An Idaho charter school's plan to use the Bible as a textbook is being challenged by the ACLU as a potential violation of church-state separation.
Officials at Nampa Classical Academy maintain they will use religious documents only in a secular manner as an original text in academic studies.
"The purpose of reading about religions is to better understand why a certain culture behaves the way they do," Kyle Borger, chairman of Nampa Classical Academy, said in a letter to the Idaho Press-Tribune.
Students can certainly learn about religion in appropriate classroom settings, and the Bible – like other sacred texts – may play a part in that process. Though in all the articles I've read about this, I can't quite figure out what the actual subject of the course in question is, the chairman is saying all the right things here – that the Bible is only one of many religious texts that will be explored, and that it will be treated as historical text, not taught as true.
Still, before taxpayers fund a course this closely related to religion and religious ideas, it makes sense to ensure that constitutional safeguards are in place, and that its rationale, plan and implementation is free of religious promotion.
