Not Dead Yet

As proof that I survived the weekend, here's a new YDN column, which is a secular argument for teaching the Bible and other religious texts in public schools. To the quick:

The great error of the proponents of a public-school program entirely bereft of education in religion is the notion that study of the Bible or other religious texts, uniquely among all the fields of the humanities, necessitates some official judgment, an endorsement or rejection, on the part of the educator and the educational institution involved. Remove yourself from the passions of our fractured and inflamed culture wars and it shouldn't be difficult to see how plainly preposterous this conclusion is. Reading "Gilgamesh" in a high school English class, as I'm sure many of us did, imposed no requirement on my teacher to declare either in favor or against the literal and/or metaphorical truths of the epic. Likewise with any other work of art, it seems, except for one.

Now if I get a chance, I'd like to devote a few words to this Zachary Zwillinger column arguing a moral case against the study of innate genetic difference between men and women. It might not surprise you to learn that I think he's full of shit. For the time being, have a look at Will Saletan's debunking of the show-trial of Larry Summers.