In one of the most disturbing court rulings I’ve seen in many years the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a released time program in Spartanburg County, South Carolina that gives academic credit to high school students who take Christian bible courses off campus. You can read the full ruling here.
It’s bad enough that some school districts release students for religious instruction during the school day at all, and that the courts have largely upheld that practice. But for a public school to give academic credit toward graduation for going to a weekday Sunday school class — and for the courts to allow it to happen — is absolutely appalling.
And here’s the thing: I don’t think those who support this ruling really believe it. I don’t think they actually think it’s okay at all; I think they think it’s only okay if it’s done by Christians. I would bet everything I have that the moment a Muslim demanded credit for going to the local mosque to receive instruction in Islam, the very same people who would cheer this decision would lose their minds over it. And that’s the obvious difference here. I think it’s wrong for students to receive public school credit for any religious instruction whatsoever.
The appeals court makes the argument that this is no different from a public school accepting transfer students from religious schools without evaluating the content of the courses they took, but that should not be done either. I think each student should be evaluated on the basis of testing. A kid transferring from a Catholic school has probably received a good education on the core subjects and should be able to pass an appropriate test in those subjects, but a kid who went to a school teaching them that the earth is 6000 years old is almost certainly not going to be able to pass a biology test for their grade level and they shouldn’t be given credit for the relevant courses if they can’t do that.
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Doug Little
July 3, 2012 at 11:45 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I thought 2 wrongs don’t make a right. I must be wrong on that.
DaveL
July 3, 2012 at 12:05 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Was this one of those “released time” programs where non-participants are made to effectively sit in detention while their classmates are gone?
d cwilson
July 3, 2012 at 12:56 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The idea that fundies will eventually hate getting what they want reminds me of this joke:
Dear John,
As you know, We’ve been working real hard in our town to get prayer back in our schools. Finally, the school board approved a plan of teacher-led prayer with the children participating at their own option. Children not wishing to participate were to be allowed to stand out in the hallway during prayer time. We hoped someone would sue us so we could go all the way to the Supreme Court and get the old devil-inspired ruling reversed.
Naturally, we were all excited by the school board action. As you know, our own little Billy (not so little, any more though) is now in the second grade. Of course, Margaret and I explained to him no matter what the other kids did, he was going to stay in the classroom and participate.
After the first day of school, I asked him “How did the prayer time go?”
“Fine.”
“Did many kids go out into the hallway?”
“Two”.
“Excellent. How did you like your teacher’s prayer?”
“It was different, Dad. Real different from the way you pray.”
“Oh? Like how?”
“She said, ‘Hail Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners…’”
The next day I talked with the principal. I politely explained I wasn’t prejudiced against Catholics but I would appreciate Billy bein transferred to a non-Catholic teacher. The principal said it would be done right away.
At supper that evening I asked Billy to say the blessings. He slipped out of his chair, sat cross- legged, closed his eyes, raised his hand palms up in the air and began to hum.
You’d better believe I was at the principal’s office at eight o’clock the next morning. “Look,” I said. ‘I don’t really know much about these Transcendental Meditationists, but I would feel a lot more comfortable If you could move Billy to a room where the teacher practices an older, more established religion.”
That afternoon I met Billy as soon as he walked in the door after school.
“I don’t think you’re going to like Mrs. Nakasone’s prayer either, Dad.”
“Out with it.”
“She kept chanting Namu Amida Butsu…”
The following morning I was waiting for the principal in the school parking lot. “Look, I don’t want my son praying to the Eternal Spirit of whatever to Buddha. I want him to have a teacher who prays in Jesus’ name!”
“What about Bertha Smith?”
“Excellent.”
I could hardly wait to hear about Mrs. Smith’s prayer. I was standing on the front steps of the school when the final bell rang.
“Well?” I asked Billy as we walked towards the car.
“Okay.”
“Okay what?”
“Mrs. Smith asked God to bless us and ended her prayer in Jesus’ name, amen just like you.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Now we’re getting some place.”
“She even taught us a verse of scripture about prayer,” said Billy.
I beamed. “Wonderful. What was the verse?”
“Lets see…” he mused for a moment. “And behold, they began to pray; and they did pray unto Jesus, calling him their Lord and their God.”
We had reached the car. “Fantastic,” I said reaching for the door handle. Then paused. I couldn’t place the scripture. “Billy, did Mrs. Smith say what book that verse was from?”
“Third Nephi, chapter 19, verse 18.”
“Nephi what?”
“Nephi,” he said. “It’s in the Book of Mormon.
The school board doesn’t meet for a month. I’ve given Billy very definite instructions that at prayer time each day he’s to go out into the hallway. I plan to be at that board meeting. If they don’t do something about this situation, I’ll sue. I’ll take it all the way to the Supreme Court if I have to. I don’t need schools or anybody else teaching my son about religion. We can take care of that ourselves at home and at church, thank you very much.
Best Wishes Always,
Dan
Scott Simmons
July 3, 2012 at 2:28 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Amen, d cwilson!
Um, if that’s an appropriate response … :)
abb3w
July 3, 2012 at 4:14 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
d cwilson:
That should be “Holy Mary”, by the way.
billydee
July 3, 2012 at 5:27 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I went to elementary school in Chicago in the 50s. I was involved in both sides of a released-time program. I went to a Catholic school for the first three grades. On Wednesdays we got to go home an hour early. Public school kids were bussed into our school for religious instructions after we left. We were told by older students that the public school kids would steal everything in our desks so we had to take all of our person items home. We looked down upon the public school kids because their parents obviously didn’t love them enough to send them to a Catholic school like Jesus wanted.
In fourth and fifth grade I went to the local public school and did the reverse of the program. We got out of school early and were bussed over to the Catholic school I had gone to for indoctrination. The nuns themselves were compassionate, but the students we encountered treated us like dirt.
I vaguely remember that there was an effort by the RC Archdiocese to get public funding for the busses they used for the the released-time program. I remember that it got nasty at times.
For the last three years of elementary school I lived in a neighborhood where almost everyone went to Catholic schools. There was one girl on our block who went to public school. No one ever talked to her. Saying someone went to public school was equivalent to saying they were axe-murderers.
Modusoperandi
July 3, 2012 at 5:30 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
d cwilson, I love you and, should the opportunity arise (as well as breakthroughs in biology), I will bear your children. No, you don’t have a choice in the matter. It’s kismet*.
* Which, I believe, is also the name for the Israeli parliament. True story.
F
July 3, 2012 at 9:16 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
abb3w
This is obviously the abridged version. :p
d cwilson
July 4, 2012 at 3:29 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Well,that could be difficult and not just because I’m married. You see, I had this operation a few years ago and . . .
Modusoperandi
July 4, 2012 at 9:03 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You can’t avoid kismet!
eamick
July 4, 2012 at 5:38 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Uh, no. It’s Knesset.
Modusoperandi
July 4, 2012 at 6:19 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
eamick “…Knesset…”
Gesundheit.