GOP State Rep. McClain wants to give kids school credit for bible study

By On May 16, 2011 · 13 Comments

Fresh off their big sweep in November, Ohio’s Republican legislators continue to push their far-right agenda.

State Rep Jeffrey A. McClain has introduced House Bill 219 which would allow high school students to “earn up to two units of high school credit for the completion of a released time course in religious instruction.”

H.B. 219: To enact section 3313.6017 of the Revised Code to permit public school students to attend and receive credit for released time courses in religious instruction conducted off school property during regular school hours.

Ugh.

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  • Bob

    Do you really want me to “Evangelize” this? 

    I did notice that he kept the language of his bill non-denominational.  So lets try it with all the Somalian kids who attend Columbus area schools.  See how well the GOP likes it when it works that way.

  • anon

    I love “Evangelize” appearing right below this post. Irony is such a difficult thing to teach. I may add this to my list of examples for Language class. Then I guess I’d better get to work re-writing my major religions unit for Social Studies next year. I guess I can just leave out all that extraneous stuff about the heathen non-Christians. They don’t really count anyway, do they?

    (BTW – Yes, I really do teach both those classes…)

  • Anonymous

    Well, fair’s fair.  Why restrict the credits to public school students?  Parochial school students wouldn’t need off-site release time.  but that would give those damn Catholic kids a boon they don’t deserve, wouldn’t it?  And it’s not as if the Catolic religion is Christian, anyway.

    //sarcasm mode off//

    This is a horrible idea.  It’s sad that McClain isn’t being laughed out of office.
     

  • Annekarima

    Religion?  Then this will apply to the Koran as well as the Bible…book of the Dead…Voodoo that they do do so well?   Come on…give me something better to work with here…these lines are too easy! 

  • What’s next, credits for taking classes at one of those “learning enrichment centers”? Ohh, I should hold my tongue, Dave Brennen might get them to do that, and figure out a way for the state to pay him for the privilege! 

  • Jen

    This reeks of homeschool-esque field trips to the Creation Museum.  A class trip to Stonehenge to hang with the druids during the winter solstice would be much more educational, though, and void of miniature dinosaurs.

  • tshaw1

    How else do you expect the kids to learn that the world is really only 6000 years old, that we use to ride around on dinosaurs and that there’s no such thing as evolution? I think they should get double credits for going to the Koch Brothers school of environment protection, the Glenn Beck school of current affairs and the Bernie Madaulf school of accounting. 🙂

  • Anonymous

    Don’t these guys ever get it?  How long do they think it will be before the courts will declare these “bills” unconstitutional?  Their rhetoric is the worst kind of popular tripe, their arguments are sloppy and their conclusions about what will fly are deplorable.  That about wraps it up for the Kasich and Company.

  • Gary Ruppert

    The fact is, America is a Christian nation and the Bible is the foundation of our freedom.  Freedom of religion only applies to Demoninations of Christian, and Catholics are not really Christian.  You liberals lie about seperetion of church and state, they were and should be one until liberals tried to destroy America by doing it, and Kasich is doing a great job resorting freedom to Ohio.

  • Gary Ruppert

    The fact is, America is a Christian nation and the Bible is the foundation of our freedom.  Freedom of religion only applies to Demoninations of Christian, and Catholics are not really Christian.  You liberals lie about seperetion of church and state, they were and should be one until liberals tried to destroy America by doing it, and Kasich is doing a great job resorting freedom to Ohio.

  • Joemetz

    In fairness, I think the only new aspect to this would be the credit given.  As I understand, Ohio law already requires districts to allow students to attend such classes during school hours, although I don’t know what the transportation or the time provisions are.  I learned of this while serving on the commission for our kids’ parish school.  We Catholics have always had what was called CCD when I was young (now Parish School of Religion) and it came up in some discussion or other.

    The credit provisions as proposed are fraught with peril, as they say.  While couched in language that alleges there will be no consideration regarding what religions are being studied, etc., the provisions outlining how a determination will be made seems capable of being fairly arbitrary.  I think it’s possible that some school board or administration may allow some and not others.  I can’t  impute malice, but I think there may be some who would readily recognize the instruction given to Christian children, but would not for Jewish or Muslim or Hindu children.  And I say this as a Christian. 

    I think the present law (however it’s set up, don’t know if it’s law or regulatory) serves the purpose just fine. 

  • Anonymous

     Then I guess I better polish up my syllabus for my Flying Spaghetti Monster Religion Studies. Lines form to the left, please dress in full pirate regalia for complete course credit. Please specify if you’ll be enrolling for the course with or without meatballs. rAmen.

  • chuck

    Hey, bible studies prepare children for the real
    world. if the world you live in is a 13th century feudal backwater.
    (like Mississippi.)  Adam rode dinosaurs, anyone who watched the
    Flinstones knows that!

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