Bible study in Florida high schools?
HB195 — a bill that would require the state’s public high schools to offer an elective course on the Old and New Testaments — started moving through the Florida House on Wednesday, but some lawmakers are wondering if a bill about “an objective study of religion” should also include other religious texts like the Koran.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, the bill is being sponsored by Jacksonville Democrat Rep. Kim Daniels, who rejected the idea of including Islam’s holy text to the bill and also “stressed that the wording of the legislation aims to protect students who would take the course from being coerced into believing any religious views.”
Rep. Anna Eskamani — a Democrat from Orlando — questions the bill’s religious neutrality and said she’d be more supportive if HB195 included texts of other religions.
Other supporters of the bill include Republican Rep. Mike Hill of Pensacola (the Times said that he called HB195 “vitally important") and Clearwater Republican Rep. Chris Latvala, who said that “Nobody is going to be made to take this course.”
Daniels said she would provide a new version at the bill’s next committee stop, so we’ll let you know how it goes.
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This article appears in Mar 7-14, 2019.