Alabama picks a public school Bible textbook

Posted October 24th @ 3:24 pm by Andy Print This Post

The state of Alabama has picked a Bible textbook for state public schools. The book they’ve chosen is The Bible and its Influence, a publication of the Bible Literacy Project. I believe we talked about this here when the idea was first being floated—a book about the Bible for students, designed to satisfy both sides of the “should the Bible be taught in public schools” debate:

The textbook is a product of the Bible Literacy Project, founded and run by Chuck Stetson, a conservative Christian New York-based equity fund executive. Assessing scripture and its subsequent influence on literature, art, philosophy and political culture, it was specifically designed to avoid the Constitution’s church-state barriers. Although the text, which has been on the market for two years, is now taught in 163 schools in 35 states, no state had previously endorsed it.

Sounds pretty reasonable to me. Have any TC readers seen the textbook and wish to comment?

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2 Comments

Isaiah
October 25, 2007 at 11:36

Something like this will inevitably become a political and meadia hot-potato. People will be argueing about, discussing it, debating it and all the while actually ignoring what the content actually is.
Ray Fowler
October 25, 2007 at 14:06

I have seen the textbook and was quite impressed with it. I think it does a great job of presenting the Bible’s content and influence on society in a way that is appropriate for public schools.

We met with our local school board earlier this week to present the materials as a possible elective course for Fall 2008, and they were very positive and receptive towards the curriculum.