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Four on Texas school board push Bible curriculum

Expert: E-mail to school
districts 'jaw-dropping'; lawsuits
predicted.

By Gary Scharrer

AUSTIN — Several state Board of Education
members are encouraging public school districts
to use a particular Bible curriculum that some
experts predict will land them in court if they
do.

"It's absolutely jaw-dropping," said Mark
Chancey, a professor of religious studies at
Southern Methodist University, referring to the
e-mail circulated by state Board of Education
members Terri Leo, R-Spring, Barbara Cargill,
R-The Woodlands, Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond,
and Gail Lowe, R-Lampasas.

Local schools should decide which Bible
curriculum to offer, they said in the e-mail to
school administrators and school boards.
"We recognize, however, that the curriculum
provided by the National Council On Bible
Curriculum in Public Schools has been
implemented successfully in numerous school
districts within the state of Texas for years,"
the e-mail said.

Chancey, who has studied the curriculum,
characterized the course as the teaching of "a
religious right political advocacy group trying
to promote the role of conservative
Christianity in public life."

About 11 Texas school districts used the
National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public
Schools courses in varying degrees during the
2005-06 school year, Chancey said, when he
studied the curriculum. Chancey is chairman of
SMU's department of religious studies.

Backers say it's valid
Texas lawmakers last year approved legislation
making it easier for public school districts to
teach a Bible course starting next year.
The e-mail was an effort to "inform and
reaffirm that this curriculum has been around
for a number of years and has always satisfied
the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and
Skills)," Lowe said. Leo, Cargill and Dunbar
did not respond to telephone calls seeking
comment Friday.

The four members told school officials, "It
makes logical sense to select a curriculum that
has already been tested and proven within the
field."

The e-mail said they "believe the curriculum
provided by the National Council On Bible
Curriculum In Public Schools meets the academic
requirements set forth by both the State Board
of Education and the Texas Legislature, and
could be implemented successfully by local
school districts."

But Chancey and officials of the Texas Freedom
Network disputed that assertion.

How to teach it
Last March, the Ector County Independent School
District ended a lawsuit with a settlement
requiring the Odessa-based school system to
drop the National Council on Bible Curriculum
in Public Schools course.

Lowe said it's possible a teacher might have
taught the curriculum inappropriately and
believes the course material itself is sound.
But Chancey said the curriculum "reflects a
bias towards conservative Protestant
perspectives of the Bible at the expense of
other perspectives. Basically, this course
promotes certain religious views over all
others."

A Florida judge also ruled against the National
Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools
10 years ago, he said.

"They are promoting a Bible class curriculum
that's going to get schools sued," said Dan
Quinn of the Texas Freedom Network, an Austin
group that promotes religious freedom and
individual liberties.

"It's just reckless to mislead school districts
and pretend that this curriculum is
appropriate," he said. "This curriculum puts
school districts in the role of favoring and
promoting particular religious perspectives
that are simply not shared by everyone."

Lowe said, "The Texas Freedom Network likes to
predict lawsuits and likes to stir up trouble."

— Gary Scharrer
Houston Chronicle
2008-09-27


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