Image Credit: capitol.tn.gov & Gino Bulso / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative [By Olivia Lupia] –
Rep. Gino Bulso’s “Protecting Religious Liberty and Expression in Public Schools” Act which would put voluntary Bible studies and prayer times into public schools is set to be heard by the House Civil Justice Subcommittee on Wednesday, Feb. 4.
HB1491 asserts that “deep prejudice” against ecclesiastical and Christian organizations has led to an incorrect interpretation of the idea of separation of church and state, causing a departure from the religious liberties guaranteed by the state and U.S. constitutions “by restricting not only government but also religion and by discriminating against churches and other ecclesiastical religion, in contrast to more individualistic spirituality.”
The bill seeks to remedy that discrepancy by requiring public schools to teach the Bible as literature and in a historical context as an “age-appropriate introduction to the history of Isreal, the stories, and the moral and ethical teachings of the Old and New Testaments, the life of Jesus, the history of the early Christian church, and the Bible’s influence on western civilization.”
Schools could not teach the Bible as religious dogma or to “coerce” students to accepting it as divinely inspired, and students can also be opted out of the lessons with written requests from their parents.
The voluntary prayer times must be offered to students and employees on each school day and could consist of silent individual prayer or groups could have a designated prayer time, but parents would be required to give schools written permission for their children to participate.
Prayers could also not be broadcast over a school intercom system or take away from instructional time, nor are prayer times or readings of religious texts during those times limited to Christian faiths.
“I think this is exactly the right time to have this issue brought back into the public square both because you now our Supreme Court has, I think, more properly aligned in most recent decisions and because I think we just need to have prayer back in our schools,” Bulso previously said.
The Senate companion, SB1714 by Sen. Joey Hensley, is still awaiting a committee assignment.
To contact members of the House Civil Justice Subcommittee with your thoughts on this bill, use the information below:
Rep.lowell.russell@capitol.tn.gov
Rep.elaine.davis@capitol.tn.gov
Rep.andrew.farmer@capitol.tn.gov
Rep.johnny.garrett@capitol.tn.gov
Rep.gloria.johnson@capitol.tn.gov
Rep.tom.stinnett@capitol.tn.gov
Rep.lowell.russell@capitol.tn.gov; rep.elaine.davis@capitol.tn.gov; rep.andrew.farmer@capitol.tn.gov; rep.johnny.garrett@capitol.tn.gov; rep.gloria.johnson@capitol.tn.gov; rep.tom.stinnett@capitol.tn.gov; rep.chris.todd@capitol.tn.gov; rep.ron.travis@capitol.tn.gov
About the Author: Olivia Lupia is a political refugee from Colorado who now calls Tennessee home. A proud follower of Christ, she views all political happenings through a Biblical lens and aims to utilize her knowledge and experience to educate and equip others. Olivia is an outspoken conservative who has run for local office, managed campaigns, and been highly involved with state & local GOPs, state legislatures, and other grassroots organizations and movements. Olivia can be reached at olivia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
4 Responses
Just more pandering for votes by Gino Bulso. This transparently unconstitutional bill will never survive a court challenge, and he knows it. But what more important to him is being able to go to his supporters and say, “MY bill will put the Bible and prayer back in the schools where they belong,” and they’ll scream and pump their fists in the air. And then when the bill is deemed unconstitutional, those same constituents will get even angrier.
I do have an opinion about this bill: I think we have bigger hills to fight for. I do not object to teaching about the Bible in the classroom in the manner described in this article. But, in the same spirit of the legislation, teaching something about all religions would not be a bad idea. One of the best classes I had in college was called “Religions of the World”, and it covered many religions during the semester. It was fact/history based, not dogma based. But in K-12 I think we have bigger issues to address that get more return on the dollar invested. Religious studies are great classes for college and maybe high school. I still think parents and churches should teach Bible studies. If we really want this during school hours; a class for “Released Time” could be chosen, and students could attend a religion class taught by their church leaders; but it would not be official state curriculum. A better class to mandate in my view would be Civics. Teach kids the principles of Federalism and the Constitution of the United States of America. Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, History, and Civics.
Emailed committee, “Please don’t kill this.”
Could we FIRST teach our kids how to read and add? If you want your child taught religion, take them to Sunday School or Catechism classes etc. Add a Civics class so they understand how our government is supposed to function. It is past time to get back to the basics.