Home Titles The West Georgian. Carrollton, Ga. Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML. Texas coliege to offer Bible classes CPS Texas state colleges are going to offer bible classes this spring after all. Last fall, state Attorney General James Mattox advised schools not to let teachers paid by religious groups teach accredited religion classes on their campuses. The arrangements, which have been in force for 80 years and are common in the Midwest, came close to getting the state into the business of advocating or suppor ting certain religions, Mattox reasoned.
After months of controversy, however, some colleges have changed their minds, and schedul ed the courses taught by teachers paid by private church groups for the spring semester.
Mattox himself recently advised campuses to continue the courses as they are until his office puts out guidelines, adds Jerry Gilmore, the attorney from the Texas Bap tist General Convention. The guidelines are expected to be released in March. Some administrators, however, speculate Mattox is retreating from political pressure. Attorney General Jenifer Riggs.
We want the universities to control who teaches the courses, not the denominations. Rafes notes. McNichol and other advocates of subsidizing the courses say most bible teachers already have legitimte academic credentials.
Many Midwestern colleges use campus ministers to teach religion classes, but the constitutionality of the practice has not been challeng ed, says University of Nebraska clergyman Larry Doerr. In , the University of Florida student government withheld money from religious organiza tions, claiming such allocations violated the constitutionally man dated separation of church and state.
