Coral Ridge Leader Labels Bible Text for Schools 'Relativistic'
by Jim Brown
March 2, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A well-known Christian pastor is denouncing a controversial new Bible curriculum designed for public schools which he says encourages students to question whether the Bible is the inspired Word of God.The Virginia-based Bible Literacy Project has been promoting a new textbook for public schools called The Bible and Its Influence. Among respected evangelicals who have endorsed the BLP's curriculum are Prison Fellowship founder Chuck Colson and Ted Haggard, president of the National Associations of Evangelicals. A school district near San Antonio, Texas, recently approved The Bible and Its Influence for its use. But state legislatures in both Alabama and Georgia have recently rejected proposals to approve the textbook for use as an elective Bible course in high school English and social studies programs.
Dr. D. James Kennedy, senior minister of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, sits on the advisory board of the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, a group that supports use of the Bible itself as a text in public school Bible classes. Kennedy explains why he does not endorse the BLP text.
"It is relativistic. It's the typical liberal approach to the Bible," says the Florida pastor. "When I was in a half-liberal seminary, it's a kind of thing that they pushed all the time, the purpose of which is to undermine the students' confidence and faith in the teachings of the Bible and in the Word of God."
According to Kennedy, the BLP's textbook contains "very anti-biblical material" that takes an "extremely radical" approach to studying the Bible. He notes that among the books supporters are groups such as People for the American Way, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Council on Islamic Education. But that does not carry much weight with Kennedy.
"Somebody said if all those people are in favor of it, there couldn't be anything wrong with it, could there?" he says, adding: "You know, I would not for a moment endorse this."
As for the endorsement of prominent evangelicals as Colson and Haggard, Kennedy says he is confident neither one of them believes what is in the book, and just did not do enough research into it.
Read a brief comparison of the BLP and the NCBCPS courses
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
