Dems want to have some Bible classes in schools...GOP cries foul.

[madfloridian]

I started to scream when I first read this, but when I saw the GOP calling them Pharisees and read some of the quotes...well, I realized this was really getting their goat. The Democrats are blatantly taking their issue from them, Dean says it is good idea...and they don't like it. IMHO, perhaps studying the Bible would lead to more understanding of it...lead to seeing the better more sensible parts instead of all the hatred.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/27/politics/27religion.html?_r=1

"WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 — Democrats in Georgia and Alabama, borrowing an idea usually advanced by conservative Republicans, are promoting Bible classes in the public schools. Their Republican opponents are in turn denouncing them as "pharisees," a favorite term of liberals for politicians who exploit religion.

Democrats in both states have introduced bills authorizing school districts to teach courses modeled after a new textbook, "The Bible and Its Influence." It was produced by the nonpartisan, ecumenical Bible Literacy Project and provides an assessment of the Bible's impact on history, literature and art that is academic and detached, if largely laudatory.

The Democrats who introduced the bills said they hoped to compete with Republicans for conservative Christian voters. "Rather than sitting back on our heels and then being knocked in our face, we are going to respond in a thoughtful way," said Kasim Reed, a Georgia state senator from Atlanta and one of the sponsors of the bill. "We are not going to give away the South anymore because we are unwilling to talk about our faith."

...."In an interview, Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, promised that Democrats would do a better job talking about values to religious voters. "We have done it in a secular way, and we don't have to," he said, adding, "I think teaching the Bible as literature is a good thing."

Some of the comments from Republicans make me laugh at the irony:

"This is election-year pandering using voters' deepest beliefs as a tool."

"It should also be noted that the so-called Bible bill doesn't use the Bible as the textbook, and would allow teachers with no belief at all in the Bible to teach the course."

And the very best comment is from an Alabama Republican:

"Democrats, she argued, had adopted a new strategy: "Let's just wrap ourselves in Jesus."

What's the matter, Republicans...hitting too close to home?