ACLU reviewing proposed class at local high school

By Rosa Duarte

Published: May 22, 2008

Craig County Schools has another obstacle to deal with and this time it has to do with a proposed bible course for its high school.
Earlier this month, the school board approved a class called “The Bible in History and Literature”. According to school board chairman Jim Stephens, the class was originally approved in 2005 but never implemented because there wasn’t enough interest.  This year, several students showed interest and after its approval the class was to begin this fall.
However, an ACLU member spotted an article on the local newspaper’s website titled “School board approves Bible course for high school” and emailed the article to the ACLU of Virginia.
Executive Director Kent Willis says there are similarities to another curriculum the National ACLU fought in Texas a year ago, “The course we believe that’s being proposed in Craig county is one that we think is unconstitutional. We are not absolutely certain though, we just have indicators that it may be the course that we’re thinking it is. The indicators are the name of the course itself and the fact that it is of course endorsed by Chuck Norris.”

“The Bible in History and Literature” was produced by the National Council on Biblical Curriculum in Public Schools. The organization’s website says the curriculum is being taught in over a thousand schools throughout the country.
According to the website:

“The two main theses of the The Bible in History and Literature are:  1) The Bible is literally true down to the smallest degree, and 2) America is a Christian nation.  The curriculum drives home these points through the extensive use of erroneous facts and lengthy plagiarism.”

It is those theses Willis says are not in accordance with the constitution.
“The way this course is structured, it teaches the bible more the way you would learn about the bible in Sunday school then the way you would learn about religion in a public school or in a scholarly way, that’s the difference.” says Willis.
Last week, the ACLU requested the class curriculum from the School Board using the Freedom of Information Act to see if in fact it’s the same course.
The school board is currently putting that paperwork together and says it is working to make sure constitutional requirements are met.