'Bible Bill' Sponsor Touts Historic, Literary Value of World's Best-Selling Book
by Jim Brown
April 3, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A Georgia lawmaker is hailing passage of a bill to fund elective Bible courses in the state's public schools. On a 45-2 vote last week, the Georgia Senate approved a bill that creates elective courses on history and literature of both the Old and New Testaments. Senate Bill 79 had passed the House by an overwhelming margin (151-7) the previous week. Although the state school board will determine the teaching materials, the Bible itself is required to be the main textbook.
Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams says his legislation passes constitutional muster because it requires the Bible be taught without indoctrination or proselytization. Williams, who says he introduced the same measure eight years ago when Republicans were the minority party, contends the bill is needed in the Peach State.
"What makes this attractive to schools is up until now you could do it, but the state would not pay for the elective -- and with most school systems strapped for money, they just don't teach anything the state's not going to cover," the lawmaker explains. "So what this bill does is it allows the state to pay for the elective course, or pay for the teacher of the course."
The majority leader is convinced of the value of an elective course on the Bible. "There's just so much of the Bible that's historical, he says, "and then the art and history and literature that comes from the Bible has been so effective in the world. And I just feel like kids are illiterate of the Bible and need to know it."
Williams says he and other conservatives opposed a competing bill because it would have allowed schools to use a textbook from the Virginia-based Bible Literacy Project -- a textbook the state legislator says has a "left-wing view of the Bible." The bill now moves to Governor Sonny Perdue's desk for his signature.
If the bill is signed into law, Georgia would be the only state in the union with a law sanctioning Bible-related classes. But two other Bible Belt states -- Alabama and Missouri -- are currently considering measures similar to Georgia's.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
