Bible-class vote might wait

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Bible-class vote might wait

Wilson board members say feedback on proposed elective mostly favorable

By Natalia Mielczarek, The Tennessean, November 5, 2006

Wilson County School Board members say they've been flooded with comments, overwhelmingly positive, from constituents about a proposed Bible elective in high schools, but they may delay Monday's scheduled vote.

The pitch, made recently by a local man, has sparked a heated local debate over a curriculum that has had a polarizing effect in numerous school districts across the nation. The course, which uses the Bible as the sole textbook, has been praised by scores of religious conservatives but slammed by some biblical scholars and civil liberties groups.

One Wilson school board member said she is staying out of the controversy and isn't ready to cast her vote yet.

"I'm not for one person coming in and saying, 'Here's a curriculum. We want you to adopt it,' " said Teddy Cook, a former educator. "I'm one to see what else is out there. I think we have an obligation to explore what else is out there, just like we would (with) any other textbook."

At least two of five board members said they will ask for a deferral and submit the course materials to the curriculum committee for a review of their legality and merit.

At least 10 people are scheduled to address the board Monday night.

Elkin Brown, a Wilson County resident who's taught literature for more than 20 years, is one of them. He said he doesn't have anything against a Bible class at a public school -- if it's done right.

"I'm not coming there in confrontation but basically to ask the question: 'Are you willing to concede that those stories are myths?' " said Brown, an instructor at Volunteer State Community College in Gallatin.

"Not that they're categorically not true, but they're fictional stories, not to be confused with historical facts," he said. "I'm for separation of church and state, and I'm also for separation of education and indoctrination."

The proposed curriculum, put forth by the North Carolina-based National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, presents the book as a literary and historical source.

The group's Web site says the course is offered in public schools in 37 states, including Tennessee. However, an informal survey by The Tennessean of school districts that registered with the state as offering a Bible elective in recent years shows they don't rely on that group's curriculum.

The group's attorney said the group doesn't reveal the names of school districts to shield them from being bombarded by the media. He did reject the criticism of some biblical scholars and First Amendment experts who say the class proselytizes and presents accounts in the Bible as historical facts.

"The National Council has been criticized, and (the class has been) called 'evangelical' Bible course, but that's just not true," Michael Johnson said in a phone interview.

"The materials themselves are completely objective. Just because some evangelicals might be supporting it doesn't mean that the content used in the classroom is slanted one way or the other."

But a biblical scholar who studied the curriculum strongly disagrees.

"When I actually read the curriculum, my jaw dropped," said Mark Chancey, a New Testament scholar at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He reviewed the curriculum for the Texas Freedom Network, a civil liberties group.

"I think that an educated person needs to know about the Bible; it needs to be taught in an objective, neutral way....There's an agenda at play here that goes beyond biblical literacy."

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