A California group has submitted to the attorney general's office a proposed ballot initiative to amend the state constitution to make the King James Bible a textbook for public school students in grades 1 through 12 throughout the state.
A statewide initiative to amend the constitution requires 598,105 voter signatures to qualify for the ballot. This initiative is not yet in circulation, but was filed with the state last month.
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The proposal makes the case that the King James Bible of 1611 is "one of the supreme achievements of the English Renaissance, and is rightly regarded as one of the most influential books in the history of English civilization, which has served as a model of writing for generations of English-speaking people, and is an acclaimed literary work of great historic importance."
Further, the initiatives backers, who maintain a website, say the Bible is worthy of study in "such secular disciplines as history, literature, culture, poetry, law, language, ethics, science and philosophy."
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The group wants the Bible used in the schools without any "devotional purpose nor any denominational instruction to accept or reject its religious components." Students would be furnished with copies at no cost and parents would be permitted to opt their children out of the study of the Bible.
Backers note the U.S. Supreme Court found, as recently as 1980, the Bible may be "integrated into the school curriculum, where the Bible may constitutionally be used in an appropriate study of history, civilization, ethics, comparative religion, or the like."
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