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It really does look like Republicans across the country are trying to force Christianity upon every man, woman, and child in America. To date, Missouri, Indiana, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma have each introduced anti-evolution bills that encourage the teaching of creationism. Joining this pageant of unconstitutionality, the Pennsylvania State House passed a resolution two days ago that praises the Bible and encourages the teaching of the scripture. And now the South Dakota legislature has passed a resolution that "encourages" public schools to create Bible study courses of their own.

The Republican dominated South Dakota legislature passed HRC 1004 by a vote of 55-13. The bill permits schools to add an elective Bible study course and explicitly requires that such courses not violate First Amendment rights (which it is guaranteed to do the second it inevitably strays outside of a strictly secular examination of the Bible and teaches Christianity in school). One sponsor of the bill, Representative Steve Hickey, who is also a pastor, insists that such courses will only teach the Bible on an academic level and thinks the Bible would add to the education of students in ways that other books cannot. "I have a concern that we're raising a generation of kids who can't quote anything beyond Sponge Bob," Hickey stated, apparently unaware that a common world history course covers Jesus and the ancient world in which he lived, without the divinity.

Hickey then shined a light on the true reason for the resolution: the Republican hatred for religious freedom, also known as secularism:
"I would tell those who fear this, now you know how Christians feel when they send their kids off to a public school that is overtly hostile and propagates secular humanism. The pressure from that perspective to teach secular humanism in high school and college is far, far greater than proselytizing in a Bible course."
But he's not trying to force Christianity down anyone's throat. Honest!

Despite what this bill says, its intent is to violate the First Amendment. The only way that it wouldn't violate religious freedom is if such a course taught about all major religions and religious texts, including Islam and the Koran, Judaism and the Torah, and possibly even about Atheism, which isn't technically a religion but should be included anyway. And I'm seriously doubting that any Republican legislature would accept a course that teaches about any religion besides Christianity. They just will not do it. After all, a pastor is the sponsor of this bill. It's obvious he wants to inject public schools with the Christian religion which is a clear violation of the Constitution. This resolution may not be a law that schools have to follow, but it's a step toward a law that will force Christianity upon students. The Bible doesn't belong in school except, perhaps, in a Comparative Literature course. Religion is still a divisive and controversial topic in our society and it would only create conflict among faculty, staff, and parents, potentially becoming a huge distraction in the school. Such a course could easily be perverted to teachers preaching to students. The Bible, Christianity, prayer, divinity, and preaching should stay in Sunday school and church where they belong. If people want to learn about Christianity, they'll attend church freely. The way I see it, the twisted conservative view of Christianity is slowly but surely dying out and the extremists are desperate to force it on anyone they can.