Education

Proposed Bill Favors Deeply Flawed Bible Curriculum in Texas Public Schools

Students Deserve Quality Materials, not Ideological Agendas

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 12, 7007

Proposed legislation directing Texas public schools to offer elective Bible classes appears to favor the developers of a deeply flawed and controversial curriculum, the president of the Texas Freedom Network said today.

House Bill 1287 by state Rep. Warren Chisum makes the Bible the textbook for such courses, an approach favored by the North Carolina-based National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools (NCBCPS). That provision would eliminate competition from a nationally marketed textbook from the Bible Literacy Project, as well as other curricula. The provision is similar to controversial legislation the NCBCPS helped draft and win passage for in Georgia last year.

“Bible courses are a wonderful way to teach students about the importance of religion in history and literature,” Miller said. “But students deserve quality instructional materials that are based on the best scholarship, not an ideological or religious agenda. Yet Rep. Chisum’s bill appears to favor a curriculum that fails that test.”

The Texas Freedom Network Education Fund has released two reports about public school Bible courses. The 2005 report revealed that… Read More

The Texas Freedom Network Education Fund’s 2005 report on a flawed Bible curriculum being marketed in public schools in Texas and the rest of the country raised an important question: Just what do Texas public schools tell their students about the Bible? To find the answer, the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund surveyed all of the the state’s more than 1,000 public school districts. The results of this ground-breaking research have revealed serious problems in most Bible courses offered in Texas public schools. The report also offers school districts recommendations about how to create courses that are academically, ethically and legally appropriate.

Read the Report: Reading, Writing & Religion: Teaching the Bible in Texas Public Schools (PDF)… Read More

Is Odessa the Next Dover?

West Texas school board adopts controversial Bible curriculum denounced by legal and Biblical scholars

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 21, 2005

AUSTIN On the same day a federal judge ruled that the attempt by the Dover school board to inject their own religious faith into public school classrooms was unconstitutional, an Ector County school board decision may have repeated the same error.

The Ector County ISD was repeatedly warned by legal experts and Biblical scholars about flaws in the curriculum produced by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools (NCBCPS). Despite those warnings, and over the objections of parents, clergy and local curriculum experts, the Board voted (4-2) last night to adopt the NCBCPS curriculum for use in Ector County schools beginning next fall.

“For those who don’t know how this story will end, the federal judge in the Dover case provided a preview, “said TFN President Kathy Miller. “The NCBCPS curriculum clearly promotes one religious viewpoint over all others. By adopting this curriculum, the Ector County school board decided it is their responsibility to interpret the Bible for kids, a role we believe is best left to parents and… Read More

Prepared by Dr. Mark Chancey, a religious studies professor at SMU, this report reveals that the country’s most aggressively marketed – and perhaps most widely used – Bible curriculum advocates a sectarian perspective and is taught with materials plagued by shoddy research, blatant factual errors and plagiarized sources.

Read the Report: The Bible and Public Schools: Report on the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools (PDF)… Read More

Texas Lawmakers Ponder the ‘Culture War’ at Sept. 30 Event Conference Explores the Role of ‘Moral Values’ in Contemporary Political Debate

September 28, 2005 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

AUSTIN A bipartisan panel of current and former lawmakers will reflect on the nation’s raging “culture war” at an Austin conference this week sponsored by the Texas Faith Network.

The panel discussion which includes state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio; state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston; and former U.S. Rep. Max Sandlin, D-Marshall is part of a day-long exploration of the role of “moral values” in contemporary American politics.

The conference is 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Sept. 30, at the Palmer Events Center (900 Barton Springs Road) in Austin. It is part of a weekend of events marking the 10th anniversary of the Texas Freedom Network. The conference sponsor, the Texas Faith Network, is a project of the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund and includes more than 600 mainstream clergy from around the state. Other conference highlights include: Read More