Atheist Group Goes After “Bible” Course in AR School

Religious Freedom, , ,

As we have written before, a few years ago the Arkansas Legislature passed a law authorizing public schools to teach about the Bible.

Act 1440 of 2013 permits public schools to offer elective academic courses that study “the Bible and its influence on literature, art, music, culture, and politics.” The courses must be objective and nonsectarian, and must meet the same academic standards as other elective courses offered in public schools.

According to CNSNews.com, the Bentonville School Board is considering whether to offer an elective course on the Bible in the coming school year–drawing the ire of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, an atheist group based in Wisconsin, who sent a letter to the board last month in opposition to the course.

It is worth noting courts have indicated the U.S. Constitution does not prevent public school students from being taught about the Bible and its significance throughout human history, provided the instruction is conducted in an educational and neutral manner.

In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court even went so far in its Stone v. Graham decision as to say, “the Bible may constitutionally be used in an appropriate study of history, civilization, ethics, comparative religion, or the like.” The key is the state has to have a legitimate, secular purpose in offering elective courses on the Bible.

Act 1440’s stated purpose for these classes is to study the Bible’s influence on our culture. This purpose seems more than reasonable, considering no single book has held more sway over western culture than the Bible.

As we have also said before, students and teachers do not shed their First Amendment freedoms by walking into a school. Students are free to form religiously-based student organizations. Students can even discuss their faith, if relevant, as part of course assignments and homework. They can peacefully read scripture or pray during breaks, before school, and after school.

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Arkansas A.G. Signs Amicus Brief in Defense of Religious Liberty

Religious Freedom,

Last week Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office signed an amicus brief in the case of Trinity Lutheran v. Pauley.

In a nutshell, the case has to do with whether or not a religious organization can be barred from participating in programs available to other organizations simply because the organization happens to be religious. This particular case centers on, of all things, a type of recycling program in which scrap tires are used to provide safe, rubber surfaces on children’s playgrounds in Missouri.

Alliance Defending Freedom writes,

“The [amicus] briefs support a church-run preschool and daycare center that the state of Missouri said is qualified for the program, which provides reimbursement for recycled tire products to surface children’s playgrounds, but then disqualified from the program anyway only because the church is religious.”

Of course the real question, here, is not so much about recycled tires as it is about the State of Missouri trying to discriminate against churches and religious organizations in its public programs.

The amicus brief signed by Attorney General Rutledge’s office reads in part,

Missouri claims that its Scrap Tire Program serves to convert old rubber into a safer environment for all Missourians, from those who live near dump sites to children who fall on softer surfaces. So why is it relevant that an applicant for such a grant happens to be a church?

The answer is very simple: It isn’t relevant. Being religious does not disqualify a person or organizations from participation in public life, plain and simple.

If you would like to thank the Arkansas Attorney General for standing up for religious liberty, you can call her office at (501) 682-2007.

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Denying True Coexistence

Religious Freedom,

John Stonestreet with the Colson Center for Christian Worldview has released an excellent commentary on the growing intolerance for basic religious liberty.

Stonestreet writes,

Exhibit A is the new Mississippi law that ensures that churches and other religious groups aren’t punished for declining to participate in weddings against their convictions, or for setting personnel and housing policies based on their deeply held beliefs.

Further, this law allows private businesses and schools to set their own policies for bathrooms, showers, and locker rooms. In that sense, the law models peaceful coexistence on very contentious social issues.

But one corporation, IBM is claiming that, “(T)his legislation will permit discrimination against people based on their marital status, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression.”

Not so, according to Jennifer Marshall. The law protects those with religious scruples from being discriminated against. “What the new law does,” she points out, “is to prevent discrimination by ensuring the government will not force people to violate their consciences in very specific contexts spelled out by the law.”

You can read Stonestreet’s full commentary here or listen to it below.

[audio:http://www.breakpoint.org/images/content/breakpoint/audio/2016/042116_BP.mp3|titles=No Tolerance for Religious Tolerance?]

Photo Credit: By Nevadaresident (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons.

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