Bible Breaks at Public Schools Face Challenges in Rural Virginia (washingtonpost.com)

A recent article in the Washington Post tells of a controversy in rural Virginia where a handful of schools allow children to leave school during the middle of the day to attend a voluntary weekly Bible school, that takes about 30 minutes a day. (Children who don't attend engage in that most celebrated right of childhood: recess!)

But some of the parents of the children who don't attend are angry with the school for allowing the others to attend Bible class. The reason? "Bible study hinders efforts to meet state and national standards for test scores."

Here is a quote from the article:

"For 65 years, weekday Bible classes have been part of the fabric of growing up in this town of 24,000 in Augusta County and in a score of other small towns and hamlets in rural Virginia. It is such an accepted tradition that 80 to 85 percent of the first-, second- and third-graders in Staunton participate.

But now, the practice is being challenged by a group of parents who have asked the School Board to end or modify weekday religious education. Not only do they fear that their children are stigmatized for not attending, but in a decidedly 21st-century twist, they also argue that interrupting class for Bible study hinders efforts to meet state and national standards for test scores. "