03/05/2006

Problems With the Bible Literacy Project
... it asks "If God allows evil things to happen, can God honestly be described as good?" And then the text states that "This puzzle remains essentially unsolved."

RALEIGH, NC, Mar. 6 /Christian Newswire/ -- This Wednesday, March 8, in Room 727 of the Alabama legislature, there will be a public hearing on Senate Bill 472 titled "Local Boards of Education May Offer Elective Course of Study Relating to the Bible and Its Influence on Civilization, and Textbook Selection Required."

Both THE NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY recently called attention to the Bible Literacy Project's (BLP) efforts in Alabama and elsewhere. The BLP's textbook, THE BIBLE AND ITS INFLUENCE, was piloted in California, Washington and Oregon, and could become an issue in all 50 states in the very near future. In the Alabama legislature, House Bill 58 mandated use of the textbook for all students choosing to take a Bible literacy course.

The BLP textbook contains factual error, for example a contradiction of what Jesus actually said about parables. (p.215 in textbook) Plus, it asks students to question traditional Biblical teaching. For example, it asks "If God allows evil things to happen, can God honestly be described as good?" And then the text states that "This puzzle remains essentially unsolved." (p.156) The BLP textbook also questions Genesis as a literal account of God's creation of the world (pp.30,35), and further asks students "Do you think Adam and Eve received a fair deal as described in Genesis?" (p.38) THE BIBLE AND ITS INFLUENCE advises students that "It is always good to remember not to try to apply current standards to the biblical accounts." (p.50) But why shouldn't biblical accounts of honesty, for example, be used to teach students the standard that they should be honest today? And among other problems with the BLP textbook, it states that the Book of Job "provides no clear cut moral or answer to Job's situation." (p.161) But how can anyone read the last chapter of Job (Chapter 42) and still say there's no clear cut moral?

Alabama Rep. Jeremy Oden remarked, "I'm for teaching the Bible in the classroom, but from the bottom of my heart, this is not our duty as a legislative body, to list a publisher and a book in the law." Rep. Oden then asked the bill's sponsor if he would just remove the name of the book from the law, but the sponsor refused.

Alabama Rep. Nick Williams' legislative report noted that a bipartisan effort defeated House Bill 58, which he called the "Bible Distortion Bill." And he further indicated that for years Alabama has already "provided for an elective in Bible literacy under authorization of the State Board of Education consistent with the U.S. Constitution." He then explained that "a very sound curriculum" by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools (NCBCPS), which uses THE HOLY BIBLE itself as the textbook, is already being used in some Alabama public high schools.

Not only is the NCBCPS curriculum in Alabama schools, but in 346 school districts in 37 states of the U.S. Among its supporters are Dr. D. James Kennedy, Dr. Charles Stanley, Joyce Meyer, Phyllis Schlafly president of Eagle Forum, Anne Graham Lotz, David Barton president of WallBuilders, Rabbi Daniel Lapin president of a coalition of Jews and Christians who favor returning the nation to its traditional Judeo-Christian values, and prominent Catholic law professors Gerard Bradley (Notre Dame) and Robert George (Princeton).

Rep. Nick Williams asked Dr. D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Ministries to review the BLP textbook, and Dr. Kennedy in a letter dated February 17, 2006, replied: "I am writing in response to your letter to me concerning THE BIBLE LITERACY PROJECT. I have examined their text and other material and I believe this would be a tremendous mistake to impose such very anti-Biblical material upon our children in public schools. Holding a Ph.D. in Bible and Theology, I can tell you the approach of this material is extremely radical and should not be chosen to represent the approved views of the Alabama legislature."

In Alabama, the primary supporter of the BLP effort was R. Randolph Brinson of Redeem the Vote. Brinson indicated that the BLP's efforts extended far beyond Alabama, and included Missouri where he was helping Sen. Jason Crowell craft legislation concerning Bible literacy in schools. Brinson's credibility was called into question, though, when ST. LOUIS POST- DISPATCH columnist Tim Townsend reported that "Crowell said he'd never heard of Redeem the Vote or Brinson."

BLP vice-president Sheila Weber has widely publicized its endorsers. However, there is a distinction between endorsing general guidelines for teaching THE HOLY BIBLE in public schools and the BLP textbook. For example, while the National School Boards Association (NSBA) endorsed "The Bible in Public Schools: A First Amendment Guide," staff attorney Thomas Hutton e-mailed me that the NSBA has not endorsed the BLP's textbook, THE BIBLE AND ITS INFLUENCE.

Christians and Jews in all 50 states should watch for efforts by the BLP to have its textbook used in their local public schools, and alert their school boards and legislators regarding the serious problems concerning this textbook.

D. L. Cuddy, Ph.D., has taught American History at UNC-Chapel Hill, and has been a Senior Associate with the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, DC. He has authored many books and hundreds of articles in newspapers including THE WASHINGTON POST, LOS ANGELES TIMES, USA TODAY, and for news services such as Scripps- Howard and Knight-Ridder.