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Alabama NewsAlabama Politics
Bible Bill Just Election Year Politics
By Gary Palmer
Posted on: February 23, 2006
Being smack in the middle of the Bible Belt, you would think a bill to allow public schools to teach about the Bible would sail through the Alabama state legislature, especially in an election year. But a bill that would have done that was defeated in a procedural vote in the state House of Representatives on February 7th.
HB58, a bill introduced by House Majority Leader Ken Guin of Carbon Hill and Speaker of the House Seth Hammett, both Democrats, created a firestorm of opposition across that crossed just about every ideological and political spectrum. Since the bill was defeated in a procedural vote and not an up or down vote on the bill itself, supporters of HB58 are still working to try to bring the bill up later in this legislative session.
Some of the opposition to HB58 stems from the perception that the Democrats are using this bill as an election year ploy to gain favor with "Christian" voters in the upcoming elections. This perception seems to have been validated by Rep. Guin after the bill was defeated. According to a Birmingham News story Guin gave the impression that Democrats may use the defeat of HB58 against Republicans in this fall's elections. Guin said, "I think we're really saying something here today if the minority party chooses…to fight teaching about the Bible in public schools, because that's what it'll be today, and I want everyone to know it."
It is sad to think that either party would use teaching a Bible literacy course for a political advantage or that either party would oppose it for political purposes. But with our state legislature, it is entirely plausible. Politics aside, though, the more relevant question to ask is this: Would HB58 be good public policy?
A closer examination reveals that it would not for several reasons.
For starters, the Alabama Department of Education already allows public schools to offer a Bible literacy course as an English elective course. In fact, according to State School Board member Betty Peters, The Bible in History and Literature is already being taught in four school districts. According to the group that publishes this curriculum, this course is taught in over 300 schools nationwide and has never been challenged in federal court. Since there is no need for a law to allow a Bible literacy course, this adds to the suspicion that HB58 is an election year gimmick.
According to an Associated Press article, HB58 specifically requires that local school boards use The Bible and Its Influence, a controversial curriculum developed by the Bible Literacy Project. Opponents of HB58 point out that passing a bill that specifically mandates a vendor's product may well be a violation of the state law requiring competitive bids before awarding a contract to a private company.
More problematic is that requiring a particular curriculum circumvents the state's textbook review requirements as also set forth in state law. Instead of subjecting the curriculum and textbook to the same review required for adoption of all other textbooks, the bill would simply mandate that the schools use The Bible and Its Influence.
This would also override the authority of local school boards to select a curriculum that best meets their needs. Consequently, if this bill were to pass the four school districts using The Bible in History and Literature would be forced to drop that curriculum and adopt The Bible and Its Influence mandated by HB58.
By exempting the publisher from having to submit the textbook and curriculum for review by the Textbook Review Committee, there are no checks available to ensure that Alabama public school students are not presented with objectionable material. Future editions could have substantial changes that would not be subject to review. And given that the current textbook already has some material that opponents find objectionable, mandating that the local schools use the The Bible and Its Influence may not sit well with parents and pastors around the state.
Some critics of The Bible and Its Influence have already voiced concerns about controversial content that raises theological questions that cannot be adequately investigated or answered by a public school teacher. For instance, in discussing Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden the book ask students, "Do you think Adam and Eve received a fair deal, as described in Genesis?" Moreover, many ministers and parents in Alabama would not have the same objectives as those of Sarah Jenislawski, the Executive Director of the Bible Literacy Project.
Ms. Jenislawski states that they "…seek to expose students to a diversity of religious views, but not to impose, discourage, or encourage any particular view." In a state dominated by conservative evangelicals, encouraging a diversity of religious views is not what they would have in mind when it comes to a Bible literacy course. Yet that is what the supporters of HB58 plan to impose on the school children of Alabama. In that case, HB58 would be worse than just election year politics.
Liberal Neutrality, October 29, 2005.
The Separation of Truth and State, April 11, 2005.
The End of the Search, January 29, 2005.
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