COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.-
It’s no surprise that a Bible class hasn’t stirred up controversy in a city with a large fundamentalist population.
But liberal Boulder?
Educators say the key is to teach the class like any other class, and approach the Bible as literature. After all, there are several versions of it, leading to many debates.
At Wasson High School, when teacher Chris Hartman recently asked his class if it was his job to teach them their faith, the class responded with a unanimous no, The Denver Post reported.
“Whose job is it?” he then asked. “Ours!” they replied.
His class is so popular there is a waiting list.
“We’re talking Boulder here. If it were going to be controversial anywhere, you’d think it would be here,” says Boulder Valley schools Deputy Superintendent Chris King. “But we have a highly educated population that gets it. An educated American must know the historical and cultural importance of the Bible. It’s the cornerstone of much of our liberal arts education.”
Student Maxx Myers says Jim Vacca’s class is one of the few he’s taken where more than one interpretation of the text is encouraged.
Vacca, who teaches a Bible-based course at Boulder High School, says he thinks all literature is open to interpretation. “We need to trust our kids to be critical thinkers,” he says.
Wasson senior Rachel Speights, a pagan, says she has become more open-minded since enrolling in the court so she could argue more effectively with Christians.
The Post, quoting the Center for Bible Literacy, says only 8 percent of public schools offer Bible courses since a 1963 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that it is unconstitutional to require Bible devotionals and prayers in public schools. The decision also says that such study is constitutional when “taught objectively as part of a secular program.”
At Palmer High School in Colorado Springs, the Bible literature course is based on the idea that the book is “a collection of writings produced by real people who lived in actual historic times,” according to class guidelines.
“It’s a literature class pure and simple, with clearly defined guidelines and parent signoff,” says teacher Todd Hegert.
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Information from: The Denver Post,
