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Alabama brings the Bible back
Starting this year, Alabama public-schooled students will study the Bible with the State Board of Educations’ unanimous approval. Alabama is the first state to approve the Bible Literacy Project’s textbook, The Bible and its Influence, as part of its state curriculum.
Sheila Weber, Vice President of Communications for BLP, told WoW the BLP created the textbook “to give school boards a greater level of confidence, so they could see exactly how the subject matter was being presented.” The Bible and its Influence takes a non-devotional, academic approach to studying the Bible. It walks students through the Old and New Testaments, with side explorations of topics like “Milton and the Bible,” “Exodus and Emancipation,” and “Freedom and Faith in America.”
Any Bible textbook must walk a shaky wall between church and state. Forty scholars — Catholic, Jewish, Evangelical, mainline Protestant, and Orthodox – reviewed the textbook before publication. The book has won endorsements from evangelicals like Chuck Colson, Vonnie Bright from Campus Crusade for Christ and Jamie Crouse from Concerned Women for America. TIME Magazine has also praised it, and Charles Haynes, senior scholar with the First Amendment Center, reviewed and endorsed it.
According to San Diego Union Tribune, Barry Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church called the textbook one-sided: “To teach religion objectively, you really have to teach the good, the bad and the ugly and this book only teaches the good.” The book’s introduction tells students, “You will not be pressed into accepting religion. You will study about religion as presented in the Bible, but you will not be engaged in the practice of religion.” Earlier critics pointed to factual errors in the textbook, but a second printing has addressed concerns.
Only 8 percent of public schools offer an elective course on the Bible. Now that 160 schools have implemented The Bible and its Influence and 2,000 educators are reviewing it, that statistic may change.
back to top31 Comments to “Alabama brings the Bible back”
A good start!
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#1
Where are we going?
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Back to the dark ages!! Hold on to your hats!!
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If kids are getting to study the historical impact of a wonderful book then this is excellent news. If this is a “start”, however, then better for it not to happen at all.
I have two other concerns:
1. The book apparently contains no criticism (high or otherwise), which would be inexcusable for any other literary study but is apparently okay here because including it would mean that Chuck Colson wouldn’t endorse it.
2. The book apparently focuses on relating the Bible to social events. While there is the danger of cherry-picking perspectives, I’m more concerned that the text might implicitly propagate the America-is/was-a-christian-nation myth.
While both of my above concerns could easily be addressed by a fine teacher, I’m afraid many others will not do so.
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No problem with teaching the Bible as literate. However, it is not acceptable to teach it as an accurate history book, and certainly not as the infallible word of God in a public school.
If I were teaching the course as a project I might have my students create their own Jefferson’s Bibles where they edit the good book and explain why they took out what they took out and left in what they left in.
Wouldn’t orthodox believers in the class feel offended by this exercise? Or if given the option of leaving the Bible as it is, would that make the exercise less offensive?
Bottom line: Teaching the Bible in the public schools under these kinds of courses opens the doors to these kinds of criticisms with which orthodox believers might not agree.
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In at least one hundred job interviews I have had in my life, not once did anyone ask about my knowledge of the Bible, or any other book of fiction. This is a waste of a students time but it’s exactly what I would expect from the backward deep south.
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Works of fiction or “classics” impact our lives in ways in which most folks don’t adequately appreciate. The Great Books of the Western Canon (of which the Bible is one) in large part shape Western culture and heritage. Man does not “know himself” without a working knowledge of these books or works. But again, not all men are interested (or need be interested) in knowing himself that deeply. I’m talking about folks interested in living the “examined life,” and I disagree with Socrates who said such an unexamined life is not worth living. It’s only the more philosophically minded who need to live such an examined life (I’m pefectly comfortable with more ordinary masses who would rather go bowling). For us, we need to read the Bible and the rest of the Great Books in the Western Canon. Even if we ultimately end up — as most philosophically minded folks do — rejecting the Bible.
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#3: Actually, the rise of universities and the teaching of the illiterate masses of barbarians (via Scripture and theology, no less) took root during the so-called “Dark Ages”, so it might be a bit wise to be abreast of history before one begins to cast stones.
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John Rowe #5 would you find that an acceptable way to each Hamlet.
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That should be “would you find that an acceptable way to TEACH Hamlet?
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Kbells, to “each” his/her own.
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It seems to me that a study of the various holy books of the world’s major religions would be a better way to go.
Although I am somewhat comforted by Charles Hayne’s endorsement of the Bible class, the other names give me great pause.
I suppose we’ll have to see how it play out. Though if you know anything about Alabama, I’m sure that it will be difficult to keep the conservative Christian teachings out of the course.
I’m confident that Americans United and the ACLU will keep watch on the course and let us know if it’s not working as intended. I will await their judgment.
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#5: It’s ludicrous to expect the public schools to allow students to delete any part of any textbook they find objectionable. In fact, I would have deleted my entire Algebra textbook!
Ed/Qwerty: Thanks for logging on and reminding us to pray for you today!
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Well, it’s a different point with the Bible v. Hamlet. Hamlet and the Bible are great works of literature and as literature, no you don’t delete. However, the Bible claims to be something more than just literature. And as to its claims of truth, that’s what the deleting exercise would be all about. Just like when reading a “Great Book,” we first seek to understand what the book teaches, and then we critically think about whether we agree with the message. The deleting of the Bible would be the “critical thinking” part. Remember you have the option of deleting nothing and the student should be called to defend his or her position.
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It would be great if students read those passages that typically don’t come up Sunday School, all the blood and sex and slaugher and such. I will find it very amusing if this time next year, the same parents that wanted the Bible in the schools are demading it be taken out.
But it’s Alabama, so I won’t hold my breath.
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I know that biblical allusions are plentiful in some of the major literary works. Universities have noted in recent years that fewer students had an adequate understanding of even the rudimentary themes of the Bible.
I do wish schools would do a good comparative holy books course. Christianity comes off looking very good compared to Islam and others.
Perhaps some high-schoolified (”dumded down”?) version of Marvin Olasky’s wonderful book “The Religions Next Door” could find its way into a course syllabus.
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That’s a lot of Job interviews Querty.
There is a significant amount of history in the bible whether you believe it is authentic or not. Secular theorists often refer to the Judeo-Christian ethic as a basis for our current sense of morality. Learning about where it started is just as important as learning the basis of our alphabet. How can you know why you should not do something if you do not know the background of it?
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qwerty
How many times were you asked about Shakespear during and interview? I guess we leave that out!
How about American History? I guess you want that left out, too.
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American History is not fiction.
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Thanks to my hobby of hanging around here to give the god people a hard time, I now know more than enough about the Bible to know it’s boring and worthless. The most famous myths in the Bible are slightly worthwhile to know about because these strange stories can often be found in the comics I read every day. Other than helping me understand dumb jokes in the comics, and helping me understand how insane ancient people used to be, the Bible really has proven to be not worth all the violence and massive ignorance it has caused.
I especially have a big problem with all the scientific claims the Bible makes. Especially Genesis, while pleasant to read, is full of scientific claims about how the earth was formed and how life began. It’s all very nice as long as nobody takes it seriously. It is after all, just the babbling of an ancient idiot who was making everything up, and didn’t even know what science is.
Unfortunately millions of people actually take Genesis so seriously they think it’s an acceptable science textbook for the 21st Century. These same people claim Genesis is the word of God, and they also claim God would have to know more about everything than all of the world’s scientists.
If what the Genesis believers say is true, scientists might as well find another career. Since God made everything, since everything is supernatural magic, since reality is meaningless, scientists are just wasting their time.
Of course Genesis is total (insert any bad word here). I noticed the millions of people who think it has any value spend lots of time lying to their children about science. If not for this constant lying, at least some of these victims of mental child abuse could have become scientists who could have made important discoveries. This is why I am convinced the Bible is only good for slowing down human progress.
“Alabama public-schooled students will study the Bible with the State Board of Educations’ unanimous approval.”
In a backward god-soaked state like Alabama, what chance is there of getting a Bible teacher who is not going to talk about the Bible as if it were full of facts? This decision to waste the time of students with a class about a book of lies, is very likely to make those students even dumber than they probably already are. This is a bad idea, not that I care very much. America is so soaked with god nonsense now, I can’t imagine it getting any worse.
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#12 “It seems to me that a study of the various holy books of the world’s major religions would be a better way to go.”
I would find such a course interesting, but I would not say it would be better than the proposed course. Lack of knowledge of the Bible limits students’ ability to understand the many allusions to the Bible throughout English literature. Lack of knowledge of the holy books of other religions has much less impact in understanding English literature.
If students are studying Chinese or Arabic (which would be very good for more students to study), at some point it would be important to learn something of the literature of those cultures, including religious literature. But the languages most public school students learn (French, Spanish, German) are also from cultures where allusions to holy books in their literature are more likely to be from the Bible than from other religions’ books.
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#15
SteveG,
I would have no objection to those passages being taught at an appropriate age. I don’t teach 6-year-olds about Lot and his daughters, but I told my older son about it a year or two ago (he’s 15 now). I was reading this blog, and Scott and I were discussing the subject, and my son wondered what we were talking about so I explained.
I don’t want people to believe in some imaginary Bible that reads like a kindergartener’s Sunday School lesson. The Bible tells about some pretty horrific things, and it tells them for a reason. Knowing the Bible means knowing those things.
After all, if people never did horrible things to each other, it would be harder to understand God’s anger at sin, and the Crucifixion. While it is true that any sin angers God, knowing just what evil humans are capable of – and what bad things even “good” people do (like King David) makes the judgment of God more comprehensible to us.
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God’s anger at sin
Why invent a God and then pretend this invention gets angry about
some sin, whatever that is. I don’t get the point of making all this stuff up and then believing in it.
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Actually, qwerty, as a former public school teacher, I assure you you’re missing the boat.
The Bible should be required reading day and night, with many quizzes.
Speaking of missing the boat, in shop class students would be required to build an ark, full size, using only tools available in Biblical times. Then they would drag it to a lake or ocean and float it, and fill it with every animal they could catch.
In Home Ec, girls would dress in long granny dresses and cook food from Biblical times in stone ovens. The boys would get to sacrifice animals.
Science books and evolution books should have racy covers showing women with their mammary glands hanging out, and then should be put under lock and key and all the students should be told in the sternest way not to read these very bad books.
You would have a lot of “Darwinists” in a hurry.
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Because I needed more reasons not to go to Alabama!
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I posted my comments about this thread on today’s Whirled Views.
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#1 – Amen, brother!
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I went to Huntsville, Alabama once for a job interview. I’m glad I didn’t get the job, for multiple reasons, but I think the people there were decent.
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I should hope so.
I am against prejudice against people for their skin color. Blue and green people are just as good as you are.
I am against prejudice against people for their sexual disorientation.
I am against prejudice against people for where they came from. When I was a kid, my second best friend Scott’s mother was from Texas. She often said uncomplimentary things about Texas. I asked, “I thought Texas was supposed to be the biggest, greatest state. I thought it was supposed to be wonderful?”
She replied, “Texas is a wonderful place to be FROM.”
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There is historical value in Bible texts. Many of them are backed up by other various ancient historical data. For this reason alone, The Bible should be permitted in a school setting, so long as it makes no attempt to indoctrinate students into accepting it as anything but history.
Most ancient historians composed their works with a religious bias, and using religious themes, yet we accept these accounts, as most history comes from these very few ancient sources. And it is important to note that most of what is accepted as main stream history is largely based on later compilations of these ancient sources.
So, in reality, the vast majority of history is wriiten by people who had their own biases.
It seems like the best way to get it all out in the open, and let us decide for ourselves. Not only does this lead to diversity in thought, but tolerance for others. that would satisfy everyone.
We have Assyrian records from 800BC that closely mirror the Bible account of OT kings and dealings with the paying of tribute and later battles with Assyria. We even have the same Bible names from the OT preserved on the Assyrian monuments and records.
( and this is just one of many, many examples where ancient written evidence is consistant with Biblical accounts. True there are copyist errors that probably changed the meanings of a few numbers, and possibly a few poorly translated words. But if you look at the reality of the situation, the Bible is the most detailed history of that time period in that region.
To dismiss the Bible’s historical value basically rejects the open discussion of ideas.
When we re-examine history using more of the lesser known historical perspectives, along with the opinions we are all aware of, but are sketchy, we can get a better picture of what happened to us as humans. You get a better picture of who and where some ancient peoples were, and are. You can actually develop fairly educated guesses as to what happened along the way,and why some peoples have natural difficulties with other peoples.
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This is a horrible idea. They already have classes that teach the Bible. They are held in places called “churches” and are strictly on a volenteer basis. Teaching this to a captive audience is unAmerican.
What’s next, teaching the “Quran” and “Hindu” stuff to keep it fair?
What about those that don’t want their children exposed to the occult and mysticism?
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