Nampa charter school to use Bible as textbook - Salt Lake Tri...

As for the Bible, if students are going to learn about Western civilization, they have to learn about the ancient Hebrews, Moffett said, and "the most authoritative text on ancient Hebrews is the Old Testament."

"If you want to be a fraud in front of those students, then omit the Bible," he said. "The kids don't have to believe it, but to understand a people's culture you have to understand the religious culture as well."

Highlighted by cburell

Bill Goesling, chairman of the Idaho Public Charter School Commission, said the Bible wasn't discussed when Nampa Classical Academy was approved last year. The school drafted a 280-page charter outlining its goals and overall philosophy, a document that does not mention the Bible or religion.

"I don't remember it coming up. Had it been known, I think we would have spent a little bit more time on it," Goesling said. "If it's being used as a whole class, and it becomes a Bible study, than we are going to have a problem.

"We've had two different petitions that approached it in that sense, that it was going to be more of a religious study than a historical study, and we turned them down."

Shawna Schneiderman, a 33-year-old former Notus teacher and one of two dozen instructors at Nampa Classical Academy, says the Bible is one of many texts students will read from.

For example, when studying the history and the culture of the Hebrews, Greeks and Mesopotamians, the students will read Greek myths, the Epic of Gilgamesh and from the book of Genesis, Schneiderman said.

"We knew people would come and say you can't do that," she said. "We knew people would not understand."

Highlighted by cburell