Bible Literacy Project News
Press Release
Texas Leads Nation in Public School Bible Literacy Courses
Georgia, Alabama,
Indiana, and South Carolina are runners-up
FRONT ROYAL, Va., Sept. 28 /Standard Newswire/ --
As the 2009-2010 school year begins, more than 360 Schools in 43 states nationwide will be teaching
courses on the Bible, according to new data from
Bible Literacy Project. The organization publishes "The
Bible and Its Influence," the only student
textbook designed for public school courses on the
Bible. Texas schools have adopted the course in
large numbers this year -- more than 50 schools
there are teaching the course this fall, in
accordance with 2007 legislation mandating that
school districts teach about the Bible in the
2009-2010 school year.
Texas is not the only state with widespread use of
the groundbreaking textbook. "More than 10% of
Georgia public high schools and more than 5% of
public high schools in Alabama, Indiana, and South
Carolina are using 'The Bible and Its Influence,'"
said Chuck Stetson, Bible Literacy Project's
Chairman of the Board. A map showing the textbook's
national popularity is online at
www.bibleliteracy.org
The importance of academic study of the Bible was
recently underscored by a "USA Today" column, "Teach
the Bible? Of Course," which argued that "Students
who want to do serious study of Western civilization
need to know the Bible. They need to know the Bible,
even if they do not believe the Bible." In February,
the United Kingdom's (atheist) Poet Laureate Andrew
Motion called for public school education about the
Bible, saying he had struggled to teach Milton's
"Paradise Lost" to undergraduates because they had
no concept of the fall of man.
John Keeling, a teacher in Whitehouse, Texas,
agrees. "Biblical imagery, allusions, references and
influences permeate the culture in which we live,"
Keeling said. "Not to know the basic stories and
characters of the Bible is to be at a distant
disadvantage when it comes to understanding the
world around you." Keeling says using "The Bible
and Its Influence" helped him respect the First
Amendment and the religious viewpoints of his
students when teaching about biblical texts in his
classroom last year.
During this school year, Bible Literacy Project will
be attending 18 conventions nationwide to reach
school board members, English teachers and
curriculum developers with information about the
textbook.
Because only seven states remain in the
organization's quest to be utilized in all 50
states, Bible Literacy Project is offering a free
class set of textbooks for the first public school
in Delaware, Iowa, Montana, Nevada, Rhode Island,
Utah, and Wyoming ready to teach the course. "When
one school implements the course, we quickly make
contact with neighboring schools who want to try it
too," said Stetson. "We welcome the opportunity to
show these remaining states the strength of our
program."
To further demonstrate the importance of Biblical
literacy, Bible Literacy Project has unveiled a quiz
at
quiz.bibleliteracy.org/quiz revealing the
impact of Biblical characters and narratives on
everyday life.
Bible Literacy Project is a division of
Essentials in Education, an educational publisher.
Its web sites are
www.bibleliteracy.org and
www.essentialsineducation.org.
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