BlogWood: MT Archives

Bibles in every classroom!

Since gaining office, Jeb! has proudly cut billions of dollars of tax revenues from the state budget, benefitting mostly wealthy individuals and businesses.

Now, when it comes time to deal with pre-K education and kids health care, the state cries poverty and wrings its hands as children struggle to survive without medicine, but the state has an answer: pray!

In fact, the state plans to pay for children’s religious education. We’re not just talking about some symbolic display of religious tracts, either. The wise men of Florida’s GOP have decreed that the Bible makes for a fine textbook, and if you don’t like it, well, perhaps you ought to convert to Christianity or move to France, you godless heathen.

''I don't see anything in this bill, the way it's worded right now, that you could not use the Bible as everyday methodology,'' (Sen. Jim) King (Jacksonville Republican) said. ``Now having said that, I'm not so sure that that will stand the test of constitutionality.''

Despite naysayers like King, worried about trivial details like the constitution, Republicans are forging ahead with the 2005 Religious Institutions Proselytizing and Welfare Act.

Under Florida's proposed pre-kindergarten program, a Baptist school taking state money could give admissions preference to Baptist children. A Jewish school could refuse to let in non-Jews.

The voluntary pre-kindergarten proposal lacks any prohibition against religious discrimination - and lawmakers want it that way.

Senate President Tom Lee said it was important to some religious schools to give their own congregants priority.

"I think it's impossible to ask participation for sectarian providers and not respect that they're going to give some preference to their parishioners," Lee said.

The bill as it currently stands cites language from the 1964 federal Civil Rights Act banning discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin. But it is silent on - and therefore permits - discrimination based on other factors, such as religion and intelligence.

"I personally would be horrified if people excluded people based on religion," said David Lawrence, a leading advocate of early childhood education and a member of Gov. Jeb Bush's task force that studied the issue.

Oh, wait: Jeb!’s spokesman says that he would be horrified if churches actually follow the law as the GOP is crafting it. I guess everything will be okay, then.

The bottom line is that Republican leaders have had years to prepare for pre-K and its associated costs. We would not need religious institutions to swoop down and save us if Jeb! had acted responsibly and seen to it that this program would be properly funded. If local school districts had been given a mandate and money to make room, public schools could handle the job of education, and they could do it without Bibles.