THE BOOK OF CONTROVERSY: Teaching the Bible in Public Schools Raises Hackles, Inspires Curriculum

by Juli Cragg Hilliard, Religion BookLine -- Publishers Weekly, 9/21/2005

Teaching the Bible in America’s public schools is a political hot potato, and another player is entering this steamy arena. The Bible Literacy Project, with the motto that “an educated person is familiar with the Bible,” debuts tomorrow (Sept. 22); it is being described as the first student textbook for academic study of the Bible in nearly 30 years.

Written “to respect religious traditions but not to promote any religious traditions,” said v-p of communications Sheila Weber, the book discusses the Bible’s stories, themes and characters, and covers its cultural influences on art, literature and rhetoric. Students also read the Bible translation of their choice.

The new text will go head to head with the curriculum of the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, which says its elective-course material has been adopted by 300 public school districts in 37 states. NCBCPS president Elizabeth Ridenour has been busy rebutting a critical report released in August by the advocacy group Texas Freedom Network that called the NCBCPS curriculum “error-riddled” and said it pressed views “held primarily within conservative Protestant circles.'' The report, authored by Southern Methodist University biblical studies professor Mark Chancey, said the NCBCPS material goes beyond a non-devotional study of the Bible to endorse it as the word of God.

The Bible Literacy Project’s textbook title and cover will be unveiled tomorrow at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., where speakers will include Chuck Stetson, chairman and founder of the project; Cullen Schippe, a former v-p at Macmillan/McGraw-Hill who is textbook co-author and general editor; Charles C. Haynes, senior scholar at the First Amendment Center; and Marc Stern, general counsel for the American Jewish Congress.

The Bible Literacy Project wanted the textbook out in time for school curriculum committees to examine it. It will be promoted at major education conventions and in ads placed in educational journals. Individual copies will be available through Amazon.com, through www.bibleliteracy.org, or by calling 866-805-6574.

First Amendment scholar Haynes told RBL that the textbook, for which he was one of numerous reviewers, meets constitutional standards by being both objective and respectful, and by putting the Bible in historical and cultural context through an academically sound approach. He said the National Council’s material, by contrast, could easily be misused because it is more of an outline than a curriculum and uses the Bible itself as a textbook. While he doesn’t say the NCBCPS curriculum is on its face unconstitutional, he explained, “It is not good guidance for a constitutional course.”

At the National Council, Ridenour said her program uses the Bible and a 300-page teacher’s curriculum guide. On September 9 at the National Press Club, actor Chuck Norris; his wife, Gena; and Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King Jr., spoke in support of the group’s work, citing the momentum that has picked up since the Texas group’s report. Ridenour said that in the past month, 12 new public school districts–about 36 high schools–have adopted the curriculum.