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Religion & Law

: Religion Clause

School Excuses Atheist Student From Reading Bible As Literature

By Howard M. Friedman

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Newton, Massachusetts school officials have decided that 15-year old high school student Jack Summers will be excused from reading parts of the Bible that were assigned in a sophomore literature course that includes Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, Antigone and works by Shakespeare. While no one seems to suggest that the use of excerpts from the Bible in the course to teach students about Western cultural traditions and literary allusions poses any church-state problem, Summers refused to read the handouts and failed two quizzes on them. According to yesterday's Wicked Local Newton, at that point, after first suggesting that Summers read summarized versions of the assignment from the Bible, the school's principal and teachers relented, dropped the student's failing quiz scores and said Summers could complete a final project that did not use the Bible. The student who is an atheist says he is not opposed to learning about world religions outside of school, but says he does not want to read what people believe to be the true word of God. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Full post as published by Religion Clause on December 17, 2009 (boomark / email).