Bible Elective Blocked by Michigan School Board's Vote
by Jim Brown
January 12, 2005
(AgapePress) - A school board in Michigan has rejected a Bible course for its public high school, thus ending a year-long debate about the "Bible as Literature and History" class. According to Associated Press reports, the board agreed with local superintendent Michael Murphy, who feels the course should not be added and that English, art, and history offerings currently in place already address how the Bible affects society.A year ago, parents in Frankenmuth, Michigan, approached the city's Board of Education, asking that the Bible class be taught as a high school elective. The course, developed by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, focuses on historic and literary aspects of the Bible; however, Murphy argued the class was "too close to religion and too far from history."
Murphy also expressed concerns that the biblically-based course is not academically rigorous enough. Also, he contended that its content "goes beyond talking about religion and becomes faith-based."
But Mike Johnson, an attorney for the Council, feels Murphy's assessments are completely inaccurate. "This curriculum was very carefully written," he asserts. "It's currently being used in over 288 school districts in 35 states, never with any problem. It was written so that it presents the Bible but does not proselytize -- and it allows for education but not indoctrination."
The Bible as Literature and History curriculum references the King James Bible and includes topics such as "Periods of Hebrew History in the Old Testament" and "The Parables of Jesus -- Literary Genre." Johnson feels the class not only would have met the Frankenmuth school district's academic standards, but would also have provided valuable contextual insights that could help students understand their culture better.
But now that the Michigan community's school board has rejected the course, the Council's lawyer says students in Frankenmuth are being robbed of a complete understanding of history and society. "The dictionary of cultural literacy says that no one in the English speaking world can be considered literate without a basic knowledge of the Bible," he points out.
The reason that is so, Johnson explains, is because knowledge of the Bible is "so essential for understanding so many of the moral and spiritual values of our culture," as well as "the development of our nation, all of Western civilization, all of our art, history, music, culture, everything."
In debate over the proposal to allow the Bible class to be taught in Frankenmuth public schools, critics raised the issue of whether its curriculum would have conformed to a 1963 U.S. Supreme Court decision. That ruling prohibited public schools from indoctrinating students in religion but affirmed the schools' right to teach about religion.
The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools insists the content of the Bible class conforms to the law in all respects. However, groups such as the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, People for the American Way, and the American Civil Liberties Union have argued that the biblically-based course illegally promotes religion, and therefore violates the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution.
