The mother of a Tennessee middle-schooler claims a class on the Bible as literature included Christian proselytizing and comments offensive to Jews and other non-Christians, The Associated Press reported Sunday, citing the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
The mother, Juniper Russo, posted to Facebook that she withdrew her eighth-grader from the class after the teacher wrote an English translation of the Hebrew name for God on the whiteboard and told students, “If you want to know how to torture a Jew, make them say this out loud.”
“This name is traditionally not spoken out loud, and is traditionally only written in the Torah,” Russo wrote. "My daughter felt extremely uncomfortable hearing a teacher instruct her peers on ‘how to torture a Jew’ and told me when she came home from school that she didn’t feel safe in the class.”
Hamilton County Schools issued a statement saying the district is investigating a complaint about its Bible History course and will "take appropriate steps based on the findings of that review.”
Russo wrote on Facebook that her daughter enrolled in the Bible class because other electives were not accessible to her because of a disability. Her daughter was uncomfortable answering questions on assignments such as, “Do you read the Bible at home?” because she did not want to be singled out as Jewish, Russo added.
The class is part of a century-old Bible in the Schools program that is currently being taught in 29 Hamilton County public schools, according to the organization's website. It says the classes are “non-sectarian,” and teachers are “required to teach from a viewpoint-neutral perspective and adhere to a court-approved curriculum.”
Michael Dzik, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga, issued a statement in which he said the organization looks forward to a dialog with the Bible in the Schools organization.
"Additionally, we hope they use this as an opportunity to reflect on and assess both their curriculum and how their teachers are presenting the material to ensure these classes are education, not indoctrination,” the statement added.
Russo said the school took her concerns seriously, but the Bible teacher refused to meet with her or the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga to discuss the curriculum.
Tennessee has been in the headlines recently after a school board in the state voted unanimously to remove “Maus,” Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel about his father’s Holocaust experience, from its curriculum after board members raised objections about curse words, nude drawings and “not wise or healthy” content within it.
Spiegelman, who won a 1992 Pulitzer Prize for the book, told CNBC that the decision was “Orwellian” and said he doubted that the McMinn County school board’s decision to stop teaching his book had only to do with his choice of words.
In response to the ban of “Maus”, a nearby comic book store in Knoxville pledged to give away the book for free to every student in the county.
In addition, an area church announced plans to hold a discussion on the themes of “Maus” and a college professor said he intends to offer free classes on the book to students in the county.