The Bible Literacy Project is reporting that this school year, 350 schools spread over 43 different states, are offering Bible-based courses using their curriculum, "The Bible and Its Influence".
Texas schools have adopted the course in large numbers this year — more than 50 schools there are teaching the course this fall, in accordance with 2007 legislation mandating that school districts teach about the Bible in the 2009-2010 school year.
Texas is not the only state with widespread use of the groundbreaking textbook. "More than 10% of Georgia public high schools and more than 5% of public high schools in Alabama, Indiana, and South Carolina are using 'The Bible and Its Influence,'" said Chuck Stetson, Bible Literacy Project's Chairman of the Board. A map showing the textbook's national popularity is online at www.bibleliteracy.org
The Bible Literacy Project's curriculum is better than most, but the propriety of each course rests as much in its teaching as in its text. If a Bible-based course must be taught, teachers should be trained in religious liberty concerns to ensure that while they teach about religion and its influence on history and culture, they are not indoctrinating students. Use of one book or another, it seems to me, is not the end of the constitutional question; it's just a starting point.
