Schooling the Good Book

Sam Harris, one of the new atheist firebrands, is fond of saying "Everyone's an atheist when it comes to Greek gods like Zeus."

That's true.

The difference is public school students study Zeus, Mercury and their cohorts to learn lessons about life and to find touchstones for modern society. Now, a band of people is saying it's high time schools began doing the same with the Bible. The scriptures form such a vital part of American history and thought, and young people are so ignorant about them, quality education demands the Bible be taught — not as religious doctrine, but as literature, philosophy, civics and history.

We agree.

A recent cover story in Time Magazine pointed out that Georgia is the first state in memory to offer funds for high school courses in the Bible. It has worked out well there. So much so, in fact, that a new crop of curriculums has been formed that pass muster with lawmakers and civil libertarians. Even the Evangelical Christians are on board, feeling that studying the Bible as literature is better than not studying the Bible at all. In fact, 60 percent of Americans asked in a recent poll favored the Bible as a high school course.

For years there has been a disconnection in education. Students are encouraged to quote Shakespeare in class, for instance, but not the Bible, even though Shakespeare himself quotes the Bible more than a thousand times. And popular culture has traded so heavily on Biblical themes in the past few years ("The Da Vinci Code," "Babel," "The Chronicles of Nearing") that students are now eager to find out more about the Good Book.

Stephen Prothero, who chairs the Boston University Religion Department, has been the driving force behind the new move with his book "Religious Literacy." He points out that being educated in America means having at least a rudimentary knowledge of scripture. Not just because daily phrases are pulled from the text ("go the extra mile," "wash your hands of a problem") but because so many people use the Bible as the "go-to" source for their own lives. Knowing America means knowing the Bible.

He's right.

The Bible belongs in our schools.

The time has come.