Public School Bible Course's Attackers and Defenders Face Off in National Debate
by Jenni Parker
August 15, 2005
(AgapePress) - A popular course offered by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools has come under attack from a liberal group that exists in part to "counter the religious right." While NCBCPS describes the course as an exploration of the Bible's influence on history and culture, the Texas Freedom Network's charge that the curriculum is sectarian and constitutionally inappropriate for use in public schools has sparked nationwide debate, with legal experts weighing in on both sides. NCBCPS claims its curriculum, called "The Bible in History and Literature," has been approved by 300 school districts in 37 states across America and has been endorsed by many of the nation's leading constitutional scholars, public officials, and law professors. However, Southern Methodist University Professor Mark Chancey, a spokesman for the Texas Freedom Network, dismisses the Council's course as being written from a "sectarian" perspective."
Chancey says the Bible curriculum "attempts to persuade students to adopt views that are held primarily within certain conservative Protestant circles but not among most Roman Catholics, other Christians, and Jews, and certainly not within the scholarly community." And in his analysis of the curriculum materials, he claims to have found what the Texas Freedom Network describes as "numerous errors and examples of shoddy research and inappropriate use of outside sources" throughout the course materials.
"It would be unreasonable to expect teachers without advanced training in biblical studies to recognize all of these flaws," the Network's spokesman says, "but it's not unreasonable to expect a good curriculum to be free of them. This curriculum fails that test miserably." For these reasons, he insists the Council's Bible course is inappropriate for use in any public school classroom.
But Steve Crampton, a constitutional attorney who serves on the NCBCPS Board of Directors, says Chancey's charges against the course do not stick, and the controversy regarding it is largely the result of an academic and political dispute. "What you have here," he says, "is a small group of liberal academics selected by a radical left-wing organization that happens to find some fault in our curriculum."
On the other hand, Crampton asserts, the Bible in History and Literature course has been reviewed by dozens of constitutional scholars, hundreds of school board attorneys and school board members and numerous curriculum development specialists. He says the curriculum materials have been thoroughly vetted for their educational and legal appropriateness and widely approved for use in about 1,000 U.S. public schools.
The constitutional lawyer, who serves as senior counsel with the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy, says it is ironic that the NCBCPS Bible curriculum has even been vetted by Roman Catholic scholars that, unlike Chancey, also happen to be constitutional experts. That includes Robert P. George, a Catholic scholar who "holds the McCormick Chair of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, arguably the most prestigious chair in any law school in the nation," Crampton notes.
In a recent appearance on FOX News' The Big Story, the AFA attorney appeared along with Texas Freedom Network president Kathy Miller to dispute her group's accusation that the NCBCPS Bible course promotes sectarian religious beliefs. Crampton contended that what is in the course are simply the "fundamentals of the Bible," and "what is necessary for every student in America to understand the oldest, most widely read, and arguably most influencing book ever printed in human history."
As for the charge that the Bible course promotes right-wing Christianity, the pro-family lawyer and NCBCPS board member argued, "In fact, we carefully instruct teachers not to take dogmatic positions on any issue. What we do, really, is raise questions, and we let students decide for themselves."
National Council's Counsel Answers TFN's Challenge
Attorneys for the NCBCPS have also responded to the Texas Freedom Network's attacks on the Bible in History and Literature elective. Hiram Sasser, director of litigation for the Liberty Legal Institute, recently defended the National Council in a public statement. He criticized the Network's attacks against the Bible curriculum, saying it is ironic that a group "which claims to be against censorship is now attempting to become the biggest censor in the state of Texas."
Sasser remarked that he feels TFN's representatives should act on their convictions if they think they can make a case against the legality of the Bible curriculum. "Otherwise," he says, "they are just full of hot air." He argues that the NCBCPS curriculum provides an interfaith perspective on the material it covers and that, as designed, the course falls well within the guidelines given by the U.S. Supreme Court in Abington v. Schempp. In that case, the court stated that "the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities," as long as it is "presented objectively as part of a secular program of education."
The Liberty Legal Institute attorney says the Bible in History and Literature elective does just that by broadening students' perspectives and stimulating their thought and discussion about the scriptures' influence on culture throughout history. "NCBCPS course material is designed to utilize the vast historical and cultural insight found in the Bible," he says.
"Depriving students of such important study is totally ridiculous and contrary to the U.S. Supreme Court statement," Sasser adds. But he says if Texas Freedom Network "thinks they have a case," they should go ahead and file it, because he is confident the National Council's Bible curriculum will stand up to any legal challenges brought against it.
