Virginia school board considers offering elective Bible course

By The Associated Press

03.20.01

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EDINBURG, Va. — The Shenandoah County School Board is considering a proposal to offer an elective Bible course taught from a secular perspective.

Supporters of the proposal say many historical and current events are impossible to grasp without knowledge of faiths derived from the Old and New Testaments.

"Our kids can't have a well-rounded education without studying how the Bible influenced our religious heritage," said Janet Ferguson, leader of the campaign to add the Bible class to the schools' curriculum.

Allen Hawkins, a senior at Central High School in Woodstock, said the course would give him a better understanding of geography and religious conflict such as that between Muslims and Jews in the Middle East.

"I want to understand more about why they can't make peace over religion," Hawkins said. He's also interested "because most of our Founding Fathers based the ideas in our Constitution on biblical stuff."

About 450 students signed a petition supporting the course and approached the county school board about the idea in January.

Charles Haynes, senior scholar at The Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center, said designing a Bible course that does not breach the constitutional barrier between church and state is challenging, but it can be done.

"What is historical in the Bible to some Protestants is clearly deeply disputed — even among Christians," Haynes said.

The First Amendment Center and the National Bible Association co-published a set of guidelines titled The Bible and Public Schools. The result is a course endorsed by groups that range from evangelical Christians to civil libertarians, Haynes said.

The class would present biblical passages along with the manner in which they are interpreted by different perspectives — Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, etc. It should also be age-appropriate, excluding the finer points of biblical scholarship, Haynes said.

"We think if it's framed as a literature course it's easier to do than if it's framed as a history course," he said. "They should also make sure that the teachers have good materials and have some training to do this."

Scores of school systems have used the guidelines for such a course without controversy, Haynes said.

The elective course being considered by the Shenandoah County School Board would not be the district's first experiment with Bible instruction. A lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union about 10 years ago forced the system to end a program that allowed students to leave campus to learn about the Bible.

Nevertheless, the school board will give the new idea due consideration, chairman Steven Shaffer said.

"We'll certainly do all we can to look at this," Shaffer said. "Then there's all the legal tests to work out. It's not an easy issue. We'll be taking our time with it."

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