One religion shouldn’t eclipse others

I am writing as a parent, as a member of the Jewish community in the Permian Basin and, despite concerns about my job, as a teacher in this school district.

I have been respectful and professional in expressing my thoughts about selecting a Bible course in ECISD.

I reviewed the Bible curricula under consideration last spring, and then I spoke at the public forum.

Other members of our Jewish community reviewed the curricula and wrote letters to the school board, as well. And yet, when it came time for a final board decision, Randy Rives said publicly that he hadn’t heard from anyone in the Jewish community.

And most recently, I read in the Odessa American Butch Foreman’s disrespectful response to concerns about the Bible class: “If they don’t have children in the class, they can kiss my butt. They’re looking to impose their beliefs and their views on everybody, and we don’t put up with that crap out here.”

Enough is enough. These repeated public insults of my religion and our legitimate questions about the Bible curriculum are perfect examples of the very concerns I have about a biased presentation of the Bible in our schools.

After all, as some of us pointed out in our presentations to the board last spring, there is more than one version of the Bible. There’s even more than one Christian version.

Furthermore, there have been and are currently Jewish students in Odessa and Midland who are reduced to tears or fighting to defend themselves because of religious harassment.

No, they’re not in the Bible class right now. But does that make their experience any less real?

And make no mistake; just because it’s an elective doesn’t mean it won’t affect my child or others. If we offered an elective promoting white supremacy, it would certainly have an effect on all students, whether they took the class or not.

This is why I object to a Bible class in public school that suggests the supremacy of one religion over another.

You might think one religion IS better than another, but public school is not the place to teach this.

Unfortunately, the Bible curriculum currently being offered does do this. It is not just a class about the history of the Bible, or the history of the Bible in literature. I have read some of the curriculum, and I invite everyone to do the same.

While the writers claim it is not biased, it may be hard to recognize the bias if you have been raised in the particular tradition it teaches.

But the two students in the course who were quoted in the newspaper recently said it clearly. Although one person claimed the curriculum is unbiased, she went on to say, “However, I can see people being upset with it being “only Christian-based.” And another man, in claiming that our ancestors came to American to have Christian religious freedom, seems to have missed two points. First, his ancestors might have been seeking freedom to worship a Christian faith; mine were seeking freedom to follow their own Jewish faith. Second, it is important to remember that our country’s founders wanted to escape the religious tyranny of their country’s government. They set up some safeguards, including the First Amendment, to prevent such tyranny from happening all over again.

Harassment of Jewish children is a fact in our school system. In this atmosphere of religious intolerance, there is no such thing as a “harmless” Bible class that promotes only one Christian perspective.

This atmosphere of religious intolerance is both fostered and legitimized by Foreman’s remarks. My experience as a parent, a Jew, and a teacher in this district is not “crap.” My daughter’s tears are not “crap.” My effort to educate Odessa about the experiences of our children is not “imposing my view on you.”

I am not the only teacher or community member who objects to this particular Bible course. But few will speak out for fear of retribution.

Our founding fathers most likely argued about how to form this new country, but I don’t think fear and intimidation is what any of them had in mind for religious freedom. How long are we going to let this continue?

Yes, we can study aspects of Bible in public school; but this course currently being taught is not the way to do it. There are other options to consider.

I ask this community and the school board to consider carefully what values you want to teach the children in our community and the best way to guide them. Every action you take — or don’t take — teaches something, even if only by example.

If, as I strongly believe, the Christian majority in our community believes in religious tolerance, I urge people to speak up and speak out against the current Bible curriculum and Foreman’s intolerant remarks.

Lisa Roth

Odessa

Why not sue the suers?

I am fed up and I have had it with the ACLU and the few people in Odessa/Ector County who continue to call the ACLU and other “law” firms into our area.

I am sick and tired of the ACLU, LULAC and others wasting taxpayer money on FRIVOLOUS lawsuits.

It is time for the citizens to come together and file a class action lawsuit against the few people who continue to squander our money on trying to impose the will of few on the many who pay taxes.

While we are at it, let’s go ahead and sue LULAC and all the people who filed to make Ector a high school again — the same people who said if they lost they would drop it and then did not, the same people who forced ECISD and Ector County taxpayers to pay for their attorneys and court costs and who knows what or who else!

In the current case, I would like to know exactly where each and every one of the plaintiff’s children attend school. And since they brought it to us, what are the grades of these children? Are they missing out on anything in the current curriculum that they are taking? Has this class “damaged” them in any way? Is this class keeping them from fulfilling their academic potential? Is this class going to keep them from attaining higher education? I don’t think so.

It is an elective! And for these eight plaintiffs, they need to go to a dictionary and look up that word “elective.”

This is a historical literature class. Perhaps these plaintiffs need to go back to school themselves so that they will have a refresher course in what historical literature is.

I am sure there are some classes and/or activities that ECISD offers that I do not agree with. However, the students should be allowed to pursue their interests, not the interests of eight people.

At this time, there are 84 ECISD students taking this class. Gee, I think in basic math I learned 84 is greater than eight.

And I am positive there are many others in Ector County who agree with me on this subject.

And isn’t it funny how they sprang this on the public in the middle of the day when the rest of us work. I guess that way no one would be able to attend and protest the waste of our money.

It irritates me to no end the extent some people will go to impose their will on the rest of us. It angers me greatly the lengths others will to go to make money off the taxpayers.

Don’t be fooled, there is money on the line here. Lawyers always make money on cases like this — frivolous or not.

Let’s all stand up. Let’s all say we are not going to put up with this any more. Let’s send the message to the few that this is Ector County, this is Odessa, this is ECISD and this is how it is going to be. This is what the majority of the taxpayers want. And if you don’t like it, leave.

Lori Baker

Odessa

Christianity is a right

I am writing in response to the front-page article regarding the lawsuit filed in regard to the Bible class taught in the Odessa schools.

As a Christian and an educator, quite frankly, I am frustrated and a bit worried that we even allow lawsuits of this kind to surface. This great country was founded on Christian beliefs by our forefathers more than 200 years ago. The rights fought for included the right to religious freedom. And yes, that freedom includes Christianity.

Today more and more of our “protected” rights as Christians are being attacked and systematically taken away by minority groups such as the ACLU.

I agree with Butch Foreman regarding this class. It is an elective class. No one has to take it. It is not being forced on anyone who has a different religious viewpoint. Why should a few students who wish to take the course be punished because a few parents, whose students aren’t even in the class, then be allowed to complain and change the curriculum?

If there were a Muslim class or a class on a religion I did not agree with, I simply wouldn’t let my child take that class. I would not demand the class itself be dissolved.

I hope and pray that school boards and Christian parents will stand up for the religious freedoms our founding fathers fought for. That certainly includes, not excludes, Christianity.

I am tired of being the “silent majority.” It is time we as Christians speak up for what it right instead of sitting by and having our religion stolen from us.

In God I still trust.

Jackie Gillis

McCamey