Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Can the Bible Get Back Into Schools?

"At long last, here is an answer for beleaguered school districts that want to offer a Bible course, but don't want to get sued." (Charles Haynes of the First Amendment Center)

Rich Lowery's NRO report about the Bible Literacy Project and its new school textbook, The Bible and Its Influence, is a valuable "heads up" for parents, educators, and others who care about the future of American society.

...America is a Bible-soaked nation, from the Puritans to Abraham Lincoln to Martin Luther King Jr. Without a basic grasp of the Bible, it is impossible to understand the well springs of our country and the basis of Western civilization. Which is why it is a scandal that Bible education has been chased out of the schools and why the work of the Bible Literacy Project to put it back there is so admirable.

The nonpartisan, Virginia-based Bible Literacy Project has set out methodically to return Bible education to the schools by answering the questions: Is it legal? Is it needed? How can it be done? "The Bible and Its Influence," a just-published textbook for use in grades 9-12, is the culmination of this effort. Rarely is a textbook an occasion for celebration or anything but moaning on the part of students, but this substantial, gorgeously produced, thoroughly vetted volume is an emphatic exception....