By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: October 15, 2009
WASHINGTON — Fifty-three House Republicans have signed a letter to the Obama administration asking for the ouster of Kevin Jennings, an official charged with promoting school safety, because of his career as an advocate of teaching tolerance of homosexuality.
As the founder of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, Mr. Jennings has played an integral role in promoting homosexuality and pushing a pro-homosexual agenda in America’s schools — an agenda that runs counter to the values that many parents desire to instill in their children,” the lawmakers write.
They cite as evidence the foreword Mr. Jennings wrote for a book titled “Queering Elementary Education: Advancing the Dialogue About Sexualities and Schooling” (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1999).
The outcry from conservative commentators and activists began not long after the resignation in September of another Obama appointee, Van Jones, who had the task of promoting energy-efficient jobs. Mr. Jones had signed some far-left petitions, including one suggesting that the Bush administration may have allowed the Sept. 11 attacks as a pretext for invading Iraq.
“These are not mainstream people,” said Representative Steve King, Republican of Iowa, who organized the letter about Mr. Jennings. “These are people on the fringe. And I think it is likely that there are others out there that are part of this administration.”
The administration has stood by Mr. Jennings, whom Education Secretary Arne Duncan has called “uniquely qualified for his job.” Mr. Jennings has expressed regret over one episode that has enraged his critics. He has recalled in a memoir and speeches that as a teacher he once responded encouragingly to a teenage boy who told him of a sexual encounter with a man he met in a bus station restroom. Mr. Jennings said he advised the teenager to use a condom.
“Twenty-one years later, I can see how I should have handled the situation differently,” Mr. Jennings said in a statement. “I should have asked for more information and consulted medical or legal authorities.”
He added: “I would like to see the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools play a bigger role in helping to prepare teachers” for such situations.
Mr. Jennings’s critics say his career’s focus on gay students ill-equips him for the broader portfolio of his job as deputy assistant secretary of the safety office, which oversees initiatives against guns and other threats.
And they disagree more broadly with his approach to talking about homosexuality, especially among pre-pubescent children. To some, Mr. Jennings’s efforts to combat bias sound like encouraging homosexuality.
In his laudatory preface to “Queering Elementary Education,” Mr. Jennings wrote, “We must address antigay bigotry and we must do it as soon as students start going to school.”
The volume includes an essay titled “Why Discuss Sexuality in Elementary School?”
Monday, October 19, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Bible verses banned from Georgia school football field
ATLANTA (AP) — When the Warriors of Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High take the field Friday night, the football team won't be running through the cheerleaders' usual banner bearing a Bible verse.
The school district banned the signs a week ago over concerns they were unconstitutional and could provoke a lawsuit, angering many in the deeply religious north Georgia town of Fort Oglethorpe.
"I'm just kind of unnerved about it," said 18-year-old Cassandra Cooksey, a recent graduate who often prayed with her fellow marching band members before football games. "It seems like the majority of people in our community want this and they don't have a problem with it, so I think they should be allowed to have the signs if they want to."
Several hundred people attended a rally this week supporting the signs, and more than 8,000 people have joined an Internet group backing the display of Biblical messages by the school's cheerleaders. Some of the banners have read: "Commit to the Lord, whatever you do, and your plans will succeed" and "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong."
Catoosa County schools Superintendent Denia Reese banned the long-standing practice after a parent called her. Reese checked with the school board's attorney, who advised her the signs violated federal law because they were being displayed by the cheerleaders during a school-sponsored event.
The signs are expected at Friday night's game against Ridgeland, but they won't be held by cheerleaders. School officials have designated an area in front of the school where the messages can go on display. They say the area is legally protected because it doesn't give the appearance the school is sponsoring religious speech.
"I regret that the cheerleaders cannot display their signs in the football stadium without violating the First Amendment," Reese said in a news release. "I rely on reading the Bible daily, and I would never deny our students the opportunity to express their religious beliefs."
She was not immediately available Friday for comment.
Bill Nigut, southeast regional director for the Anti-Defamation League human rights organization, said the superintendent was acting appropriately.
"There are legal ways for students to have religious observation in a school context and there are illegal ways, and we believe Reese is correct that the football game crosses a line," Nigut said.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press
The school district banned the signs a week ago over concerns they were unconstitutional and could provoke a lawsuit, angering many in the deeply religious north Georgia town of Fort Oglethorpe.
"I'm just kind of unnerved about it," said 18-year-old Cassandra Cooksey, a recent graduate who often prayed with her fellow marching band members before football games. "It seems like the majority of people in our community want this and they don't have a problem with it, so I think they should be allowed to have the signs if they want to."
Several hundred people attended a rally this week supporting the signs, and more than 8,000 people have joined an Internet group backing the display of Biblical messages by the school's cheerleaders. Some of the banners have read: "Commit to the Lord, whatever you do, and your plans will succeed" and "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong."
Catoosa County schools Superintendent Denia Reese banned the long-standing practice after a parent called her. Reese checked with the school board's attorney, who advised her the signs violated federal law because they were being displayed by the cheerleaders during a school-sponsored event.
The signs are expected at Friday night's game against Ridgeland, but they won't be held by cheerleaders. School officials have designated an area in front of the school where the messages can go on display. They say the area is legally protected because it doesn't give the appearance the school is sponsoring religious speech.
"I regret that the cheerleaders cannot display their signs in the football stadium without violating the First Amendment," Reese said in a news release. "I rely on reading the Bible daily, and I would never deny our students the opportunity to express their religious beliefs."
She was not immediately available Friday for comment.
Bill Nigut, southeast regional director for the Anti-Defamation League human rights organization, said the superintendent was acting appropriately.
"There are legal ways for students to have religious observation in a school context and there are illegal ways, and we believe Reese is correct that the football game crosses a line," Nigut said.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press
Monday, October 5, 2009
Bible Being Taught in Public Schools
Over 350 Public Schools Teaching the Bible
More than 350 schools in 43 states have implemented courses on the Bible for the 2009-2010 academic year, a new report reveals. Leading the pack is Texas where more than 50 schools are teaching the course this fall, according to data from the Bible Literacy Project, which publishes The Bible and Its Influence, a student textbook designed for public school courses on the Bible.
Right behind Texas, schools in Georgia, California and Indiana are widely teaching lessons on the Bible using the Bible Literacy textbook. More than 10 percent of Georgia public high schools and more than 5 percent of public high schools in Alabama, Indiana and South Carolina are utilizing the program, said Chuck Stetson, chairman of the Bible Literacy Project board.
The Bible and Its Influence – reviewed by 40 religious and legal scholars representing evangelical, mainline Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox and Jewish communities – is reportedly the first student textbook that fulfills the legal standards of The Bible & Public Schools: A First Amendment Guide.
It was released in September 2005 and the primary goal of the course is biblical literacy. While providing an academic study of biblical narratives and their influence on literature and culture, the course does not promote or discourage religious belief, the Bible Literacy Project insists.
Their approach is academic and not devotional, and academic study of the Bible in public schools is legal in all 50 states, the organization says. Increasing knowledge about the Bible is part of a good education; but teaching what to believe belongs in the home," the non-profit states." We advocate providing a well-rounded, thorough education that includes the basic information students need to fully understand literature, as well as art, music, history and culture."
A 2004 Gallup poll found just 8 percent of public school teens said their schools offered an elective Bible course. But public-school courses on the Bible have been rising in popularity over the past several years.
In 2007, the Texas legislature passed a law requiring public high schools to teach Bible literacy beginning in the 2009-2010 school year. The state law, however, did not provide any specific guidelines or teacher training and left many educators confused.
Some Texas high schools are offering an elective course on the Bible this year while others have chosen to incorporate the lessons into current classes. Still others maintain that religious literature is already taught in their current courses.
The Bible Literacy Project, meanwhile, has made online teacher training available. In partnership with Concordia University’s College of Education in Portland, Ore., the organization is sponsoring graduate-level courses on how to teach a legal, rigorous and academic public high school class on the Bible.
The organization is currently seeking to reach educators in the remaining seven states – Delaware, Iowa, Montana, Nevada, Rhode Island, Utah, and Wyoming – that have yet to utilize The Bible and Its Influence.
"We welcome the opportunity to show these remaining states the strength of our program," said Stetson.
Thanks to christianpost.com
More than 350 schools in 43 states have implemented courses on the Bible for the 2009-2010 academic year, a new report reveals. Leading the pack is Texas where more than 50 schools are teaching the course this fall, according to data from the Bible Literacy Project, which publishes The Bible and Its Influence, a student textbook designed for public school courses on the Bible.
Right behind Texas, schools in Georgia, California and Indiana are widely teaching lessons on the Bible using the Bible Literacy textbook. More than 10 percent of Georgia public high schools and more than 5 percent of public high schools in Alabama, Indiana and South Carolina are utilizing the program, said Chuck Stetson, chairman of the Bible Literacy Project board.
The Bible and Its Influence – reviewed by 40 religious and legal scholars representing evangelical, mainline Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox and Jewish communities – is reportedly the first student textbook that fulfills the legal standards of The Bible & Public Schools: A First Amendment Guide.
It was released in September 2005 and the primary goal of the course is biblical literacy. While providing an academic study of biblical narratives and their influence on literature and culture, the course does not promote or discourage religious belief, the Bible Literacy Project insists.
Their approach is academic and not devotional, and academic study of the Bible in public schools is legal in all 50 states, the organization says. Increasing knowledge about the Bible is part of a good education; but teaching what to believe belongs in the home," the non-profit states." We advocate providing a well-rounded, thorough education that includes the basic information students need to fully understand literature, as well as art, music, history and culture."
A 2004 Gallup poll found just 8 percent of public school teens said their schools offered an elective Bible course. But public-school courses on the Bible have been rising in popularity over the past several years.
In 2007, the Texas legislature passed a law requiring public high schools to teach Bible literacy beginning in the 2009-2010 school year. The state law, however, did not provide any specific guidelines or teacher training and left many educators confused.
Some Texas high schools are offering an elective course on the Bible this year while others have chosen to incorporate the lessons into current classes. Still others maintain that religious literature is already taught in their current courses.
The Bible Literacy Project, meanwhile, has made online teacher training available. In partnership with Concordia University’s College of Education in Portland, Ore., the organization is sponsoring graduate-level courses on how to teach a legal, rigorous and academic public high school class on the Bible.
The organization is currently seeking to reach educators in the remaining seven states – Delaware, Iowa, Montana, Nevada, Rhode Island, Utah, and Wyoming – that have yet to utilize The Bible and Its Influence.
"We welcome the opportunity to show these remaining states the strength of our program," said Stetson.
Thanks to christianpost.com
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