'Bama Lawmaker Questions State-Mandated Text for School Bible Instruction
by Jim Brown
January 16, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Conservative and Christian groups in Alabama are vigorously objecting to a bill in the State Legislature that would confine Bible literacy instruction in schools to one textbook. The bill (HB 58) proposed by two Democratic lawmakers requires schools offering a Bible elective to use a textbook called The Bible and Its Influence, which is published by the Virginia-based Bible Literacy Project. But opponents say the new curriculum is unnecessary because Alabama law and State Board of Education policy already permit the teaching of the Bible as history and literature.
State Senator Hank Erwin is co-sponsoring a proposed resolution that affirms the Alabama school board's role in approving Bible electives.
"We have a system and a process in motion that we go by that says any textbook that's suggested needs to be evaluated by our state school board to see if it meets up with all of our criteria for adoption," the senator explains. "That means it has to pass rigorous tests, it has to be a part of the bid process, and it has to be part of multiple selections."
In addition, Senator Erwin has some concerns about the content of the proposed curriculum. The lawmaker says The Bible and Its Influence contains theological questions that undermine the authority of the Bible.
"What we've found is that it has some suggestions in it that might not totally be in agreement to the Bible and the theology that the folks in the State of Alabama believe," he says. "I think in one particular instance [the book] question[s] whether Adam and Eve got a fair deal in Genesis -- and I think that's just unbelievable to suggest something like that."
The legislation that Erwin is objecting to is sponsored by Democrats Seth Hammett and Ken Guin and is being promoted by the Montgomery-based group Redeem the Vote! (see related article).
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
