King James Bibles to be given to all state schools in the UK

Kouyate42 · #1 May 16, '12, 11:12 am

A donation by philanthropists is seeing the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible celebrated by the donation of KJV Bibles to every state school in the UK.

The project aims to promote both Christian teaching and also the social, literary and historical impact of its publication. Roughly 24,000 Bibles are going to be given out.

Interestingly the project is supported by Maulana Shahid Raza, chairman of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board, who has promoted the move as being one which will promote interfaith learning for children of all religions.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1v3dBR4AT

Thoughts?

Aelred Minor · #2 May 16, '12, 12:28 pm

Makes sense to me. Is there no "Bibles in schools" controversy in the UK? There's an absurd ban on using the book in classrooms in the US.

VeritasLuxMea · #3 May 16, '12, 12:40 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aelred Minor

Makes sense to me. Is there no "Bibles in schools" controversy in the UK? There's an absurd ban on using the book in classrooms in the US.

Other than a world religion class, under what circumstances would it make sense to use the Bible for instruction in a secular school?

Aelred Minor · #4 May 16, '12, 1:32 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by VeritasLuxMea

Other than a world religion class, under what circumstances would it make sense to use the Bible for instruction in a secular school?

Never heard of a "world religion class" in a public school, but Social Studies (where religions and history would be taught about, among other things) and English (which includes all literature, including translations of works written in other languages) would be the main two classes from my public school era and area that would make sense for it. It's absurd, just on a secular level, that a book as culturally and historically important as the Bible would be excluded from a secular school's curriculum.

**JharekCarnelian** · #5 May 16, '12, 1:36 pm

Religious Education is a required subject in all British schools. Additionally they are only talking of giving one Bible to each school in the UK. I went to school for a time at a Catholic state school in the UK and we had copies of the KJV alongside other translations in the school library as well as scriptures associated with other faiths. The KJV contains some of the most beautiful uses of the English language ever penned by man and given it's relationship to British history I have no problem with this idea in the slightest.

**Holly3278** · #6 May 16, '12, 1:46 pm

I think this is a good idea but I hope they are using the original King James Version which came with the Deuterocanonicals. If not, they should use a Bible version that does come with them.

Aelred Minor · #7 May 16, '12, 1:51 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holly3278

I think this is a good idea but I hope they are using the original King James Version which came with the Deuterocanonicals. If not, they should use a Bible version that does come with them.

The problem there is that when the King James Version is printed with the Deuterocanonicals they are relegated to an "Apocrypha" section together with some truly apocryphal books. From the perspective of not confusing Catholic students I'd almost rather the Deuterocanonical books not appear in the school bibles at all, though on the other hand this would mean missing out on literarily significant books like Wisdom.

This does start to touch on why the American bishops were so opposed to the use of King James Bibles in American public schools in the 19th century- the fear that the Protestant translation would confuse Catholic students.

**JharekCarnelian** · #8 May 16, '12, 2:02 pm

Again remember the project is aiming at sending one copy to each school in the UK. Catholic state schools use the NIV to teach with here as I know from experience and they are not obliged to use the KJV version and nor could they be made to use it. However our English teacher and RE teacher (who was an elderly Polish priest) both used it to illustrate how language be used to convey the majesty of God as they found the NIV bland in some respects.

Kouyate42 · #9 May 16, '12, 2:28 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aelred Minor

Makes sense to me. Is there no "Bibles in schools" controversy in the UK? There's an absurd ban on using the book in classrooms in the US.

Well here in the UK it is still common to have the Gideon International Bible society hand out small NIV New Testament and Psalms to secondary school children, and for Bibles to be in school libraries. Teachers are more than free to use Bibles in literature or other classes although it's rare that outside of religious classes you'd actually find a Bible passage.

SeanF1989 · #10 May 16, '12, 4:32 pm

Just wait for the atheists to explode like atomic bombs over this.

Strange thing is though they call mass Muslim immigration and fast food outlets becoming Halal "diversity" but will go to great lengths to prevent their own culture and heritage been taught.

**Holly3278** · #11 May 16, '12, 7:37 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aelred Minor

The problem there is that when the King James Version is printed with the Deuterocanonicals they are relegated to an "Apocrypha" section together with some truly apocryphal books. From the perspective of not confusing Catholic students I'd almost rather the Deuterocanonical books not appear in the school bibles at all, though on the other hand this would mean missing out on literarily significant books like Wisdom.

This does start to touch on why the American bishops were so opposed to the use of King James Bibles in American public schools in the 19th century- the fear that the Protestant translation would confuse Catholic students.

That's true. They are put in a special section for Apocrypha. Maybe they should use a KJV and a Catholic Bible such as the Douay-Rheims.

Maryann C · #12 May 16, '12, 8:03 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aelred Minor

Never heard of a "world religion class" in a public school, but Social Studies (where religions and history would be taught about, among other things) and English (which includes all literature, including translations of works written in other languages) would be the main two classes from my public school era and area that would make sense for it. It's absurd, just on a secular level, that a book as culturally and historically important as the Bible would be excluded from a secular school's curriculum.

You would have to know the English school system to understand. In England History is not lumped to gether with Geography etc and called social studies. not to mention the fact that you really can not avoid the Bible , Church etc when teaching English history.

robwar · #13 May 16, '12, 8:14 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aelred Minor

The problem there is that when the King James Version is printed with the Deuterocanonicals they are relegated to an "Apocrypha" section together with some truly apocryphal books. From the perspective of not confusing Catholic students I'd almost rather the Deuterocanonical books not appear in the school bibles at all, though on the other hand this would mean missing out on literarily significant books like Wisdom.

This does start to touch on why the American bishops were so opposed to the use of King James Bibles in American public schools in the 19th century- the fear that the Protestant translation would confuse Catholic students.

KJV is so outdated now. The thought is nice about having a copy in every school but with all the changes in the language since 1611, is it still understandable? KJV used a lot of phrases from William Tyndale's translation in which he did change words or used substitutes to support some of his anti-Catholic ideas. Maybe the support for this by some Muslim clergy would be do to the knowledge that this is so outdated that no one is going to read and understand it anyway, just have KJV as a form of cultural heritage. Since we have in the US some fundamentalist churches that are so stuck on 1611 version that one wonders how they read it.

Maryann C · #14 May 17, '12, 4:30 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by robwar

KJV is so outdated now. The thought is nice about having a copy in every school but with all the changes in the language since 1611, is it still understandable................... Since we have in the US some fundamentalist churches that are so stuck on 1611 version that one wonders how they read it.

They don't mostly. You wouldn't believe the number of them that come into the store looking for an easier to understand Bible even the old folks who still believe it is "the original honey". That is why the parallel Bible ( parallels KJV, with an easier to understand bible) is starting to be a big seller for home study. They just have their KJV for Church.

What baffles me is people who by KJVs for their little kids who can't even read regular American English properly yet.

I explain that the whole reason for translating the Bible in the first place was so that people could read and understand it ......that always makes sense to them and then we can talk more openly about bible translations and the history of it...Dead Sea scrolls etc. However just having one copy in every school in England I am sure is just because it is part of English literary heritage.

**Dale_M** · #15 May 17, '12, 6:29 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aelred Minor

Never heard of a "world religion class" in a public school, but Social Studies (where religions and history would be taught about, among other things) and English (which includes all literature, including translations of works written in other languages) would be the main two classes from my public school era and area that would make sense for it. It's absurd, just on a secular level, that a book as culturally and historically important as the Bible would be excluded from a secular school's curriculum.

I am not sure how much time is spent directly with the Bible (or any other holy text), but Modesto, California (population 200,000) requires a world religions class for its 9th grade students (or for any transfer student who arrives after 9th grade)

http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-18563_162-4206426.html

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/sto...ns/0602783.htm