Bible courses not so popular

Few Georgia high schools offer non-devotional Bible courses two years after the state made them legal. Two years ago, Georgia became the first state in the nation to allow publicly funded Bible courses. But only 37 of Georgia's 440 high schools offered the courses last school year. Educators say students are not interesting in the courses. Other school districts have shied away from offering them out of fears of lawsuits.

(Associated Press)

Sex offenders claim religious worship stifled

Five sex offenders say a state law blocks them from participating in religious worship. They filed a lawsuit today against a provision that bars sex offenders from serving any role with a religious organization. The complaint says "even helping a pastor with Bible study or preparing a meal in a church kitchen will subject (sex offenders) to prosecution and imprisonment." The main portion of the measure bans sex offenders from living, working or loitering within 1,000 feet of just about anywhere children gather.

Federal Judge says Bible must be taxed

People who buy the bible in Georgia must now pay sales tax. That because a federal court struck down a state law that gave an exemption to the bible, testaments and Holy Scriptures. The ruling also struck down a law that allowed religious insitution to sell texts withough charging a sales tax.
The law suit was brought by a woman who ownes a bookstore and a man who complained that he had to pay a tax on other spiritual books like “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance” or the "Bhagavad Gita." Jerry Webber with the Georgia Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union argued the case for the plaintiffs. "The government can’t choose which religions are the right religions and which ones are entitled to a tax exemption," he said.

Federal Judge Richard Story wrote in the 18 page decision that allowing a sales tax exemption for selected religious texts violates the first and fourteenth amendment.

Muscogee County School Board votes on version of Bible for schools

Muscogee County School Board (Dave Bender)

Muscogee County's School Board voted Monday to use the King James version of the Bible in two elective course teaching the Bible as history and literature for high school students in the fall.

Muscogee's eleventh and twelfth-graders will also use "The Bible and Its Influence" as a secondary text in the courses, covering the Old Testament and New Testament eras. The courses will only be taught if 15 or more students request them.

Board member Dr. Peggy Connell, chief academic officer for Muscogee County says the issue of whether or not to teach the sacred texts wasn't the controversy, but rather which version of them: “There's not any controversy about that. This was passed by Georgia legislators last year, and the state board has approved the curriculum.”

But there were dissenting voices. Rabbi Tom Friedman of Temple Israel in Columbus told the board that teaching the Bible as history was liable to be a minefield of contesting interpretations of even basis concepts. He called for proper oversight of the curriculum.

Friedmann addressing the board.
(Dave Bender)

"The teaching of the Old and the New Testament periods objectively is very difficult and an requires an extensive amount of training, and a great deal of an academic background. Both courses can be taught objectively – with the proper input,” Friedmann told the board.

Muscogee County is one of the first major school districts statewide to adopt the plan, voted in, in the 2006 legislature to allow state-funded courses on the Bible in public schools.