Alabama Bill Will Allow Churches To Teach Religion Classes To Public School Students

By Greg Garrison
Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) A bill in Alabama would allow churches or ministries to teach a religion class to public school students off campus, so long as parents and school boards give permission and the churches are responsible for transportation and any expenses.

State Rep. Blaine Galliher, a Republican, introduced the bill at the request of Joseph Kennedy, 84, who was fired in 1980 after he refused to stop reading the Bible or teaching creationism at a public school.

Under the plan, high school students could go off campus to study creationism and earn an elective credit. Kennedy said he wants to "give students good sound scientific reasons to support their faith in the seven-day creation."

Kennedy said he and supporters have formed a board of directors for a new Institute for Biblical Studies, which would offer a creationism class if a released-time class law were passed.

But Thomas Berg, who teaches constitutional law at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, said the elective credits could raise concerns about public school involvement in religious education.

"Anyone challenging it in court will argue the motivation for it was religious," said Berg. "A court is probably going to look at that suspiciously. There is a certain suspicion in the courts of Alabama legislators trying to promote religion."

In 1952, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a New York law allowing release-time from school for religious instruction, saying the religion classes were not held on public property or at public expense.

But four years earlier, in 1948, the Supreme Court struck down a similar release-time law in Illinois because the school was too involved in the administration of the class.

"Is the religious teacher going to certify that the student passed? Would the school do any review of that? Would they monitor the class for quality to ensure it would warrant a public school credit?" Berg asked. "All those things would entangle the school."

(Greg Garrison writes for the Birmingham News in Birmingham, Ala. David White contributed to this report.)

Comments

[Matt Call]

03:22 PM on 02/28/2012

This is nothing new. In the 90's, I personally recieved a few credits for seminary classes held at my church before school started--and this was in Washington state. Currently, public schools in Utah have release-time for Mormon seminary classes.

[EscherEnigma]

01:49 PM on 02/27/2012

I thought that Sunday School fit this purpose?

[thecreeksedge]

08:25 AM on 02/27/2012

Whatever happened to Sunday School? If people want their children who attend public school to have religious instruction, let them do it during non-school time. Students participate in extra-curricular activities that in most places does not take place during the school day. That is certainly the very best solution to this need that is felt so deeply by some people. There is no way release time wouldn't interfere with the class schedule of participating schools.

[Kenneth Knapp III]

06:00 AM on 02/27/2012

"Kennedy said he wants to 'give students good sound scientific reasons to support their faith in the seven-day creation.'"

I can't stop laughing.

[the griff]

03:19 AM on 02/27/2012

This already is in existence. Its called church service. Very misleading headline. A certain county in North Alabama allows a preacher into the school to access students. Called,"the Bible Man." This should be in the national headlines.

[peter010908]

02:44 AM on 02/27/2012

Another example of they the American education system is on a decline.

[been2there]

11:37 PM on 02/26/2012

Sorry folks, that is unconstitutional. They can learn religion in non-school time--of course that might interfere with sports.

[ernie3]

10:26 PM on 02/26/2012

As long as they teach the truth that The Bible is a refection of the times it was written .

[Mrs Robinsons]

09:20 PM on 02/26/2012

You can listen to a message for years ...
and understand it
theoretically...
but you cannot
come to terms
with it completely
until you have been
made to explain it to someone else...
so that they understand it also.
There seems to be some sort of spell on Church...
you get to hear the words there..
you even get to memorize them..
but you do not get to climb up over
the blocks over your head...
the blockheads...
to understand it...
until you deal with it
in another setting also.

[Claude Hosch]

05:55 PM on 02/26/2012

PARENTS! Get off your duffy and teach your children the Bible at home if your desire is for them to be familiar with it. That means you must read too.

[Killermolls44]

06:41 PM on 02/26/2012

Church is also an option. No reason to teach this stuff at public schools when you have those options.

[Claude Hosch]

08:12 AM on 02/27/2012

True. Christians parents are instructed to train their children in the way they should go. I found that having my kids read the Bible at home led to questions and conversations.

[WebSloth]

04:54 PM on 02/26/2012

Q: what do you do when you fly from NYC to Birmingham?

A: set your watch back an hour and your mind back a hundred years.

[McSpooty]

03:52 PM on 02/27/2012

...and Arizona or, if Santorum gets elected, the entire USA. Then non-Christians will have to wear arm bands...probably yellow; maybe even Protestants, too since Santorum doesn't recognize The Reformation.

[WebSloth]

05:19 PM on 02/27/2012

good point, religion is all a mater of recognition

for example Jews don't recognize Jesus as their savior.
Protestants don't recognize the Pope
and Baptists don't recognize each other in the liquor store.

[place rim shot here]

[Tmiley]

03:43 PM on 02/26/2012

I am a proud atheist and I have no problem teaching religion to children. Religion in public schools should be taught by including all of the world religions and titled that way. If you teach just Christianity to the students, you are indoctrinating their minds and that is no different from the brain washing parents do to their young children. Creationism is not science, but religion and should not be taught in the science class. Young people should be taught about all of the religions around the world and that they have been with us for over 30,000 years ago when man had to invent Gods to explain the unexplainable.

[Robert Cat]

05:54 PM on 03/20/2012

I'd rather my children were taught useful things in school, like how to balance a checkbook, and write without coming across like a 2nd grader.

Religious study is for when a young person has a solid background of necessary information, and chooses to waste their time (yes, I said waste) studying the fantasies of other cultures.

[electricxebra]

03:01 PM on 02/26/2012

I always say, If I am to believe in God, Jesus, and the Bible, then which Bible am I to worship with? The Ethiopian Coptic Bible? The Henry VIII Bible? King James I Bible? Good News for Modern Man? Dead Sea Scrolls? Christians are just too much, they claim to know all about God and Jesus, yet the have no awareness of the history of their religion.

[electricxebra]

02:58 PM on 02/26/2012

Ever hear of "Separation of church and state"? The Bible should never be taught in public schools. And if you want to teach the Bible in schools then you will have to also teach the "Satanic Verses" and every other Religion in the world!

[firstamendment3]

08:11 AM on 02/26/2012

I'm sure Alabama will be touting those Bible passages that support slavery.