Ga. poised to OK Bible studies bill

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Ga. poised to OK Bible studies bill

By Nancy Badertscher, Bridget Gutierrez, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 21, 2006

Georgia is close to becoming the first state in the nation to pass a bill sanctioning Bible studies classes in public schools.

Under the measure, which passed the House on Monday by a vote of 151-7, high school students could take state-funded elective courses on the history and literature of the Scriptures. Other states offer similar classes, but none is believed to have a law specifically authorizing classes on the Bible.

The Georgia bill now returns to the Senate, where it could receive final passage this week.

"I don't know that I can think of anything quite like this before," said Charles Haynes of the First Amendment Center in Arlington, Va., a nonprofit group that promotes constitutional freedoms. "It's just unusual, if not unprecedented, to single out the Bible."

In committee, some House members voiced concern that the measure favors Christianity over other religions. But State Rep. James Mills (R-Gainesville), a supporter of the bill, was the only lawmaker to speak on it Monday.

"This is already being done in several states," he said in brief remarks before the vote. "It's passed Supreme Court muster."

Senate Bill 79, sponsored by state Sen. Tommie Williams (R-Lyons), requires the State Board of Education to adopt curricula for two electives — "History and Literature of the Old Testament Era" and "History and Literature of the New Testament Era" — by the middle of next school year.

The bill does not require that school systems offer the course or that students attend the class.

"This is not a religious issue," said Randy Brinson, founder of a Montgomery-based evangelical group that has been advocating for this and similar bills in other states. "We need to educate our students and help them be literate about the Bible."

But the bill demands that the Old and New Testaments be used as the "basic text" — a point of contention for civil libertarians who are concerned that the lessons will not be placed in the proper perspective.

"The Bible is not your ordinary book," said Judith Schaeffer, deputy legal director of the Washington-based People for the American Way Foundation, which has brought successful lawsuits against other states' Bible classes and is monitoring the legislation here. "You can't just hand it to an English teacher and expect them to teach it as Charles Dickens."

It's unclear how many school systems might offer such courses when they become available. None testified on the bill when it received a public hearing.

Officials from the Georgia School Boards Association and the Georgia School Superintendents Association said they were not aware of any systems planning to offer the classes.

"We don't favor the General Assembly mandating curriculum," said Herb Garrett, executive director of the superintendents' group. "But this doesn't really mandate that local school systems do it. It only mandates that the Department of Education create a curriculum. So we just sort of stayed out of it.

"Frankly," Garrett added, "it was probably one of those that was going to happen anyway."

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