On 10/8/09 1:51 PM, nom=de=plume wrote:
"H the wrote in message
...
On 10/8/09 8:24 AM, Tim wrote:
Well maybe not. But seeing the creation, religion,evolution thread is
getting so long, I thought I'd ask a hypothetical question. Well maybe
it's not as hypothetical , but here goes.

If an English lit teacher was passing out assignments assignments for
students to give a book report. Various books are chosen, some long ,
some short.

OK, the list has several *options* None are specifically required.
Here's a sample list:

"To Kill a Mockingbird"
"All Quiet one the Western Front"
"Gulliver's Travels"
"Moby Dick"
"The book of Matthew"
"Oliver Twist"
"The Trial"

etc, etc.

Notice included is the Gospel account of Matthew. Would this be
considered as promoting religion?

AND! Even if it was required reading. could it be used for literary
purposes only?


Just curious.


A. By itself, yes, it would be promoting religion. But...as you well know,
there are novels that include biblical passages in their texts.
Why, some of them are on your "sample list"! What a surprise. :)
Moby-Dick, my favorite novel, is nothing if not a religious allegory.


B. The King James bible is a wonderful example of beautiful writing in the
English language, and it certainly could be used as an example of
literature and studied for its literary prowess. That, of course, would
include the gospel of Matthew, which, in addition to its literary merits,
is also a sales letter of the first magnitude. It is perfectly appropriate
for *college* students to study the bible as a literary work. I did, in
getting my masters. It is not appropriate for study in any manner in
public K-12 schools.

C. You obviously are aware of the "connections" between Oliver Twist and
the Church of England. :)

Very clever...


I would imagine it would be appropriate for high school students also, as
long as reasonable parameters are given.



Possibly, but I prefer to keep the door of separation slammed as shut as
possible.



--
Birther-Deather-Tenther-Teabagger:
Idiots All

On Thu, 8 Oct 2009 05:24:40 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

Well maybe not. But seeing the creation, religion,evolution thread is
getting so long, I thought I'd ask a hypothetical question. Well maybe
it's not as hypothetical , but here goes.

If an English lit teacher was passing out assignments assignments for
students to give a book report. Various books are chosen, some long ,
some short.

OK, the list has several *options* None are specifically required.
Here's a sample list:

"To Kill a Mockingbird"
"All Quiet one the Western Front"
"Gulliver's Travels"
"Moby Dick"
"The book of Matthew"
"Oliver Twist"
"The Trial"

etc, etc.

Notice included is the Gospel account of Matthew. Would this be
considered as promoting religion?

AND! Even if it was required reading. could it be used for literary
purposes only?


Just curious.

If the purpose of the assignment was to promote religion, then it
would be promoting religion. If the purpose was to have the students
read decent writing and practice writing, then it would not be
promoting religion.

Of course, the ACLU and other atheists would probably disagree with
that. But then again, they would probably applaud the idea of
assigning a book report on Mao Zedong's Little Red Book.

On Oct 8, 4:56*pm, John H Rant wrote:
On Thu, 8 Oct 2009 05:24:40 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:





Well maybe not. But seeing the creation, religion,evolution thread is
getting so long, I thought I'd ask a hypothetical question. Well maybe
it's not as hypothetical , but here goes.

If an English lit teacher was passing out assignments assignments for
students to give a book report. *Various books are chosen, some long ,
some short.

OK, the list has several *options* None are specifically required.
Here's a sample list:

"To Kill a Mockingbird"
"All Quiet one the Western Front"
"Gulliver's Travels"
"Moby Dick"
"The book of Matthew"
"Oliver Twist"
"The Trial"

etc, etc.

Notice included is the Gospel account of Matthew. *Would this be
considered as promoting religion?

AND! Even if it was required reading. could it be used for literary
purposes only?

Just curious.

If the purpose of the assignment was to promote religion, then it
would be promoting religion. If the purpose was to have the students
read decent writing and practice writing, then it would not be
promoting religion.

Of course, the ACLU and other atheists would probably disagree with
that. But then again, they would probably applaud the idea of
assigning a book report on Mao Zedong's Little Red Book.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Yes, like I said, I would have probably done a report on Hitlers Mein
Kampf if it was on the list, the "little red book?" That would have
been interesting too.

But today anything biblical or any book that might have a reference to
biblical scriptures probably wouldn't be available.

Some where down the line they've probably been replaced with the works
of Kate Chopin.

On 10/8/09 6:43 PM, Tim wrote:
On Oct 8, 4:56 pm, John H wrote:
On Thu, 8 Oct 2009 05:24:40 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:





Well maybe not. But seeing the creation, religion,evolution thread is
getting so long, I thought I'd ask a hypothetical question. Well maybe
it's not as hypothetical , but here goes.

If an English lit teacher was passing out assignments assignments for
students to give a book report. Various books are chosen, some long ,
some short.

OK, the list has several *options* None are specifically required.
Here's a sample list:

"To Kill a Mockingbird"
"All Quiet one the Western Front"
"Gulliver's Travels"
"Moby Dick"
"The book of Matthew"
"Oliver Twist"
"The Trial"

etc, etc.

Notice included is the Gospel account of Matthew. Would this be
considered as promoting religion?

AND! Even if it was required reading. could it be used for literary
purposes only?

Just curious.

If the purpose of the assignment was to promote religion, then it
would be promoting religion. If the purpose was to have the students
read decent writing and practice writing, then it would not be
promoting religion.

Of course, the ACLU and other atheists would probably disagree with
that. But then again, they would probably applaud the idea of
assigning a book report on Mao Zedong's Little Red Book.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Yes, like I said, I would have probably done a report on Hitlers Mein
Kampf if it was on the list, the "little red book?" That would have
been interesting too.

But today anything biblical or any book that might have a reference to
biblical scriptures probably wouldn't be available.

Some where down the line they've probably been replaced with the works
of Kate Chopin.


You know, I can't recall one class in public school where there was a
reading list of books from which reports had to be made. I recall lots
of reports in my classes based upon Dickens' novels and Austen's novels
in the 7th grade. Fine reads, but after that the reports came mostly on
more esoteric books, some good, some not so good. My 8th grade reports
were on several of Dreiser's novels. In the 10th grade, after two years
of high school Russian, I *dared* to read Dr. Zhivago in Russian, and
then deliver an oral book report on it in Russian in my Russian class.
But I was outdone by a gal who did the same with War and Peace.

--
Birther-Deather-Tenther-Teabagger:
Idiots All

On Thu, 8 Oct 2009 05:24:40 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:


OK, the list has several *options* None are specifically required.
Here's a sample list:

"To Kill a Mockingbird"

Boring.

"All Quiet one the Western Front"

Even more boring.

"Gulliver's Travels"

Incredibly boring.

"Moby Dick"

Ridiculously boring.

"The book of Matthew"

B O R I N G

"Oliver Twist"

R E A L L Y B O R I N G.

"The Trial"

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

Can you tell English Lit wasn't my favorite subject? :)

On 10/8/09 7:01 PM, Tom Francis - SWSports wrote:
On Thu, 8 Oct 2009 05:24:40 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:


OK, the list has several *options* None are specifically required.
Here's a sample list:

"To Kill a Mockingbird"

Boring.

"All Quiet one the Western Front"

Even more boring.

"Gulliver's Travels"

Incredibly boring.

"Moby Dick"

Ridiculously boring.

"The book of Matthew"

B O R I N G

"Oliver Twist"

R E A L L Y B O R I N G.

"The Trial"

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

Can you tell English Lit wasn't my favorite subject? :)



Tom likes comics and sci-fi, but sci-fi fantasy. Science-based sci-fi is
too, well, evolutionary for his tastes.


--
Birther-Deather-Tenther-Teabagger:
Idiots All

On Oct 8, 6:01*pm, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:
On Thu, 8 Oct 2009 05:24:40 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:



OK, the list has several *options* None are specifically required.
Here's a sample list:

"To Kill a Mockingbird"

Boring.

"All Quiet one the Western Front"

Even more boring.

"Gulliver's Travels"

Incredibly boring.

"Moby Dick"

Ridiculously boring.

"The book of Matthew"

B O R I N G

"Oliver Twist"

R E A L L Y * B O R I N G.

"The Trial"

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

Can you tell English Lit wasn't my favorite subject? *:)

uh=huh

Typoing class wan't one of my cravings either.

?;^ Q

On Thu, 8 Oct 2009 16:08:47 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

On Oct 8, 6:01*pm, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:
On Thu, 8 Oct 2009 05:24:40 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:



OK, the list has several *options* None are specifically required.
Here's a sample list:

"To Kill a Mockingbird"

Boring.

"All Quiet one the Western Front"

Even more boring.

"Gulliver's Travels"

Incredibly boring.

"Moby Dick"

Ridiculously boring.

"The book of Matthew"

B O R I N G

"Oliver Twist"

R E A L L Y * B O R I N G.

"The Trial"

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

Can you tell English Lit wasn't my favorite subject? *:)

uh=huh

Typoing class wan't one of my cravings either.

?;^ Q

ROTFL!!!

"H the K" wrote in message
m...
On 10/8/09 6:43 PM, Tim wrote:
On Oct 8, 4:56 pm, John H wrote:
On Thu, 8 Oct 2009 05:24:40 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:





Well maybe not. But seeing the creation, religion,evolution thread is
getting so long, I thought I'd ask a hypothetical question. Well maybe
it's not as hypothetical , but here goes.

If an English lit teacher was passing out assignments assignments for
students to give a book report. Various books are chosen, some long ,
some short.

OK, the list has several *options* None are specifically required.
Here's a sample list:

"To Kill a Mockingbird"
"All Quiet one the Western Front"
"Gulliver's Travels"
"Moby Dick"
"The book of Matthew"
"Oliver Twist"
"The Trial"

etc, etc.

Notice included is the Gospel account of Matthew. Would this be
considered as promoting religion?

AND! Even if it was required reading. could it be used for literary
purposes only?

Just curious.

If the purpose of the assignment was to promote religion, then it
would be promoting religion. If the purpose was to have the students
read decent writing and practice writing, then it would not be
promoting religion.

Of course, the ACLU and other atheists would probably disagree with
that. But then again, they would probably applaud the idea of
assigning a book report on Mao Zedong's Little Red Book.- Hide quoted
text -

- Show quoted text -

Yes, like I said, I would have probably done a report on Hitlers Mein
Kampf if it was on the list, the "little red book?" That would have
been interesting too.

But today anything biblical or any book that might have a reference to
biblical scriptures probably wouldn't be available.

Some where down the line they've probably been replaced with the works
of Kate Chopin.


You know, I can't recall one class in public school where there was a
reading list of books from which reports had to be made. I recall lots of
reports in my classes based upon Dickens' novels and Austen's novels in
the 7th grade. Fine reads, but after that the reports came mostly on more
esoteric books, some good, some not so good. My 8th grade reports were on
several of Dreiser's novels. In the 10th grade, after two years of high
school Russian, I *dared* to read Dr. Zhivago in Russian, and then deliver
an oral book report on it in Russian in my Russian class. But I was
outdone by a gal who did the same with War and Peace.


We were mostly assigned books as I recall... don't remember what they were.

--
Nom=de=Plume

"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
On Thu, 8 Oct 2009 05:24:40 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:


OK, the list has several *options* None are specifically required.
Here's a sample list:

"To Kill a Mockingbird"

Boring.

"All Quiet one the Western Front"

Even more boring.

"Gulliver's Travels"

Incredibly boring.

"Moby Dick"

Ridiculously boring.

"The book of Matthew"

B O R I N G

"Oliver Twist"

R E A L L Y B O R I N G.

"The Trial"

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

Can you tell English Lit wasn't my favorite subject? :)


Well, I never thought any of those were boring.

--
Nom=de=Plume