The biggest problem with being a Conservative libertarian (not LP, just libertarian) these days is dealing with the stupidity that comes out the mouths of people who can't tell you fast enough how much they agree with you and that they "believe in " the Constitution. you know the people I am talking about. While they are all over the Country, for some reason recently they seem to have congregated in Flori-duh.

Some of them want for you to have a "good marriage," so they are willing to get Government involved in making certain that your relationship is up to their standards. Others now want "the Bible," however that might be defined, being a mandatory elective class taught in the schools. And yes, you read that correctly. The class would be an elective, but the schools "shall" be required to offer it.

It's both short sighted and problematic. in the short run, what happens if nobody signs up to take these "elective" courses in "Hebrew and old Testament Scriptures?" How much tax payer money is going to be poured into a curriculum that may not even have a demand to be met?

But, let's take the other issue here and assume that everybody wants to take these courses. One would assume that there will be some form of theological bend here. Is the assumption that the "Hebrew Scriptures" serve only to "support" or foreshadow the Christian Scriptures? Speaking of which, what exactly ARE those scriptures?

Why, whatever do you mean, Dave?

The bill as introduced says that "A student may not be required to use a specific translation of the Hebrew Scriptures or Bible as the sole text for the course." So... who's translation do you want your kid to use? And which version? You do know that the various sects of Christianity have different versions of what is and what is not "the Bible," right? Since the goal of the course is to emphasize the role of "the Hebrew Scriptures and the Bible" in its role in "history, culture and the founding of the US Government," shouldn't any discussion be limited to only that used by the Framers of the Constitution?

Of course, the problem there is the beliefs on some on the political Right about what happened don't match the actual history of what happened. It wasn't accidental that the Framers made a specific rule that there were to be absolutely no religious tests to hold office or public trust under the Constitution of the United States.