Or am I being too cynical?

PC(USA) - Presbyterian News Service - New initiative digitally expands religion’s reach in the world

PC(USA) - Presbyterian News Service - New initiative digitally expands religion’s reach in the world:

"LOUISVILLE – Religion will more readily be at the world’s fingertips thanks to a new partnership between Princeton Theological Seminary and Microsoft Corporation.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)-related seminary and the technology giant have entered into an agreement to digitize a large number of public materials from Princeton’s library. That means the library will now contribute content to Microsoft’s Live Search Book service, which is accessed by people across the globe. ..."

Microsoft may have a hard time coming up with a timely service pack for its Vista operating system, but it is making a positive contribution here.

The Live Search Book Service is not to be confused with Microsoft Live Search, which is a Google-like search engine.

Backlash as more claim religion to get place in top schools -Times Online

Backlash as more claim religion to get place in top schools -Times Online:

"New evidence that middle-class parents are playing the system to get their children into church schools emerged last night prompting calls for the Government to put a halt to new faith schools.

A surge in late baptisms into the Roman Catholic Church is reported by researchers as part of a phenomenon known as the “Year-Five Epiphany.” The findings have reignited the debate about the place of religion in the school system and led to renewed criticism that faith schools favour the selection of middle-class pupils whose parents know how to play the system. ..."

From what I have observed over at least 30 years, parents will send children to denominational schools even if they are not a member of that denomination. It isn't a new thing, at least in the United States. From this article, though, it seems that the denominational or parochial schools are a fairly recent phenomenon in Great Britain. These are predominantly Christian, although Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh schools are to be found.

This article, while mainly quoting members of Parliament and the government opposed to the concept of of faith-based education, also touches on the reasons why parents try to get their children into non-public schools. These reasons are similar to those given in the USA for choosing non-public schools.

Nigerian firm demands $20 million from One Laptop Per Child - by Matt Asay - CNET Blogs

Nigerian firm demands $20 million from One Laptop Per Child - by Matt Asay - CNET Blogs:

"Remember that Nigerian company headed by a convicted felon that sued the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project for patent infringement?

Well, the suit has finally been brought...in a Nigerian court...with $20 million in damages on the table.

The cheekiness is breathtaking. ..."

The original Groklaw article gives much more detail. It seems that the multilingual keyboard in question has never been shipped on an OLPC machine, putting aside for the moment that this is a patent troll that would be laughed out of court in most countries.

The Denver Post - Study: College campuses may nurture faith

The Denver Post - Study: College campuses may nurture faith:

"For any who think that the university is hostile territory to religion, there is new evidence that Jesus is still a big man on campus.

A University of Texas study released over the summer found that higher education is not the secularizing influence many Christians suspect it to be.

Texas researchers found that college students were less likely to lose their religion than others in their age group, 18 to 25 years old."

This study also suggested that the workplace is significantly more hostile to religion.

Lee Strobel is quoted in the Denver Post article as saying that the perception that college will challenge one's faith has lead to apologetics (the discipline of defending faith) being one of the fastest growing areas of religious study. Strobel's opinion is that faith grows when challenged.

So why the discrepancy between the perception that colleges and universities are destroyers of faith and the data that are being reported here? The article points out that the percentage of atheists and agnostics teaching in higher education is about three times tat of the population at large, so there are definite challenges to be met. Perhaps students expect to be challenged, and start asking themselves the questions first, and thus are prepared when they meet resistance.

Perhaps Strobel has a point here -- a faith that is challenged becomes stronger.

Ueker, JE; MD Regnerus; and ML Vaaler. 2007. Losing My Religion: The Social Forces of Religious Decline in Early Adulthood. Social Forces 85:4

Quick Impressions of "Religious Literacy - What Every American Needs to Know--And Doesn't"

Religious Literacy - What Every American Needs to Know--And Doesn't
Stephen Prothero
HarperSanFrancisco
2007
ISBN: 978-0-06-084670-1

This is not a very long book, but much is packed into it. There are six chapters, with the sixth being a dictionary of religious literacy containing words and phrases that would be good for people to know and understand. These chapters take us up to 233 pages, and the appendix, notes and index leave the book at just under 300 pages.

Prothero starts off with memories of the Waco siege in the early 1990's. Federal agents had come onto the Branch Davidian property on February 25, 1993 in an attempt to arrest David Koresh. A quick gun battle left six Branch Davidians and four BATF agents dead. A siege of nearly two months passed before the FBI (who had taken control from the BATF) attacked the compound with tanks and tear gas and a fire broke out leaving about 75 Branch Davidians including 21 children dead. Prothero remembered thinking that, while the FBI thought it was in control in the weeks leading up to the horrifying end of the siege, it was David Koresh who was manipulating events using a script that could be found in the Book of Revelation. Prothero recognized it and predicted that this would end in fire. He wondered if and how he might pass this on to the FBI, and in the end decided to do nothing, assuming that the people at the siege were getting good counsel by people who knew what they were doing. In Prothero's words "Unfortunately, no such counsel was forthcoming."

A little religious literacy might have prevented much of the loss of life that occurred on April 19, 1993.

Chapter One -- A Nation of Religious Illiterates -- describes the state of things today -- what people don't know and what misinformation passes for knowledge. He provides a religious literacy quiz to test the reader's knowledge about religious matters, and I have to admit that I passed it, but not by much. If it had been confined to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, I would have done well. I did miss one of the 5 pillars of Islam and forgot that penance was one of the seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church, but when the questions turned to Buddhism and Hinduism, I fell flat on my face.

Chapter Two -- Religion Matters -- demonstrates how pervasive religious issues have been in US history. Much of the original colonization was a direct response to religious persecution in the Old World, and it is difficult to understand the Civil War without understanding the religious dimension. Similar things are true on a more global scale -- religion, for better or worse, has affected world events, and ignorance of religion has been at the root of much of the worst of events. So why is religious literacy not taught in the schools? Why, Prothero asks, are teachers and students no longer heeding the Biblical commandment to "remember."

Chapter Three --Eden (What We Once Knew) -- relates how religion was once a given in America. People were familiar with Biblical references and searched for meaning in what they read. It pervaded home, schools, the workplace, and the government. Its contribution to near universal literacy (the the reading and writing sense) was clear. It was, to be sure, mostly Christian and mostly Protestant, and while this represented the majority view at the time, it may have planted the seeds for the events to which Prothero devoted Chapter Four.

Chapter Four -- The Fall (How We Forgot) -- lays out many of the complex reasons for religious literacy taking a back seat. One factor was the separation of piety and learning, and the rise of non-denominationalism and its tendency toward emphasizing social action rather than doctrinal issues. Prothero refers to this as a descent into "pious ignorance" as core beliefs kept shrinking. The educational system was partly to blame.

Keeping in mind that the US was largely Protestant in the 18th and 19th centuries in its governance, the increasing Catholic and Jewish population wanted to be represented. The result was that education became "nonsectarian" and "nondenominational" led by such reformers as Horace Mann. The outcome of these reforms was a watered-down system of piety; doctrines on which all Christians could agree Christian morality; reading from the King James Version; and prayer, hymn singing, and devotional Bible reading. It remained Protestant, but did not approach the efficacy of the previous generation where religion was employed as a powerful tool in teaching children. Under the 19th century reformers religion was still seen as a necessary means in education, but it failed to teach religious literacy.

And then there were what Prothero referred to as the "Bible Wars" -- a time when the Catholics worked to see to it that their version of the Scriptures were given equal use in the schools, and the Protestants did their best to prevent this. The Jews seemed to be irrelevant in these fights. The response of an ever-increasing number of school systems was to evict religion from the schools, making them totally secular, and denying pupils even a one-dimensional view of religion. When religion showed itself at all, it was a generic sort of thing with little that any particular religion could relate to.

While all this was going on in the schools, the various Christian leaders were developing a tendency toward anti-intellectualism. Such leaders as Jonathan Edwards were being supplanted by new leaders like Peter Cartwright who wore his lack of education with pride. Evangelical Christians went from supporters of education and the development of the intellect to becoming a body that preferred "feel" Jesus rather than "know" him. Prothero sees this as reversible, and holds out hope that this is, in fact, starting to happen.

Chapter Five -- Redemption (What to Do) -- lays out what we need to do to reclaim our religious literacy and culminates in a proposal that suggests a path to do just that. It involves realizing that the First Amendment to the Constitution does NOT prohibit religion from the public sphere; it is a two-fold protection from the State imposing a religion upon the People, and further from the State preventing the People from freely practicing their faith. The bottom line is that, using the words of distinguished jurists over the years, Prothero holds that it is fully Constitutional to teach ABOUT religion -- and as long as the curriculum is objective and fair, it should be done. Not only the majority religion should be discussed, but the world religions should be taught as well. The result will be religiously literate graduates who are better prepared to understand the world around them.

Chapter Six -- A Dictionary of Religious Literacy -- This chapter covers key words, phrases and concepts relating to the major world religions, and is one that lends itself to browsing.

The Appendix covers the religious literacy quiz, and the Notes are available for those who enjoy reading such things.

Stephen Prothero has made an excellent case for promoting religious literacy in the schools. We can never go back to the 17th and 18th centuries when the New England Primer or McGuffy's reader used Christian themes to teach reading, spelling, and writing, but we cannot afford to default on our responsibilities to our children. In this world where religion plays such a great role for good and for evil, to be ignorant is dangerous.

College of Liberal Arts (UT) - Losing My Faith

College of Liberal Arts (UT( - Losing My Faith:

"AUSTIN, Texas -June 6, 2007- College graduates are more likely to maintain their religious beliefs and practices than those who never attend college, new research at The University of Texas at Austin has found.

The findings are detailed in a study titled 'Losing My Religion' in the June issue of the journal Social Forces.

Researchers found four-year college students and college graduates are the least likely to curb church attendance, to say religion is less important in their lives, or to completely disassociate from religion. Young adults who do not pursue a college degree are the most likely to abandon their faith. ..."

This certainly flies in the face of "conventional wisdom." You can read Losing My Faith in pdf format by clicking the link.

The Harvard Crimson: Science and Religion Drive Divinity Professor

The Harvard Crimson :: News :: Science and Religion Drive Divinity Professor:

"A self-proclaimed hippie with a never-settled quest for religious understanding, Philip Clayton—a visiting professor this year at the Harvard Divinity School (HDS)—has spent the past year encouraging the exploration of the delicate balance between the study of science and the study of religion, an interest motivated in part by his own uncertainties of faith.

“I’ve met religious people for whom religion is no conflict—it’s as obvious as the air you breathe, or your own name, and I was never one of those people,” Clayton says. “It was always an intellectual struggle.

“Science and religion was the field in which that struggle expressed itself,” he added."

This guy has had an interesting trajectory, coming from an atheistic family, joining a church at 14, and studying "the areas of tension and sometimes harmony" between science and religion. He had a particularly humorous anecdote about the problems in telling his parents that he had had a conversion experience. (You can follow the link and read the whole article.)

Clayton had some interesting things to say about the human tendency to place God in the gaps of our scientific knowledge -- i.e. phenomena that we can't explain can be neatly filled by God. The problem is the gaps are constantly shrinking and where does that leave our concept of God?

As for Harvard's recent dropping of the "religion and reason" course requirement for undergraduates, his response was:

"Tragic. Tragic. If Harvard’s goal is to train the men and women who will be leaders across all branches of American culture, and internationally, then these have to be people who are knowledgeable in the fundamental cultural conflicts of our day."

I have to admit, I find the use of "academic speak" just a bit jarring when I hear or read about my religion, but I suppose it can be no other way for professors in secular universities. At least there are people who are still dealing with it at our educational institutions, which is better than the alternative...

At Georgetown, InterVarsity is Back | Liveblog | Christianity Today

At Georgetown, InterVarsity is Back | Liveblog | Christianity Today:

"Last year, just before the students returned to the campus of the Roman Catholic Georgetown University, the school's Protestant chaplain informed six evangelical student ministries that they were being 'disafilliated.' That is, they could not use campus facilities for their events, could not advertise their events on campus, and could not use the Georgetown name or logo.

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship was one of the affected ministries, and the irony could not have been sharper: the daughter of IVCF president Alec Hill was a Georgetown student."

This was a break from the usual legal issues -- in other instances public universities had attempted to "disaffiliate" InterVarsity due to their requirement that officers subscribe to Christian beliefs. Legal action has been effective in these cases (and the law seems to support InterVarsity's stand).

But in this case Georgetown University, being private, could ban any group that was not Catholic, if they so desired.

From Alec Hill, as quoted in the InterVarsity press release:

"I give a lot of credit to our staff and student leaders who did not overreact. They were firm but diplomatic in their dealing with university officials. We are grateful for the good spirit of dialog shown by Georgetown as this agreement was worked out."

It's good to see it could be handled in this way; it is far more satisfying than needing to resort to the courts to enforce what should be a common-sense decision based on existing law.

Is There Disdain For Evangelicals In the Classroom? - washingtonpost.com

Is There Disdain For Evangelicals In the Classroom? - washingtonpost.com:

"Frank G. Kauffman was teaching a course in social work at Missouri State University in 2005 when he gave an assignment that sparked a lawsuit and nearly destroyed his academic career.

He asked his students to write letters urging state legislators to support adoptions by same-sex couples. Emily Brooker, then a junior majoring in social work, objected that the assignment violated her Christian beliefs. When she refused to sign her letter, she was hauled before a faculty panel on a charge of discriminating against gays."

To Missouri State University's credit, they quickly quashed the discrimination charge, removing it from Brooker's record, and, in an out-of-court settlement, offered to pay for her graduate schooling.

This article cites two studies, one from collaborators from Harvard University and George Mason University, and one from the Institute for Jewish and Community Research. Both studies found that overall, university professors are less religious than the public at large, but that atheists and agnostics nonetheless represent a minority.

The Institute for Jewish and Community Research measured attitudes toward various religious groups with an eye toward determining how much anti-semitism there was at education institutions. While most religious groups, including Jews, were generally viewed positively, two groups in particular elicited "highly negative" responses: Evangelical Christians and Mormons.

From the Major Findings section of the IJCR report (reformatted for clarity):

1. Faculty Feel Warmly about Most Religious Groups, but Feel Coldly about Evangelicals and Mormons -- Faculty have positive feelings toward Jews, Buddhists, Catholics, and Atheists.
2. Faculty Feel Most Unfavorably about Evangelical Christians -- This is the only religious group about which a majority of non-Evangelical faculty have negative feelings.
3. Faculty Are Almost Unanimous in Their Belief That Evangelical Christians (Fundamentalists) Should Keep Their Religious Beliefs Out of American Politics -- Faculty who are secular/liberal are more likely to favor separation of religion and government, and those who are religious and conservative are more likely to advocate a closer connection between religion and government.
4. Although Faculty Generally Oppose Religion in the Public Sphere, Many Endorse the Idea That Muslims Should Express Their Religious Beliefs in American Politics -- Faculty are far less likely to endorse Evangelical Christians expressing their beliefs in American politics.

Note that this report seems to conflate the terms "Evangelical" and "Fundamentalist", which is an error all too often made in this debate.

The Washington Post article mentioned that not all in the education field feel this is a problem, which is no surprise, but one comment from an administrator should be noted. William B. Harvey, vice president for diversity and equity at the University of Virginia, while conceding that the findings may in fact be true, said it was a leap to assume that this translates to discrimination in the classroom. I would have to agree -- I have encountered professors whose opinions are well-known, but who are nevertheless fair in the classroom. I have also encountered professors who are not, but in far fewer numbers.

Geneva College court battle could end - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Geneva College court battle could end - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

"The United States and Pennsylvania now agree that Geneva College's policy of hiring only Christians is not illegal, a development that could end a court standoff between the two governments and the Beaver County school.

The college claimed its rights to free expression, free speech and church autonomy were violated when it was told it could not mention a religious preference for job applicants in help-wanted ads posted on a government Web site."

Maybe my opinion is somewhat colored by my 2 years teaching at a Presbyterian college, but this seems like a no-brainer. Geneva College is quite clear about what it is, where it comes from, and what its expectations are of its students and faculty.

themaneater.com | Students grapple with religion in college

themaneater.com | Students grapple with religion in college:

"With more than 21,000 undergraduate students, MU has more than 21,000 different religious backgrounds. Combining unique individuals from all over the world, each with their own dreams and values, causes ideas to form and beliefs to be reevaluated according to new revelations and experiences.

College is the first time many young adults are on their own and learning to create the lifestyle that best suits them. When students leave home, it might be the first time they’re surrounded by crowds of individuals who are grasping a new sense of freedom. This freedom causes some to question what they believe, which can include their religious beliefs.

Sophomore Deanna Boggs grew up without fully understanding the meaning of religion. But thanks to a good friend, she discovered what Christianity means to her during her freshman year at MU. ..."

This fairly-written article covers the main religions which hold Abraham in common, as well as a student who chose no religion at all. Coming as it does from the student newspaper at the institution where I work, I am pleasantly surprised to note the even-handedness of this article's treatment of how students at MU deal with their religion -- or lack thereof -- when they leave their homes and move into a sometimes difficult environment.

Book Review: Religious Literacy - What Every American Needs to Know - and Doesn't by Stephen Prothero @ Blogcritics.org

Book Review: Religious Literacy - What Every American Needs to Know - and Doesn't by Stephen Prothero @ Blogcritics.org:

"What would be a theological argument for God’s sense of humor? I think it is threefold. First, God gave imperfect Man free will (this is Arminian and not Calvinist thought). That alone should be evidence enough. Second, God entrusted his Word to imperfect Man with free will to be written down and declared by that imperfect Man with free will to be God’s inerrant Word (for Fundamentalists) and divinely inspired (for Evangelicals). Third, when the imperfect Man with free will reaches the age of 40 years, he or she can be both nearsighted and farsighted at the same time. Ain’t that a kick in the head?"

I'm not sure what this paragraph I quoted from C. Michael Bailey's review of Prothero's book has to do with the topic of religious literacy, but after I thought about it a while, it seemed somehow appropriate -- especially since I am somewhat over 40 myself, and have had to correct for astigmatism since I was in my early 20s. (to oversimplify, I am nearsighted in the vertical and farsighted in the horizontal, not to mention having presbyopia since about age 35)

First, a disclaimer -- I have not yet read Religious Literacy - What Every American Needs To Know, but it is high on my list -- in fact, it will probably arrive while I am out of town next week.

So, if you read Bailey's comments on God's sense of humor and decided to click the link to his full review, you might see what prompted me to place my order for this book with Amazon.

Time: The Case for Teaching The Bible

Time: The Case for Teaching The Bible

"... TOWARD THE BEGINNING OF THE COURT'S string of school-secularization cases, the most eloquent language preserving the neutral study of religion was probably Justice Robert Jackson's concurring opinion in the 1948 case McCollum v. Board of Education: "One can hardly respect the system of education that would leave the student wholly ignorant of the currents of religious thought that move the world society for ... which he is being prepared," Jackson wrote, and warned that putting all references to God off limits would leave public education "in shreds." In the 1963 Schempp decision, the exemption for secular study of Scripture was explicit and in the majority opinion: "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," wrote Justice Tom C. Clark. Justice Arthur Goldberg contributed a helpful distinction between "the teaching of religion" (bad) and "teaching about religion" (good). Citing these and subsequent cases, Marc Stern, general counsel for the American Jewish Congress, says, "It is beyond question that it is possible to teach a course about the Bible that is constitutional." For over a decade, he says, any legal challenges to school Bible courses have focused not on the general principle but on whether the course in question was sufficiently neutral in its approach. ..."

This is an excerpt from the interior of a fairly lengthy article from the online version of Time Magazine. The author, David van Biema, has presented a balanced exposition of the issues involved as well as the worries from the right and the left about how the secular teaching of the Bible as literature would be implemented.

I suspect that many people have never read the 1963 opinion of the Supreme Court that is mentioned here, and I would have to admit that I have not read it fully myself. If you are interested, Wikipedia has a summary of Abington School District v. Schempp and if you interested in the full (and lengthy) decision you can go to Findlaw and read 374 U.S. 203 (1963).

What may be surprising is that the 1963 Supreme Court decision did NOT ban the study of the Bible in public schools. It banned school-sponsored devotional readings and prayer. I remember this personally -- it was customary to read a passage from Scripture and to recite the Lord's Prayer at the beginning of the the school day, along with the Pledge of Allegiance. I remember it from third grade, and I seem to recall it in fourth grade as well. I know that by fifth grade it was no longer a part of my school day.

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States makes it clear:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The government cannot legally support one religion over another, but neither can the government prohibit people from the free exercise of their religion (or no religion, for that matter).

The problem was not that the Supreme Court said that schools could not sponsor prayer or devotional Bible reading; it was that subsequent practice in many areas tended to purge any whiff of religion from the public schools. My opinion is that much of this was due to more to an unwillingness to deal with controversy rather than with anti-religious ideology. Subsequent court decisions made it clear that "prohibiting the free exercise thereof" included specific rules and practices that prevented religious expression on school grounds. In other words, if you let secular groups use the property, you have to allow religious groups as well.

As for the teaching of the Bible as literature -- that was never banned by either the Constitution or the courts -- and Justice Jackson's words quoted above provide as good a reason as any I have heard for ensuring that our youth are religiously literate.

LA TImes: We live in the land of biblical idiots

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-prothero14mar14,1,3102398.story
(The LA Times requires free registration to read the full article)

"...Biblical illiteracy is not just a religious problem. It is a civic problem with political consequences. How can citizens participate in biblically inflected debates on abortion, capital punishment or the environment without knowing something about the Bible? Because they lack biblical literacy, Americans are easily swayed by demagogues on the left or the right who claim — often incorrectly — that the Bible says this about war or that about homosexuality.

One solution to this civic problem is to teach Bible classes in public schools. By Bible classes I do not mean classes in which teachers tell students that Jesus loves them or that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, but academic courses that study the Bible's characters and stories as well as the afterlife of the Bible in literature and history. Last week, the Georgia Board of Education gave preliminary approval to two elective Bible courses designed to teach religion rather than preach religion. As long as teachers stick to the curriculum, this is a big step in the right direction. ..."

It's good to read well-reasoned arguments like this from prominent newspapers. I don't agree with all Prothero's assertions in the rest of the article, but I do concur that religious literacy is necessary to understand the forces that drive much of what is happening in the world today -- the good, as well as the bad.