TX Attorney No Fan of Text Destined for New Braunfels' Bible Course
by Jim Brown and Jody Brown
January 26, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A Texas school board has voted to spend nearly $60,000 to offer high school juniors and seniors a controversial elective course on the Bible. The class -- approved by the New Braunfels Independent School District -- will use a textbook that examines the Bible's impact on art, literature, and popular culture. The Bible and Its Impact and its associated curriculum, published by the Bible Literacy Project (BLP), has won the endorsement of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and secular groups. Evidently it also has the approval of New Braunfels ISD trustee Jorge Maldonado, who is quoted by the BLP as saying the goal of the elective course is to "teach religion in a way that is purely academic and not devotional."
But the textbook has also raised red flags with some conservative Christians, among them attorney Hiram Sasser with the Plano, Texas-based Liberty Legal Institute. Sasser says while he applauds any school district that explores teaching the Bible, he has concerns about the BLP's textbook.
"I'm disappointed that this Bible Literacy Project [course material] has sort of masqueraded itself as this type of Bible curriculum that you would think of when it comes to teaching about the Bible," says the attorney. "Instead there are many things about this Bible Literacy Project that just suggest that it's a sort of a liberalization of the view of the Bible."
Although prominent Christians such as Chuck Colson (Prison Fellowship) and Ted Haggard (National Association of Evangelicals) have endorsed the BLP textbook, still others argue its inclusions of revisionist theology may lead young people to treat the Bible as mythology. That is why Sasser cautions believers against embracing the textbook, which he believes offers "liberal re-interpretation" of the Bible.
He says he prefers curriculum published by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools (NCBCPS). "They've been putting together Bible curriculums for public schools for many, many years now," he says, referring to the NCBCPS.
"They were one of the first ones on the scene, and school districts all across the country have adopted their curriculum. And so, I think the National Council is really the place to go, I would say, for a school district interested in teaching about the Bible."
The BLP, not surprisingly, has a different perception, noting that the NCBCPS curriculum has been "criticized for pushing a fundamentalist Christian view." Christian leaders who have endorsed that curriculum -- which has been implemented in 37 states -- include Dr. D. James Kennedy, David Barton of WallBuilders, and Liberty Counsel president Mat Staver.
