Mark Oppenheimer of The New York Times writes today about Bible classes in Texas public schools, which are encouraged by state law and which (surprise!) frequently cross the line from teaching about the Bible's "impact on the history and literature of Western Civilization," as the law requires, to government endorsement of religion.
Or maybe we Yankees just don't understand! Maybe we don't even understand our own strange non-Christian belief systems....
Many of those hired to teach Bible classes ... are ministers, trained in spreading the Gospel. Marvin McHargue, a former dean of a Baptist college in Dallas, will retire this spring after 12 years teaching high school Bible in Duncanville, Tex....See? You Yankees have to make trouble by denying the divinity of the risen Jesus. Here in Texas, the Jews would never say anything like that! It's not neighborly!
On crucial points of theology, Mr. McHargue seemed content with a conservative Protestant interpretation. For example, when asked if he taught that the New Testament "fulfilled" the prophecies in the Jewish book of Isaiah, he said, "Well, it does, as far as I'm concerned."
But Jews, it was pointed out to him, do not believe that Isaiah's teachings were fulfilled by Jesus. "In New York, they don't," he said, somewhat oddly.
