Religion’s central place in national and international political issues has created a new push to teach students about religion in public schools. While many Americans, educators and parents are eager to have public school students learn more about religion, battles rage over how to do that. They include controversies and lawsuits over elective Bible classes as well as textbooks ranging from science to history to health.

What’s new

• Georgia will become the first state in the country to approve the Bible as a textbook if Gov. Sonny Perdue signs a bill passed by the Legislature. Alabama is considering similar legislation. (Read a March 29, 2006, New York Times story.)
• Two organizations released new or updated Bible curriculums last fall, and both are pushing public school districts to adopt them. The Bible Literacy Project released The Bible and Its Influence, which has been endorsed by evangelical, Catholic, Orthodox and Jewish leaders. The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools updated its curriculum, whose many endorsements mostly come from conservative Christians.
• As school districts debate how and whether to teach students about religion, many observers say that religious points of view are often present in textbooks anyway, particularly in the presentation of sexual education, evolution and creation, world religions, and sexual orientation. In December 2005, a federal judge declared the teaching of intelligent design in a Dover, Pa., area school district unconstitutional, saying ID was not science and the district’s policy violated the separation of church and state. In November 2004, Texas’ State Board of Education adopted new health textbooks that promote traditional marriage and focus almost exclusively on abstinence among forms of birth control.

For more interview sources and background, see these ReligionLink issues:
• Truth and consequences: the abstinence-only sex education debate (Feb. 6, 2006)
• Intelligent design vs. evolution in the public schools (Nov. 14, 2005)
• A guide to church-state experts and organizations

Why it matters

Religion’s role in global events has brought new attention to the need for Americans – including young people – to know basic information about world beliefs. As schools become more diverse in their students’ faith backgrounds, teaching about religion.

Background

• The U.S. Department of Education has guidelines, issued in 1998, for teaching religion in public schools. The web site is topped by a speech, and the guidelines are listed below.
• The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life offers resources on issues involving religion and public schools.

BIBLE CURRICULUM

• The Wabash Center for teaching and learning in theology and religion, in Crawfordsville, Ind., offers many online resources.
• See Why Study Religion, a web resource developed by the American Academy of Religion as an effort to encourage disciplined reflection on religion, both from within and outside of communities of belief and practice.
• Read an April 2006 Washington Monthly profile of Randy Brinson, one of the primary advocates of the The Bible and Its Influence.
• Read a March 29, 2006, New York Times story about Georgia becoming the first state to approve the Bible as a textbook.
• Read a March 27, 2006, Christian Science Monitor story about Georgia’s Bible elective initiative. It’s posted by AOL.
• Read a Jan. 27, 2006, New York Times story about Democrats in Alabama and Georgia introducing legislation to teach the Bible in public schools.
• Read a Jan. 24, 2006, USA Today story about the increasing number of states and school districts considering Bible electives.
• Read a 2005 Religion News Service story about a survey of teens’ knowledge of the Bible.

TEXTBOOKS

Texas textbooks

• Read a Nov. 6, 2004, Dallas Morning News story posted by the Seattle Times about the outcome of the Texas vote.
• Read a Nov. 7, 2004, USA Today article about the outcome of the Texas School Board’s vote on health textbooks.
• Read a July 21, 2004, MSNBC.com article on the sex education textbook debate in Texas.
• In 2003, Texas approved science textbooks that taught evolution amid challenges from advocates of creationism and “Intelligent Design.” Read a Nov. 14, 2003, Austin Chronicle article.
• The Texas Freedom Network offers a number of links to groups that support its views on trying to prevent religious conservatives from controlling the content in school textbooks in Texas.

Other

• Read a May 6, 2003, Christian Science Monitor article on how textbook companies are responding to pressure about content from the right and left.
• Read an April 28, 2004, Charleston Gazette article recalling the landmark textbook wars of the early 1970s in Kanawha County, W.Va. The article appears on the web site for Covenant House of Charleston, W.Va., a faith-based social services group.

National sources on Bible curriculum

• Sarah Jenislawski is executive director of the Bible Literacy Project, founded in 2001 to encourage academic study of the Bible in public schools. In September 2005 the project released a textbook, The Bible and Its Influence, aimed at teaching religion in public high schools while avoiding legal and religious disputes. It offers a graduate-level online course on how to teach the Bible in public schools. See a list of its advisers and board of directors. It’s based in Fairfax, Va. Contact through Sheila Weber, vice president of communications, 646-322-6853, sheila@bibleliteracy.org.
• Elizabeth Ridenour is president of the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, whose goal is to introduce a state-certified Bible elective into public high schools nationwide. It says its curriculum has been adopted by 346 school districts in 37 states. See a list of its advisory board and board of directors. It’s based in Greensboro, N.C. Contact 336-272-3799.
• Jon Butler is professor of American history and Harry Stout is professor of history, religious studies and American studies at Yale University. They co-edited Religion in American Life, a 17-book Oxford University series that treats religion as an academic subject for children and young adults. Contact Butler, 203-432-1378, jon.butler@yale.edu, and contact Stout, 203-432-0500, harry.stout@yale.edu.

GUIDES

• The First Amendment Center posts research and commentary on religion in public schools. It works to preserve and protect First Amendment freedoms through information and education. It’s a program of the Freedom Forum, is affiliated with Vanderbilt University’s Institute for Public Policy Studies and has offices in Nashville and Arlington, Va. Contact executive director Gene Policinski, 615-727-1303, gpolicinski@fac.org. Its resources cover legal background and more on:

• The Anti-Defamation League offers a primer on religion in the schools. Contact national director Abraham Foxman through Myrna Shinbaum at media relations, 212-885-7747, adlmedia@adl.org.
• The Council on Islamic Education in Fountain Valley, Calif., has researched the teaching of Islam in public schools. It published a guide to teaching religion in schools. Contact 714-839-2929, info@cie.org.

ANALYSTS / CRITICS

• Charles Haynes is senior scholar at the First Amendment Center. He has written commentaries on the Bible and its influence, (October 2005) and whether the Bible should be taught (May 2005) in public schools. Contact 703-284-2859, chaynes@freedomforum.org.
• Kathy Miller is president of the Texas Freedom Network, which sponsored the 2005 report, “The Bible and Public Schools: Report on the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools,” which called the curriculum inappropriate for public schools. Contact 512-322-0545.
• Mark Chancey is professor of biblical studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and author of the Texas Freedom Network’s report, “The Bible and Public Schools: Report on the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools,” which calls the curriculum inappropriate for public schools. Contact 214-768-1460, mchancey@mail.smu.edu.
• Joseph Conn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State wrote a critical review of The Bible and Its Influence. Contact 202-466-3234, conn@au.org.
• Peter Giersch is president of the National Bible Association, which “encourages everyone to read the Bible.” Contact him in New York City, 212-408-1390, pgiersch@nationalbible.org.

ACADEMICS

• Warren A. Nord is director of the Program for Humanities and Human Values and a lecturer in philosophy at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He co-authored Taking Religion Seriously Across the Curriculum (Association for Supervision and Curricular Development, 1998) and wrote Religion and American Education: Rethinking a National Dilemma (1995). Contact 919-843-2039, wnord@email.unc.edu.
• Leland Ryken is Clyde S. Kilby Professor of English at Wheaton College in Illinois. His expertise includes the teaching of the Bible. Contact 630-752-5790, Leland.Ryken@wheaton.edu.
• Bruce Grelle, a professor of religious studies at California State University, Chico, directs the Religion and Public Education Resource Center, which provides general information about the ethical, legal, and educational issues that arise in connection with the topic of religion and public education. It publishes booklets on teaching religion. Contact 530-898-4739, bgrelle@csuchico.edu.
• Robert J. Nash is a professor of education at the University of Vermont, Burlington. He wrote the 1999 book Faith, Hype and Clarity: Teaching About Religion in American Schools and Colleges (Teachers College Press, 1998). Contact 802-656-2030, Robert.Nash@uvm.edu.
• Martin Marty, professor emeritus of religion at the Divinity School at the University of Chicago, is author of Education, Religion, and the Common Good: Advancing a Distinctly American Conversation About Religion’s Role in Our Shared Life (Jossey-Bass, 2000). Contact memarty@aol.com.
• Diane L. Moore is director of the Program in Religion and Secondary Education, a teacher training program for people who want to teach middle or secondary school as well as complete theological studies. She is the current chairwoman of the American Academy of Religion’s Religion in the Schools Task Force and a lecturer on religion and education at Harvard Divinity School. Contact 617-384-8047.
• Oliver Thomas is executive director of the Niswonger Foundation in Greeneville, Tenn. A former minister, he is an attorney whose clients have included the National Council of Churches, the Southern Baptist Convention and the Children’s Defense Fund. He has taught First Amendment Law at Georgetown University Law Center and provided training to teachers and administrators from more than 500 school districts. He co-authored The Right to Religious Liberty and Finding Common Ground. Contact 423-798-7837.
• Michael Broyde, professor of law and senior fellow in the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University in Atlanta, says the true test of Georgia’s new law on Bible classes will come from the motivation of those teaching the courses and whether they proselytize instead of just teach. Contact 404-727-7546, 917-208-5011 (cell), mbroyde@law.emory.edu.

National sources on textbooks

CONSERVATIVE VOICES

• Mel and Norma Gabler run Educational Research Analysts in Longview, Texas. They review public school textbooks from a conservative Christian perspective and over the years have become one of the most powerful voices in the textbook debate. Contact 903-753-5993, info@textbookreviews.org.
• Steven Buri is executive director of the Discovery Institute in Seattle. The think tank is a prominent opponent of Darwinian orthodoxy and has found many instances in which it says Texas biology textbooks are inaccurate or misleading. It also pushes school districts to have textbooks that teach the controversy over creationism and evolution. Contact 206-292-0401 ext.125.
• Lori Waters is executive director for the Eagle Forum, a conservative grassroots organization founded in 1972 by Phyllis Schlafly, which has become involved in the public school textbook controversy from the conservative Christian side. Contact 202-544-0353, lori@eagleforum.org.
• Michael Schwartz is vice president for government relations for Concerned Women for America, a conservative group that aims to bring biblical principles to all levels of public policy, including public schools. Contact 202- 488-7000, mail@cwfa.org.
• Raymond G. Bohlin is president of Probe Ministries in Richardson, Texas, which aims to bring biblical teachings into American public life, including the schools. He wrote this article on evolutionary teaching and Texas school textbooks. Contact 972-480-0240, rbohlin@probe.org.
• Focus on the Family has spoken up in the current Texas textbook debate on sex education. Contact Christopher Norfleet, 719-548-4570, culturalissues@family.org.

MODERATE/LIBERAL VOICES

• Dan Quinn is spokesman for the Texas Freedom Network in Austin, a statewide, nonprofit, nonpartisan alliance that includes more than 7,500 religious and community leaders concerned about the “growing social and political influence of religious political extremists.” The group has been at the forefront of trying to prevent religious conservatives from controlling the content in school textbooks in Texas. He is also spokesman for Protect Our Kids, a statewide coalition of more than 60 organizations that promotes giving students advocating for responsible health education for teens. Read its press release on the State School Board vote. Contact 512-322-0545, tfn@tfn.org. The Texas Freedom Network is part of a statewide organization called Protect Our Kids, which promotes giving students “accurate and reliable” information on sexual health.
• Steven Schafersman is president of Texas Citizens for Science. He has accused critics of trying to water down school textbook coverage of evolution so they can pressure publishers to include religious-based explanations for the origin of life. Contact 432-352-2265, tcs@texscience.org.
• Nancy Keenan is director at People for the American Way Foundation, which sees itself as a bulwark against the “radical right.” The group is working to make sure conservative Christian groups do not dictate what goes into public school textbooks. Contact Nathan Richter or Laurie Boeder, 202-467-4999.
• Barry W. Lynn is executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which works to keep organized religion out of public schools. Contact Joe Conn, 202-466-3234, conn@au.org.
• Danielle A. Samulon is assistant director of the American Jewish Committee‘s domestic policy and legal affairs division. In its policy statement on public education, the committee says it is important that teaching “values” in school does not become synonymous with teaching particular religious or political beliefs. Contact 212-751-4000, PR@ajc.org.
• The National Coalition Against Censorship keeps track of school textbook controversies around the country. Contact Gary Daniels, 212-807-6222 ext. 22.

ACADEMIC SOURCES

• Claire Mullally is in the legal-research department at the Freedom Forum’s First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University. The group monitors debates over school textbooks all over the country. Contact Gene Policinski, 615-727-1303, gpolicinski@fac.org.
• Gilbert T. Sewall is director of the American Textbook Council in New York, an independent national research organization established in 1989 to review history and social studies textbooks used in the nation’s schools. Contact 212-870-2760.

Regional sources

IN THE NORTHEAST

• The Rev. James W. Fraser is dean of the school of education at Northeastern University in Boston. He is considered an expert on religion and public education. He wrote Between Church and State: Religion and Public Education in a Multicultural America (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2000). Contact 617-373-4179, j.fraser@neu.edu.
• Virginia Lieson Brereton is a lecturer at Tufts University in Medford, Mass. She wrote about the public education system and minority religions for the book Minority Faiths and the American Protestant Mainstream (University of Illinois Press, 1997). Contact 617-627-5956, virginia.brereton@tufts.edu.
• Charles L. Glenn is a professor of education at Boston University. He wrote “P.C. Censorship of Textbooks” for The Journal of The Historical Society (2004). Contact 617-353-7108, glennsed@bu.edu.
• William R. Hutchison is a research professor of religious history in America at the Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. He wrote Religious Pluralism in America: The Contentious History of a Founding Ideal (Yale University Press, 2003). Contact 617-495-4379, whutchis@fas.harvard.edu.

IN THE EAST

• Joan DelFattore is a professor of English and legal studies at the University of Delaware in Newark, Del. She wrote The Fourth R: Conflicts Over Religion in America’s Public Schools (Yale University Press, 2004) and What Johnny Shouldn’t Read: Textbook Censorship in America (Yale University Press, 1994). Contact 302-831-2987, jdel@udel.edu.
• Susan D. Rose is a professor of sociology at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. She wrote “Christian Fundamentalism and Education in the United States” for the book Fundamentalisms and Society: Reclaiming the Sciences, the Family and Education (University of Chicago Press, 1997), which includes a section on Christian fundamentalism and public education. She also wrote the article “The Sexual Politics of the Religious Right: Sex-Ed and the Public Schools” for the Journal of Religion & Education (1996) and Keeping Them Out of the Hands of Satan: Evangelical Schooling in America (Routledge, 1990). Contact 717-245-1244, rose@dickinson.edu.
• Melissa Deckman is assistant professor of political science at Washington College in Chestertown, Md. She wrote School Board Battles: The Christian Right in Local Politics (Georgetown University Press, 2004) and “Christian Right School Board Candidates” for the Encyclopedia of American Religion and Politics (Facts on File, 2003). Contact 800-422-1782 ext. 7494, mdeckman2@washcoll.edu.
• Nadine Strossen is a professor of law at the New York Law School. She also is president of the New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. She is an expert on religion in public education, both on students’ rights to religious expression and maintaining the establishment clause in the classroom. Contact 212-431-2375, nstrossen@aclu.org.

IN THE SOUTHEAST

• Randy Brinson is founder of Redeem the Vote and an advocate of The Bible and Its Influence. He has worked for the passage of a bill that would encourage Alabama’s public schools to use it. Contact 888-852-8683.
• Mark Roncace is assistant professor of religion at Wingate University in Wingate, N.C., and co-editor of Teaching the Bible: Practical Strategies for Classroom Instruction (Society of Biblical Literature Press, 2005). Contact 704-233-8069, mroncace@wingate.edu.
• Eugene F. Provenzo Jr. is a professor of education at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla. He wrote Religious Fundamentalism and American Education: The Battle for the Public Schools (State University of New York Press, 1990). Contact 305-284-5102, provenzo@miami.edu.
• Patrick N. Allitt is professor of history at Emory University in Atlanta. In his book Religion in America Since 1945: A History (Columbia University Press, 2004), he looks at the role religion has played in public school education. Contact 404-727-4471, pallitt@emory.edu.
• James C. Carper is a professor of education at the University of South Carolina in Columbia and a nationally recognized expert on religion and public school education. He has written several books and articles on the subject, including “To the Advantage of Infidelity or How Not to Deal with Religion in America’s Public Schools” for the journal Educational Policy (November 2000). He also edited Curriculum, Religion and Public Education: Conversations for an Enlarging Public Square (Teachers College Press, 1998). Contact 803-777-6585, jcarper@gwm.sc.edu.
• Edward J. Larson is the Herman E. Talmadge Chair of Law and the Richard B. Russell Professor of American History at the University of Georgia School of Law in Athens. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author of several books dealing with the controversy of evolution versus creationism, including Trial and Error: The American Controversy Over Creation and Evolution (Oxford University Press, expanded edition 2002) and Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion (Harvard University Press, 1998). Contact 706-542-2660, edlarson@uga.edu.
• Frances Paterson, an associate professor of educational leadership at Valdosta State University in southern Georgia, specializes in religion and public education. Contact 229-333-5924, fpaterso@valdosta.edu.

IN THE SOUTH

• Patrick Gray is assistant professor of religious studies at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn., and co-editor of Teaching the Bible: Practical Strategies for Classroom Instruction (Society of Biblical Literature Press, 2005). Contact 901-843-3583, grayp@rhodes.edu.
• Theodore L. Trost is an associate professor of religious studies at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. He is an expert on religion and the classroom. Contact 205- 348-7534, ttrost@rel.as.ua.edu.
• Kathleen Flake is an assistant professor of American religious history in the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. She specializes in the public role of religion in America. Contact 615-343-3978, kathleen.flake@vanderbilt.edu.

IN THE MIDWEST

• Tyron Inbody is a professor of religion at the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. He wrote “School in American Religious Thought” for the American Journal of Theology and Philosophy (1999). Contact 937-278-5817 ext. 2111, tyinbody@united.edu.
• Fritz Detwiler is a professor of religion and philosophy at Adrian College in Adrian, Mich. He wrote Standing on the Premises of God: The Christian Right’s Fight to Redefine America’s Public Schools (New York University Press, 1999). Contact 517-264-3960, fdetwiler@adrian.edu.
• David Sikkink is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame. He is an expert on religion and public school education. Most recently, he wrote “Religion and Education” for the forthcoming book Handbook on Religion and Social Institutions (Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers). Contact 574-631-3166, dsikkink@nd.edu.
• Stephen H. Webb is a professor of religion at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind. He wrote Taking Religion to School: Christian Theology and Secular Education (Brazos Press, 2000). Contact 765-361-6264, webbs@wabash.edu.
• Martha May McCarthy is a professor of educational leadership and policy studies at Indiana University in Bloomington. She is an expert on religion and public education and wrote “Religious Influences in Public Education: Political and Judicial Developments” in Educational Forum (2000) and “People of Faith as Political Activists in Public Schools” in Education and Urban Society (1996). Contact 812-856-8384, mccarthy@indiana.edu.
• Joanne C. Brant is a professor of law at the Pettit College of Law at Ohio Northern University in Ada. She has written on the role of religion and public education, especially as it relates to the controversy over creationism. Her latest work is “Evolution, The Public Schools and the Courts” for Religion and American Law: An Encyclopedia (Garland Press, 2000). Contact 419-772-2228, j-brant@onu.edu.

IN THE SOUTHWEST

• Lonnie D. Kliever is a professor of religious studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He has done research on the role of religion in public education. Contact 214-768-2102, lkliever@mail.smu.edu.
• E. Vance Randall is a professor of educational leadership at the school of education at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He wrote “Religious Schools in America: Worldviews and Education” and “Culture, Religion and Education” for the book Confronting Our Cultural Pluralism: Religion and Schooling in Contemporary America (Garland Publishing, 1997). Contact 801-422-5073, Vance_Randall@byu.edu.
• Francis J. Beckwith is associate director of the Institute of Church-State Studies at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He wrote Law, Darwinism and Public Education: The Establishment Clause and the Challenge of Intelligent Design (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003). Contact 254-710-6464, Francis_Beckwith@baylor.edu.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST

• Brannon Wheeler is an associate professor of Islamic studies and chairman of comparative religion at the University of Washington. He has written several books on Islam and is the editor of Teaching Islam (American Academy of Religion, 2002). Contact 206-543-6033, wheelerb@u.washington.edu.
• Jesse H. Choper is the Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at the University of California School of Law in Berkeley. He wrote The Intertwined Relationship Between the Religion Clauses of the Constitution and American Education (California State University Press, 1997). Contact 510-642-0339, choperj@law.berkeley.edu.
• Ward McAfee is professor of history at California State University in San Bernardino. He has written on the public school education battles in the 1870s, which he says bear some similarity to the educational “culture wars” of today, with one key difference: In the 1870s, the war was between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. Today, it is Christianity in general versus secularism. He adds that the earlier conflict led many to realize that in a religiously diverse society, secularism was the only way to achieve peace. However, he says, an education that addresses questions of meaning and purpose in life was sacrificed in the process. Contact 909-880-5527, wmcafee@csusb.edu.