(Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection - Editor's Notes by Christina Myer)

We know some politicians have essentially stopped pretending they aren’t working toward their own — very specific and exclusionary — agendas in statehouses and in Washington, D.C. Still, it comes as a shock to realize the lack of self-awareness it takes to sponsor a bill that would REQUIRE copies of the Aitken Bible (the first version of the Bible to be printed in the U.S., in 1782) be placed in public school fourth, eighth and tenth grade social studies classrooms, and claim the bill is not about religion.

State Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Amy Grady, R-Mason, was lead sponsor on Senate Bill 388, and says this unfunded mandate for public schools is a matter of providing a historically important document as a resource for students. (The bill says schools can get private donors to provide the books. You have to wonder if those schools will get a chance to choose their donor this time, if it prevails.)

But Grady opposed an amendment that would have included the Catholic Bible in the requirement.

“The significance of this particular Bible has to do with historical significance,” Grady said. “It is not religion-based. And it’s not saying the teacher has to use it to instruct from. It’s just making it available to students in the classroom as a resource because those contents (of American history) are being taught.”

Is she suggesting that public school teachers in West Virginia aren’t also teaching that Catholics were part of the founding of our country, or that the first Catholic Bible printed in the U.S. in 1790 might also be of historical significance?

“I oppose (state Senate Minority Leader Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell)’s amendment not because of any religious matters whatsoever, because that’s not what this is about,” said state Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam. “It’s about the standards in fourth, eighth, and tenth grade the Aitken Bible has been recognized as addressing, and I’m glad we’re doing it here in West Virginia.”

Again, if it’s not about religion, then someone needs to spell out why the “standards” for teaching social studies in those grades are so narrowly focused on one religious community.

If we want to require students have access to historically important American religious texts, why not include copies of the oldest Torahs in the U.S., held by Congregation Mickve Israel in Savannah, Ga. The scrolls date back to the 15th Century, and were brought to Savannah in 1733 by Jewish colonists seeking a fresh start in the New World after their faith survived the Inquisition.

What about the Book of Mormon? That is a uniquely American and historical text. How about copies of Thomas Jefferson’s translation of the Quran?

Transcribed native American oral traditions would be appropriate — particularly those such as “Black Elk Speaks,” written in 1932. (Black Elk was born in 1863 and died in 1950. Surely our public school students are being taught what happened to native Americans during his lifetime. That’s part of the standard, right?)

I’m being a little snarky because there are a large number of faith traditions and therefore religious texts significant in a full and honest teaching of our country’s history.

Grady and the rest of the state Senate know that. Why, then, were they so worried about making sure only one of them became an unfunded mandate in our public schools?

“I think this proposed amendment (to include the Catholic Bible) adds a little balance to the bill,” Woelfel said. “We certainly are leaving out lots of other religious views. It’s not my intention today to try to dictate my sincerely held religious beliefs to you, but that’s exactly what the bill does … As we look around our room, our chamber today, we don’t have a lot of religious diversity.”

They didn’t listen to him. They’re barely bothering to pretend that’s not exactly how they like it.

What a shame.

If the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States means nothing to them (and, given that, as of this writing, the bill has gone on to pass the full state Senate and be handed to the House of Delegates, that seems the case), perhaps our elected officials will take another look at West Virginia’s constitution, Article III, Section 15:

“No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place or ministry whatsoever; nor shall any man be enforced, restrained, molested or burthened, in his body or goods, or otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument, to maintain their opinions in matters of religion; and the same shall, in nowise, affect, diminish or enlarge their civil capacities; and the Legislature shall not prescribe any religious test whatever, OR CONFER ANY PECULIAR PRIVILEGES OR ADVANTAGES ON ANY SECT OR DENOMINATION, or pass any law requiring or authorizing any religious society …. (emphasis mine, of course).”

Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com