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Texas's new required school reading list includes stories from the Bible
Texas is the first state to establish such a list, as others generally give wide latitude to school districts and boards to select their own texts.
There are fourteen stories, listed in order of grade level: Jonah and the Whale (Jonah 1:1-5, 10-17, 2:10), David and Goliath (excerpt from The Children's Book of Heroes), Daniel and the Lion's Den (Children's Adapted Version), The Necessity of Humility (Luke 14:7-11), Moses (Exodus 3, 14), Do Not Be Anxious (Matthew 6:25-34), The Shepherd's Psalm (Psalms 23), Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12), To Everything There is a Season (Ecclesiastes 3), Lamentations 3, The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), Job (Job 1-7, 11, 14, 19, 28, 38-42), Adam and Eve (Genesis 2-3), The Definition of Love (1 Corinthians 13).
They also select a variety of translations: the New International Reader's Version, which is for a third-grade reading level, the English Standard Version, the King James Version, and the Jewish Publication Society. The ESV/KJV have their own history as evangelical texts; this is why there are so many parochial Catholic schools, though it's doubtful whether modern Catholics (who make up ~22% of Texas's population) care as much.
Teaching Biblical stories as cultural or historical texts does not violate the 1st amendment. Certainly the Bible is the most influential book in Western thought and has relevance to any serious study of literature and history. That being said, certain passages err on the side of theology and perhaps should be avoided outside of a comparative religion course. And some atheists will be disappointed that the more controversial passages have been excluded.
Side notice: Goldilocks and the Three Bears and the Grashopper and the Ants seem both a bit heavy-handed for kindergarden.
Also, the Texans (or Americans) really seem to love their founding fathers and presidents. Though I will also notice that Texas had the good taste not to make a hagiography of The Greatest President of All Times required reading. And I do not even want to speculate what kind of dirt Bennett (whose Children's Book of Virtues provides texts no less than seven times) has on the state board of education.
I think that religious background knowledge is often important context and the school should probably try to teach kids the basics. Quite a few of the great writers did have an education heavy on both Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman mythology. If Melville's narrator introduces himself as Ishmael, he is implicitly assuming that the reader knows of the biblical namesake.
On the other hand, there is a thin line between education and indoctrination. Jonah (author credit: Jonah in the HC article, which is amazing, like crediting Odysseus with writing the Illiad) is basically a story about God railroading some unwilling guy (whom he gave free will for some reason) into delivering some ultimatum to some city, then chickening out when it came to follow up on his threats (remind you of anyone? Sadly, God does not always chicken out.), leaving Jonah pissed for a lack of fire and brimstone. Kindergardeners might not understand that the character of God is every bit as fictional as the character of the Grandmother Spider from How Grandmother Spider Brought Fire, because adults around them take one more serious than the other.
On the third hand, there is also merit to letting kids discover for themselves that the adults are full of shit. I got a bible in fifth grade (German schools have opt-in religious education), which is the book I credit with turning me atheist around ninth grade or so.
Also, it seems likely that blue states will retaliate by finding out what stories are most effective at turning kids away from Christianity and making them required reading. They can even co-opt Texas guise of providing Judeo-Christian context, the story of Lot should be enough to give most teens the Ick.
Jonah is essentially about the mercy of God. Your claim that God 'chickens out' is embarrassingly backwards - the people of Ninevah clearly respond as required to Jonah's warning, which is why they are spared. What's interesting is that Jonah doesn't want them to be spared. That's why he initially tried to avoid God's call, not because he was lazy but because he hated the Ninevites and hoped they would be struck down. The ending of the story is the whole point - that God can destroy or give mercy to whomever he wants, and it's not for humans to complain because we have a limited perspective. Jonah tried to avoid God's call because he disagreed with God's plan, and it's only when he repents of that in the depths of metaphorical hell that he's saved. It's quite an interesting and layered story.
I get the vibe that you're some kind of angry atheist type? It's possible that if you'd been properly taught Jonah and other Bible stories as a kid you would have more respect and understanding for them, and maybe less hostility towards God.
To someone who grew up with western secular morality, properly explaining the lesson "God grants and denies mercy capriciously and we should not question his decisions" makes God less sympathetic, not more. The kiddie moral of "Johan was punished for his disobedience but forgiven in the end" is much more palatable to even Victorian sensibilities, let alone today's.
God doesn't need to be sympathetic. The purpose of the Bible isn't to make you think God is a chill dude, it's to describe his actual nature.
Also, the mercy in this story isn't capricious, in fact it's the opposite. God gives Ninevah the opportunity to repent, and they take it.
Anyway, the point of this story isn't God's treatment of Ninevah, it's Jonah's response to it. The person reading should see themselves in the person of Jonah, who seeks to avoid God's will for his life. Even a child can understand this basic theme. Jonah gets in trouble because he tries to flee from God's will, and is saved when he returns to that will. This concept is deepened by the context of Jonah's reasons for fleeing (his hatred for the Ninevites). There's no contradiction, this theme of Jonah's anger is an expansion of the simpler concept.
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Except it's not "capricious" in the slightest. The people of Nineveh repent their wickedness and are spared. Jonah rebels and is punished. And all the while God tries to reason with Jonah and bring him on side rather than just leaving him to suffer.
It's a story about free-will and the difference between punishing sins and punishing sinners.
Jonah (like many people who subscribe to a "secular morality" these days) has become high on his own sense of righteousness and as such has become more concerned with sticking it to his outgroup than addressing real problems. This prompts God to test him and ultimately call him out on his bullshit. If God calling someone out on their self-righteous bullshit violates your precious sensibilities perhaps you are the one who needs the message most.
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But it's not just about Jonah's punishment, it's about Nineveh being spared not capriciously, but after repenting. Caprice would be God telling Jonah after he arrived and proclaimed the message, but the people of Nineveh didn't believe and didn't change, "You know what? Changed my mind, you can go home".
The lesson for us is "don't be vindictive and punitive for the sake of it, don't try and tell God what to do based on our own desires and hatreds". If the wicked truly repent, they can be forgiven. The whores and tax-collectors enter the Kingdom of God before you, the self-righteous who look down on others.
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It's not exactly capricious, the Ninevites explicitly go overboard in their repentance. Even the cows repent of their wickedness!
There are lots of layered takes to get out of the story, that's why it's so good! Jonah was punished for his disobedience but forgiven in the end. Also, God didn't just kill Jonah but brought him back - He could have just picked a new prophet but Jonah was given a second chance. Nineveh better at repenting than Israel/Judah. Israel has prophet after prophet spitting reams of flowery poetry sent to convert it and no one changes. Nineveh gets a half-assed "God's going to come down hard on you!" and they all immediately undergo a ridiculous level of fasting and repentance.
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