Image Credit: TN General Assembly
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
Eight Republicans joined four Democrats in voting to halt the “Protecting Religious Liberty and Expression in Public Schools Act” last week. The 12 to 7 vote in the House Education Committee sent the legislation to summer study, effectively removing the legislation from consideration for this session of the Tennessee General Assembly.
The eight Republicans who voted in favor of this action were Representatives Charlie Baum (R-Murfreesboro-District 37), Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka-District 64), Kirk Haston (R-Lobelville-District 72), Chris Hurt (R-Halls-District 82), Renea Jones (R-Unicoi-District 4), Kevin Raper (R-Cleveland-District 24), William Slater (R-Gallatin-District 35), and Mark White (R-Memphis-District 83).
rep.charlie.baum@capitol.tn.gov; rep.scott.cepicky@capitol.tn.gov; rep.kirk.haston@capitol.tn.gov; rep.chris.hurt@capitol.tn.gov; rep.renea.jones@capitol.tn.gov; rep.kevin.raper@capitol.tn.gov; rep.william.slater@capitol.tn.gov; rep.mark.white@capitol.tn.gov
Sponsored by Representative Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood-District 61), House Bill 1491 as amended seeks to allow for voluntary Bible studies and prayer times in public schools.
The legislation would also require that public schools teach the Bible as literature and in a historical context. It was over this section of the bill that Representative Cepicky stated he had “grave concern” as it would affect curriculum and state standards.
“In the section where it talks about teaching the Bible as literature, age-appropriate instruction on the history of Israel, the stories of the moral and ethical teachings of Old and New Testaments, we could substitute in for that the Koran as literature, the appropriate instruction of the history of Islam, Judaism, and this can go on and on and on to where now because it’s in our standards, now we get a problem with we only have a hundred and eighty days to teach what we need to teach the kids in a school year,” said Cepicky.
Instead, Cepicky suggested that high-school students in their junior or senior years take an elective to learn about the religions of the world.
While Cepicky said he was wholly supportive of the prayer part of the legislation, he pointed out that passing the bill in its entirety could mean that the implementation of teaching the Bible in public schools could take up to ten years because of the review of Tennessee standards.
At the conclusion of his remarks, Cepicky made the recommendation to send the bill to summer study.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
