Bible curriculum in the public schools

By K. Hollyn Hollman

Trends in Education
July-August 2006

In 1963 the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a Pennsylvania law requiring public schools to have daily devotional Bible readings. The Court noted, however, that "it might well be said that one's education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization." School Dist. of Abington Township v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 225 (1963).

Since then there have been many attempts to teach about the Bible or about religion in the public schools, some that have resulted in litigation. There have also been collaborative efforts to produce consensus guidelines for a constitutional approach to teaching about religion in the public schools. Visit the Resources section of the BJC Web site to view "Religion in the Public Schools: A Joint Statement of Current Law," which was endorsed by 30 religious, civil liberties, and educational organizations and largely incorporated into Department of Education guidelines.

A number of debates over Bible curriculum in public schools have been reported in the national media recently. Following a story in April 2005 about the issue in Ector County I.S.D. in Odessa, Texas, the Texas Freedom Network (TFN) commissioned a study of a frequently used and aggressively promoted curriculum. TFN's report made headlines, including an August 1 article in The New York Times, when it found the curriculum "advocates a narrow sectarian perspective taught with materials plagued by shoddy research, blatant errors and discredited or poorly cited sources." Last fall, a new textbook was released by the Bible Literacy Project titled The Bible and Its Influence. The book takes a very different approach and has expanded the interest in the topic.

The following is a summary of the interest groups and their curricula, and in the case of TFN, a discussion of their critique.

National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools: (www.bibleinschools.net) NCBCPS of Greensboro, N.C., was founded in 1993 by Elizabeth Ridenour, a former commercial real estate broker and paralegal. The group advances a goal of "bringing back Bible curriculum as an educational tool to public schools in all 50 states." Its purpose is to study the Bible as a foundational document of society. NCBCPS claims that more than 300 U.S. school districts in at least 37 states have approved use of its curriculum. The curriculum consists of The Bible in History and Literature, a teacher's guide. Students use the King James Version of the Bible as their textbook. The 300-page curriculum includes a CD-ROM, student lesson plans and activity ideas. The NCBCPS Board of Directors and the group's advisory board include many prominent religious right figures (many who work tirelessly to undermine church-state separation), including Steven Crampton, chief counsel for American Family Association's Center for Law and Policy; Dr. D. James Kennedy, head of Coral Ridge Ministries and the Dominionists; and David Barton, head of WallBuilders. Its curriculum has been endorsed by such organizations as the Christian Coalition, Liberty Counsel, Center For Reclaiming America, Eagle Forum, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council and Liberty Legal Institute.

The Texas Freedom Network Report: The Texas Freedom Network is a religious and civil liberties advocacy organization in Austin, Texas, that commissioned a report of the NCBCPS product described above. Dr. Mark A. Chancey, a Biblical scholar at Southern Methodist University, reviewed the curriculum, and in August 2005, TFN released the report finding the curriculum advances a sectarian perspective and that it "improperly endorses the Bible as the 'Word of God.'" It found the curriculum "attempts to persuade teachers and students to adopt views of the Bible that are common in some conservative Protestant circles but rejected by most scholars." According to the report, the curriculum also contains shoddy research that distorts history and science, as well as many factual errors. The report found the curriculum did not properly credit sources and includes several pages taken word for word from the Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2001.

The NCBCPS dismissed its critics as a "small group of far left, anti-religion extremists ... desperate to ban the Bible from public schools." And yet, in September 2005 following the publication and media coverage surrounding the Texas Freedom Network's report, NCBCPS released a revised edition which made many of the recommended changes. In October 2005, Dr. Chancey reviewed these changes and issued another report based on the new version. He concluded that while the new curriculum had been improved, especially regarding editing and citation corrections, the overall tone continues to reflect a right-wing political agenda. The curriculum tends to "Christianize America and Americanize the Bible."

The Bible Literacy Project: (www.bibleliteracy.org) The Bible Literacy Project, Inc. is a "non-partisan, non-profit endeavor to encourage and facilitate the academic study of the Bible in public schools." The Bible Literacy Project believes "that failure to teach about the Bible leaves students in ignorance and cultural illiteracy." The project was founded by Chuck Stetson, a venture capitalist. Stetson, along with Cullen Schippe, a retired vice president at textbook publisher Macmillan/McGraw-Hill, co-edited The Bible and Its Influence, a textbook released September 22, 2005. It is an attempt to follow the guidelines set out in "The Bible and Public Schools: A First Amendment Guide," a project that began in 1999 by the Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center to broker an agreement among various diverse educational and religious organizations regarding the proper way to teach the Bible in public schools.

The Bible and Its Influence has been endorsed by: Robert Alter, Hebrew professor at the University of California, Berkeley; Harold Bloom, Yale University literary critic; Charles Colson, prison evangelist; Ted Haggard, president, National Association of Evangelicals; Marc Stern, attorney with the American Jewish Congress; Dr. Leland Ryken, professor of English, Wheaton College, Ill.; Dr. Charles C. Haynes, The First Amendment Center; and Dr. Amy A. Kass, senior lecturer, University of Chicago.

In our view
While The Bible and Its Influence has also been criticized, it does not suffer from the same defects as the other textbook. Criticism of the Bible Literacy Project has focused on Stetson's strong ties to Chuck Colson and the apparent evangelical motives for producing the textbook. Some reviewers have found the textbook appeals to a broad religious and political spectrum but goes too far in promoting an entirely positive view of Scripture. While it demonstrates religious motivations and use of the Bible in positive social movements, it fails to recognize them against important social advances.

The Bible Literacy Project's product is a very welcome development in the discussion about what can be taught. It directly and tangibly illustrates one approach that would likely be found constitutional. The curriculum is new and will benefit from revisions in response to criticism. Note that any product can be used in an unconstitutional or otherwise improper manner. Teacher training is very important. Some discussion about these texts may lead districts to a more thoughtful approach to religion in the public schools.