Post by Logan on Mar 22, 2016 4:42:18 GMT -6
Idaho lawmakers pass Bible-in-schools bill, dismiss constitutional questions
BOISE – Legislation saying the use of the Bible as a reference in Idaho’s public schools is “expressly permitted” passed the Idaho House on Monday and headed to the governor’s desk – even though the state attorney general concluded such a law is “specifically prohibited” by the Idaho Constitution.
North Idaho Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay, the bill’s House sponsor, told the House, “The little Supreme Court in my head says this is OK.”
Dixon and other supporters argued that the Bible is nonsectarian and nondenominational, and that the reason the bill mentions only the Bible and not other religious texts is because the Bible alone is “under attack.” “There are many religions that refer back to the Bible in their tenets,” Dixon said.
Idaho’s Constitution contains far stricter restrictions on the use of religious texts in schools than the U.S. Constitution, saying, “No books, papers, tracts or documents of a political, sectarian or denominational character shall be used” in Idaho public schools.
Read more: www.spokesman.com/stories/2016/mar/21/idaho-lawmakers-pass-bible-in-schools-bill-dismiss/
BOISE – Legislation saying the use of the Bible as a reference in Idaho’s public schools is “expressly permitted” passed the Idaho House on Monday and headed to the governor’s desk – even though the state attorney general concluded such a law is “specifically prohibited” by the Idaho Constitution.
North Idaho Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay, the bill’s House sponsor, told the House, “The little Supreme Court in my head says this is OK.”
Dixon and other supporters argued that the Bible is nonsectarian and nondenominational, and that the reason the bill mentions only the Bible and not other religious texts is because the Bible alone is “under attack.” “There are many religions that refer back to the Bible in their tenets,” Dixon said.
Idaho’s Constitution contains far stricter restrictions on the use of religious texts in schools than the U.S. Constitution, saying, “No books, papers, tracts or documents of a political, sectarian or denominational character shall be used” in Idaho public schools.
Read more: www.spokesman.com/stories/2016/mar/21/idaho-lawmakers-pass-bible-in-schools-bill-dismiss/