Teach The Bible In Schools – Academically.

You Can and You Should

Started in the United States in 2005 through the Bible Literacy Project, Essentials in Education created a textbook and instructional resources to assist school districts in implementing a Bible course in public schools. It ensured the content of the Bible would be taught academically and objectively – and not from a particular religious philosophy. Today, this Bible literacy course, as a high school elective, has been used in 640 schools in 44 U.S. states. Eleven states have signed legislation into law endorsing teaching the Bible academically.

Reasons to teach the Bible

4 Significant Reasons
  • Knowledge of the Bible is foundational to understanding Western culture.
    Unless young people know the Bible narrative and characters they will not be able to fully understand the English language, English literature, history, art, music, or culture. For example, there are over 1,200 references to the Bible in the works of Shakespeare. Many classical and contemporary authors use images based on Bible content to develop their stories. Studies verify that today's students have little knowledge of the Bible and its ideas, imagery, and allusions.

  • Teachers Agree.
    A survey of U.S. high school English teachers revealed that students who had little knowledge of Bible content were at a disadvantage. 98% of High School English teachers said that students who don’t know the Bible are disadvantaged when reading English literature. One course designed to prepare students for the 'Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Exam' cites that 60% of the allusions used in that test are biblical.

    Click here to see the Bible Literacy Report I.

  • College Professors Agree.
    In a 2005 survey interviewing university English professors including those from Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley, 38 out of 39 university professors agreed that “an educated person, regardless of his or her faith, needs to know the Bible.”

    Click here to see the Bible Literacy Report II.
  • Parents Agree.
    In a 2017 survey of 1,000 households with teens 13-17 in America, 80% of parents believe it’s beneficial for their child’s comprehension of art, literature, and music to have an education that includes teaching about the characters and narratives in the Bible. 

The Course

It's a semester- or year-long Bible literacy course developed as a language arts elective or a social studies elective for grades 9-12. This course uses a printed source textbook, The Bible and Its Influence.

The Bible and Its Influence tells the Bible narrative and how it influenced the world. Without knowing the Bible, a person cannot fully understand the English language, literature, history, art, music, and culture.

It is the only Bible textbook in America that complies with the U.S. First Amendment.
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