Here is What Public School Students Learn in Elective Bible Courses

Religious Freedom, ,

Recently, we have written about how Arkansas law lets public schools offer elective, academic courses on the Bible — and how enrollment in these courses has grown this year.

In 2013 Arkansas passed Act 1440 letting public schools offer elective, academic courses that study “the Bible and its influence on literature, art, music, culture, and politics.”

The law says the course must be objective and nonsectarian, and it must meet the same academic standards as other elective courses offered in public schools. Anyone wishing to teach the course must be licensed to teach in the State of Arkansas. In 2019, the Arkansas Legislature passed Act 1016 making technical clarifications to Act 1440 of 2013.

The Arkansas Department of Education’s academic framework provides an outline for these classes and what students learn from them.

Under the framework, the academic study of the Bible is a one-semester English elective course.

Students learn about the Bible and its influence on literature, art, music, and culture.

As part of the course, students demonstrate “an understanding of narratives, poetry, and epistles contained in the Bible and how these biblical genres have influenced literature, art, and music.”

Students are also expected to:

  • Recognize the variety of literary devices in biblical text;
  • Identify major characters of the Bible;
  • Identify themes expressed in the Bible, making comparisons with modern society today;
  • Analyze poetry and songs of the Bible, making comparisons with modern poetry and music;
  • Compare different translations of the Bible;
  • Analyze the influence of the Bible on art and literary works;
  • Examine the influence of the Bible on historical and modern day political and social movements;
  • Analyze the Bible’s influence on the creation of American institutions and law.

The academic framework also notes that the Bible courses must be taught objectively.

This year lawmakers passed Act 400, the Religious Rights at Public School Act by Sen. Mark Johnson (R — Little Rock) and Rep. Alyssa Brown (R — Heber Springs). This good law affirms public school students’ and teachers’ religious liberties, and it highlights the freedom that schools have to offer academic courses on the Bible under state law.

It’s good that Arkansas’ students have the opportunity to enroll in academic courses on the Bible. After all, no single book has been more influential on our civilization.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Planned Parenthood Offers Teens Cross-Sex Hormones at First Visit

LGBT, Transgender, ,

Phone call recordings by Live Action show Planned Parenthood facilities in multiple states are willing to prescribe cross-sex hormones to teens — sometimes at their first appointment.

Live Action reports,

Staff at seven of the 33 facilities contacted confirmed they would prescribe cross-sex hormones at the first appointment, even virtually. A video highlighting the undercover calls shows that at the Planned Parenthood in Mankato, Minnesota, staff were willing to prescribe hormones to the patient at the end of a single virtual visit. . . .

At five of the facilities, staff said the 16-year-old girl did not need proof of having undergone therapy, mental health clearance, or prior documentation as part of a mental health assessment before Planned Parenthood would prescribe cross-sex hormones.

Besides being the nation’s leading abortionist, Planned Parenthood has also become a major provider of gender-transition drugs and surgeries. Planned Parenthood’s facilities in Arkansas both advertise “gender-affirming care services” on their websites, offered in-person or via telemedicine.

While Planned Parenthood continues to promote sex-change procedures, medical experts are sounding the alarm about how dangerous these procedures can be — especially for children.

Public health officials in the U.S. and the U.K. have released stunning rebukes of the so-called “gender affirming care” Planned Parenthood and others offer.

Last year The British Medical Journal wrote that ”the advocacy and clinical practice for medical treatment of gender dysphoria [through puberty blockers, hormones, and surgery] had moved ahead of the evidence—a recipe for harm.”

These procedures can leave children sterilized and scarred for life, and doctors don’t know the long-term consequences they may have for children. That is why to date about half the states in the U.S. have passed laws protecting children from sex-change surgeries.

In 2021, Arkansas lawmakers overwhelmingly passed the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act.

The SAFE Act is a good law that prevents doctors in Arkansas from performing sex-change surgeries on children or giving them puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.

Unfortunately, the SAFE Act is tied up in court, and a federal judge in Little Rock has blocked the state from enforcing it for now. However, we believe our courts ultimately will recognize that the SAFE Act is a good law and uphold it as constitutional.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Despite Safety Concerns, THC Seltzers Becoming Popular

Marijuana, ,

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that drinks laced with THC are becoming popular.

THC is the main psychoactive substance in marijuana, and health experts warn the drug poses serious risks.

In 2018, Congress passed the federal Agriculture Improvement Act to let farmers grow cannabis plants low in THC for use in textiles like hemp rope or cloth. But manufacturers have found ways to extract and refine the little bit of THC in the plants. Doing this on a commercial scale means they can produce a lot of THC to infuse into drinks, candies, e-cigarettes, and other products.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said that federal law prohibits this type of THC in food products, but many companies are marketing these THC-infused products anyway.

Now The Wall Street Journal reports THC drinks are becoming popular, but come with serious health concerns:

There’s no limit on the amount of THC allowed in a beverage, but many states consider a standard dose to be 5 milligrams, though Colorado defines one edible dose as 10 milligrams. There are 12-ounce seltzer drinks with 30 milligrams of THC and two ounce fast-acting shots containing a whopping 100 milligrams.

Consumers seem to prefer the stronger stuff. The global THC seltzer market was valued at $344.7 million in 2023 and is projected to grow to about $2 billion by 2030. . . .

What about drinking a THC seltzer followed by, say, a beer? When you combine weed with alcohol, the effects are exponentially worse, says Matthew Hill, a neuroscientist at Hotchkiss Brain Institute at University of Calgary in Canada. 

What about the health risks overall? Drinking or eating THC has slightly less risk than smoking or vaping because you aren’t exposing your lungs to smoke, he says. 

That doesn’t make it healthy. “The health risks of THC are going to be the same no matter how you consume, because THC is THC,” Hill says.

Such risks include impaired judgment, attention span and coordination, and raising the risk of car accidents, falls, and injuries. Long-term use can also lead to significant mental-health issues and addiction. And THC can lead some people to experience short-term psychosis, anxiety and an elevated heart rate. 

And if you think drinking your THC with a meal makes it less potent, you’re wrong.

As we have pointed out, drinks with as much THC as recreational marijuana products have raised serious public health and safety concerns.

In Oregon — where marijuana is legal — the state’s Liquor and Cannabis Commission recently tested 51 samples of industrial hemp flowers as part of its “Operation Clean Leaf” initiative. All 51 hemp samples contained more THC than federal law allows.

Authorities also said the vast majority of hemp products were sold without proper age verification, and that some were tainted with pesticides. That’s part of the reason even liberal states like Oregon are taking steps to address these products.

This year, multiple bills legalizing THC-infused drinks were filed at the Arkansas Legislature.

H.B. 1578 by Rep. Aaron Pilkington (R — Knoxville), which was filed in February, specifically would have legalized drinks containing THC made from hemp in Arkansas. Under this measure, THC seltzers as strong as recreational marijuana products in other states could have been legal in Arkansas.

H.B. 1722 by Rep. Jeremiah Moore (R — Clarendon) would have legalized e-cigarettes, food, drinks, and other products containing THC. A similar bill — S.B. 455 by Sen. Josh Bryant (R — Rogers) and Rep. Justin Gonzales (R — Okolona) would have legalized THC products as well.

Fortunately, none of these bills passed this year.

All of this reminds us once again: Marijuana may be many things, but “harmless” simply is not one of them.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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