Two religious advocacy groups seeking to teach public high school
and college students about the Bible announced this week they are
taking their message to the sky.
As part of National Bible Week, which ends tomorrow, the Bible
Literacy Project and the National Bible Association have joined
forces to launch 500 billboards nationwide that read: "An Educated
Person Knows the Bible."
According to two recent reports published by the Bible association,
many high school English teachers and professors from elite
universities agree that students need to know the Bible to gain a
good education, but increasingly few do.
"We have a tremendous disconnect in public school education," said
Chuck Stetson, chairman and founder of the Bible Literacy Project,
based in Fairfax, Va.
Stetson points to national surveys that show educators recognize the
importance of knowing the Bible, yet only 8 percent of public
schools teach it despite legal approval of courses taught as an
academic elective.
Last year, the group released a high school textbook, "The Bible and
its Influence," that details the Bible's impact on Western culture.
The textbook has been endorsed by moderate Christian and Jewish
groups and the Bible Literacy Project says 82 school districts in 29
states are using it while 900 other schools are considering it.
But the Americans United for Separation of Church and State says
that although religion should be taught in public schools, the Bible
Literacy Project's message is flawed. "The idea that public schools
ought to have this one class because students are coming out of
school uneducated, I just don't buy it," said Jeremy Leaming, a
spokesman for the group. "I do think they have a curriculum to
sell."
Leaming wondered why the Bible is the only ancient text being
promoted. "Where's the curriculum on the Koran, or on Buddhism?" he
said.
Sheila Weber, a spokeswoman for the Bible Literacy Project,
countered, "I would imagine they could teach those texts in the same
spirit as the Bible. However, our focus is on the Bible because the
Bible is what influenced British and American literature - from
Shakespeare to Hemingway. We make no apologies that this is a course
on the Bible."
The billboard campaign is the latest effort in the culture war over
religious influence in public affairs. Public schools, where some
parents have sued school districts for promoting religion, have been
a chief battleground. In 1963, the Supreme Court ruled that
school-sponsored Bible reading was unconstitutional, but allowed for
objective study about religion.
The Bible is used as a course study in some Connecticut high schools
but not in Stamford schools. Instead, the Bible is covered in
Stamford courses such as Ancient World History and Senior
Philosophy, said Reginald Roberts, district program director for
social studies.
Roberts agreed that students need to know how religion has
influenced cultures but disagreed with the billboard's slogan. "You
don't need to study the Bible itself to understand American
history," he said.
According to the reports, "Bible Literacy Report I: What American
teens know and need to know," and "Bible Literacy Report II: What
university professors say incoming students need to know," students
do not know enough about the Bible to properly understand British
and American literature or understand the Bible's impact on art,
music, history and culture.
Professors from several universities, including Yale, Harvard,
Princeton and Stanford, agreed in a survey that knowledge of the
Bible is an important part of a good education.
The textbook will help bridge the gap, Weber said.
But Leaming, whose group reviewed "The Bible and its Influence" for
a magazine last year, said the textbook is incomplete. "It doesn't
touch on any negative impact of the Bible," he said. "It's been used
to justify slavery, demonize gay people. But they don't want to talk
about that influence."
Weber, who said the textbook offers examples of the Bible being
misused to foster anti-Semitism and racism, dismissed the argument.
"The purpose of the textbook was not to show how the Bible was
misused, but rather to give an overview of the content of the Bible
in a constitutional manner," she said in a statement. "If we were to
have debunked the Bible, we would have not been respectful of faith
traditions."
Copyright © 2006, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.
