According to Ridenour, 93 percent of the school districts that have been approached with this Bible curriculum to date have voted to adopt it for their use. "And those school districts, by the way, are not just in the Bible Belt," she points out. "They are in Alaska, California, across the board to Pennsylvania, and on down to Florida."
The NCBCPS spokeswoman says schools are recognizing the importance of using the Bible to teach ethical and moral values, as well as how the book has influenced the views of America's founding fathers and the country's education and legal systems. In fact, she adds, many schools view the Bible course as a tool to help reduce campus crime, teenage pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases.
The course has not only proven popular, Ridenour notes, but it has also withstood legal challenges. Some liberal civil liberties groups have argued that teaching "The Bible as History and Literature" is an unconstitutional endorsement of Christianity. However, their complaints have yet to be substantiated in court.
Meanwhile, the Bible curriculum's enthusiastic fan base continues to grow. "We have never in 10 years had one negative comment from any school board, any superintendent, students, teachers, parents, et cetera," Ridenour points out. "Just the opposite. They have been asking if we have even a second year of this course already."
A new poll illustrates one possible reason why so many educators are welcoming the NCBCPS Bible curriculum. A recent Gallup International Association survey found that nearly all high school English teachers -- an overwhelming 98 percent of them -- say understanding the Bible gives students a distinct educational advantage. The instructors agree that knowledge of the Bible is an important component of cultural literacy because so many ideas encountered in literature, the media, and public discourse are derived from scripture.
In an Associated Press report on the Gallup poll, survey researcher Marie Wachlin was quoted as saying that students who lack knowledge of the Bible are "clueless" when it comes to understanding many references that are common in English literature. For instance, the meanings and nuances of phrases like "walk on water," "pearls before swine," "the golden rule," "the last shall be first," "pearl of great price," "30 pieces of silver" and "the widow's mite" are far less accessible to young people who have no familiarity with their biblical context.
Legal Battles Over the Bible in the Classroom
The NCBCPS Bible curriculum is an educational resource that benefits kids on several levels. As such, the Council contends that the course is not only important but also entirely legal. Ridenour says many people have been duped into thinking that when the Bible was removed from public schools in 1963, that in turn meant it could not be used in the classroom in any way. But she insists that is not the case.
