HB 1712: An act relative to teaching the Bible in public schools. Sponsored by Bergevin, DeLemus, Itse, Tremblay, and Kingsbury. There's a bag of mixed nuts.
Intent and Justification. The general court finds that New Hampshire Republicans are united by our belief in God, individual liberty, personal responsibility, places of worship, communities, and volunteerism. The general court also finds and recognizes the history of our country, from the Mayflower Compact, Revolutionary War, the Federalist Papers, and other speeches and writings of our Founding Fathers, is rooted in the belief in God and the teachings of the Bible.
In other words, NH Republicans are sure they've managed a permanent coup, and now they're going to marry their politics with their religion. It's sounding more and more like Gilead.
Of course, Constitutional-Expert-Just-Ask-Him, Dan Itse put in a tepid modifier at the end:
(d) Such course shall comply with applicable law and all federal and state guidelines in maintaining religious neutrality and accommodating the diverse religious views, traditions, and perspectives of students in the school. A course developed under this subparagraph shall not endorse, favor, promote, disfavor, or show hostility toward, any particular religion or nonreligious faith or religious perspective. The state board of education shall not violate any provision of the United States Constitution or federal law, the New Hampshire constitution or any state law, or any administrative regulations of the United States Department of Education or the New Hampshire department of education.
Excellent. I'm looking forward to the class on Rastafarian Literacy.
Praise Jah.
