Publisher Responds to Pastor's Gripes About Bible Textbook
by Jody Brown
September 29, 2006
(AgapePress) - - The publisher of a textbook for use in teaching the Bible in public schools says recent criticisms about the book leveled by an official with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) are essentially no longer valid -- because editorial changes to the latest edition of the book address his concerns.Earlier this week, Rev. Wiley Drake, a Southern California pastor who is also the recently elected second vice president of the SBC, went public with his concerns about the content of The Bible and Its Influence, a student textbook published by the Bible Literacy Project (BLP). The textbook, according to the BLP, is the basis of Bible course work in more than 80 districts in 27 states, and is being reviewed for similar usage next fall by more than 900 educators.
But Drake says he has several problems with the book. Among Drake's criticisms were: an incomplete statement from The Mayflower Compact that referenced God and the Christian faith; an implication that perhaps Adam and Eve may not have received a "fair deal" from God; and an inference that because bad things happen, perhaps God cannot be described as "good."
The more he read the book, the more problems he found, Drake says in a press release. "[T]his book is neither good education [nor] good Bible," he writes, adding that it seems to introduce doubts and questions -- instead of truth -- about the Bible. "[I cannot] agree that The Bible and Its Influence should be in the public schools, or anywhere else children are being taught," he adds.
In response to Rev. Drake's comments, the BLP released a statement saying essentially that if Drake had contacted them, he would have discovered that the company has taken care of those issues with the latest edition of the textbook.
"[H]e would have learned that content changes that address his concerns have already been made in the recent release (late August 2006) of the textbook's Teacher's Edition and the forthcoming second edition of the student version ...," says Sheila Weber, BLP's vice president of communications.
Weber goes on to explain it is standard practice for textbooks to be updated, and that her group is being responsive to feedback about the book from schools and faith groups. In fact, she notes that in the new edition, language about the Mayflower Compact includes the fully quoted statement; and the rhetorical question about "whether Adam and Eve received a fair deal" has been excised, as has a philosophical question asking why God allows evil things to happen.
Drake, however, does not seem to be satisfied with Weber's reassurances about the revised edition of The Bible and Its Influence. He says "a few changes to the book ... still does not answer many more questions, and will not even begin to satisfy many other questions" that he and "many other Southern Baptists have" about the content of the textbook.
The BLP press release contends that Drake is speaking only for himself, however, and not on behalf of the Southern Baptist Convention.
