A panel of Oklahoma House of Representatives passed House Bill 2321 which allows “the state Board of Education to adopt guidelines for the nonsectarian, nonreligious academic study of the Bible and its influence on literature, art, music, culture and politics.”
“This lays some ground fire to back these teachers who would like to refer to the Bible,” said bill author Rep. Todd Russ. “It’s intended to be an additional tool for presenting our heritage and the history of America and the value system of America and where it came from.”
I appreciate Rep. Russ’ description of “ground fire.” It reminds me of the line from the song “Pass It On” that says it only takes a spark to get a fire going. May this Bible teaching fire continue to spread throughout our country.
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February 15, 2010 at 10:45 am
Greg Yankey
I already refer to the Bible when teaching my world history course in an Oklahoma public school. It can’t be avoided when the history textbook itself often refers to the Bible. One example is when we are studying the Assyrian Empire. When Sennacherib was besieging Jerusalem, his army was mysteriously defeated by some kind of plague. This is recorded in the “Assyrian Chronicles” as well as the Bible. The Bible’s interpretation of the events is that a destroying Angel was sent through the camp of the Assyrians. Even though I tell the students that the Bible gives the theological interpretation of the event, that the event actually happened is shown by the Bible as well as Assyrian records. This is not in doubt.
February 16, 2010 at 9:37 am
Chris Doyle
Well done, Greg. Please continue to present the Bible as a valuable and authoritative source.