A Times Editorial

Bible class is off course

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 6, 2000

Hazel Eakins wants the Bible taught to Pinellas County schoolchildren, and she doesn't disguise her intent.

"For them to have a complete education, they need to know what the Bible says as well as what other history books say," she told a reporter. "They teach them evolution, so why can't they teach them creation and let them decide?"

Her comments fairly characterize the curriculum being proposed by the North Carolina-based National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, which is why the Pinellas School Board has wisely turned the request over to its attorney.

Teaching the Bible in our public schools is fine, but as literature, not as history. The role of public education is to teach, not to proselytize, and it is relevant that U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich has already rejected the National Council's attempt to use the same curriculum in Lee County schools.

Constitutional implications aside, this latest attempt to bring the Bible into the classroom tends also to reveal the disconnect between some religious interest groups and the lives of students who want a diploma and an educational future.

In Pinellas, which reviews its course offerings every year, there have been no requests from students or teachers for a Bible course. In fact, most high school students, especially those who are college-bound, already face a challenge trying to fit all their required academic subjects into a six-period day. They have little time for any elective, whether it is music or journalism or religion.

So what Eakins really brings to Pinellas is the potential for a divisive, ugly public debate, and costly litigation, for a course students don't have the time or inclination to take anyway. Is this what Pinellas schools really need?

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