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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 June 2018
Bible courses in public schools are receiving a level of attention not witnessed in decades, and their increased numbers create greater potential for local conflicts and lawsuits over whether they promote religion and violate the First Amendment. Such courses are relatively understudied, and their contents and the paths by which schools decide to offer them are largely unknown. One district that has experienced both conflict and lawsuit over its Bible course is Ector County Independent School District in Odessa, Texas, where a 2005–2008 dispute pitted townspeople and national organizations against each other. This article uses the Odessa controversy as a case study to demonstrate how Bible courses provide a unique window into the confusion found at the intersection of American public education, the study of religion, and church-state relations. Drawing upon school district documents, recordings of school board meetings, journalistic accounts, legal documents, press releases, Bible curricula produced by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools and the Bible Literacy Project, and course materials from district high schools, it traces the development of the conflict. It examines the role that appeals to the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause played in the controversy, confusion over what is legally acceptable in public schools, particularly in regard to historicity issues, and the difficulty in developing a genuinely nonsectarian course. It contextualizes the Odessa debate within Christian Right efforts to influence public schools and larger American society, efforts often grounded in the claim that America is a Christian nation. Controversies such as Odessa's illustrate the tensions produced in American society by competing notions of religious freedom and American identity.
I would like to thank Texas Freedom Network (TFN) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for providing me with much of the material used in this article. TFN obtained copies of the curriculum used in Odessa and (through an open records request) a considerable amount of internal school district correspondence as well as audio and video recordings of school district meetings. The ACLU allowed me to examine more than 1,200 pages of course materials used in 2006–2007. I would also like to thank the Illinois Forum on Religion in America at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, the Maguire Public Scholar Lecture series at Southern Methodist University, and the Religion and Education Departments at Trinity University in San Antonio for opportunities to deliver earlier versions of this article.
1. Abington Township School District v. Schempp 374 U.S. 203 (1963); Bracher, Peter S. and Barr, David L., “The Bible Is Worthy of Secular Study: The Bible in Public Education Today,” in The Bible in American Education: From Source Book to Textbook, ed. Barr, David L. and Piediscalzi, Nicholas (Philadelphia: Fortress Press; Chico: Scholars Press, 1982), 165–97Google Scholar; Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, “Religion in the Curriculum,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 55 (1987): 569–88.
2. Georgia, Texas, and Tennessee have passed laws, and legislators in Alabama, Indiana, Missouri, New Mexico, and Oklahoma have introduced them. South Carolina passed a related bill promoting released time education. On 2006 bills, see Chancey, Mark A., “Bible Bills, Bible Curricula, and Controversies of Biblical Proportions: Legislative Efforts to Promote Bible Courses in Public Schools,” Religion and Education 34, no. 1 (2007): 28–47 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
3. David Van Biema, “The Case for Teaching the Bible,” Time April 2, 2007, 40–46. For a sample of other articles, see Manzo, Kathleen Kennedy, “The Bible Makes a Comeback,” Education Week 26 (May 14, 2007): 25–27 Google Scholar; Mehta, Seema, “Does the Bible Have a Place in Public Schools?” Los Angeles Times, August 5, 2007 Google Scholar; and Galli, Mark, “The Beginning of Education,” Christianity Today 49 (October 2005): 78–81 Google Scholar.
4. Chancey, Mark A., Reading, Writing, and Religion: Teaching the Bible in Texas Public Schools, updated ed. (Austin: Texas Freedom Network Education Fund, 2006), 64–66 Google Scholar (at http://www.tfn.org/site/PageServer?pagename=biblecurriculum.
6. Van Biema, “Case”; http://www.bibleliteracy.org/site/index2.htm.
7. For example, the following articles can point to only a few courses in each of their Bible Belt states: Dorie Turner, “Ga. Budget Crisis Cutting into Bible Classes,” Associated Press, April 8, 2009; Beyerle, Dana, “Dueling Bible Study Books Approved, Not Used,” Gadsen Times, November 24, 2008 Google Scholar; and Smith, Doug, “Studying the Bible in Two School Districts, Under One Superintendent,” Arkansas Times, March 29, 2007 Google Scholar.
8. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
9. For a treatment focusing specifically on education, see Alley, Robert S., Without a Prayer: Religious Expression in Public Schools (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1999), 43–59 Google Scholar.
10. I understand the Christian Right as a “cultivated collection of interest groups” (to use the terminology of Catherine A. Lugg) and individuals that cooperate to varying degrees in local, state, and national political arenas to advocate for socially conservative causes, including (in addition to those already mentioned) opposition to abortion, homosexuality, feminism, and multiculturalism, and support for a civil religion heavily influenced by Christianity. I employ the term “Christian Right” rather than “Religious Right” for the simple reason that most members of these groups are Christians (usually conservative Protestants, though sometimes conservative Roman Catholics and Mormons). On the Christian Right's involvement with public education, see Lugg, Catherine A., “The Christian Right: A Cultivated Collection of Interest Groups,” Educational Policy 15, no. 1 (2001): 41–57 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Fraser, James W., Between Church and State: Religion and Public Education in Multicultural America (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999), 155–240 Google Scholar; Durham, James R., Secular Darkness: Religious Right Involvement in Texas Public Education, 1963–1989 (New York: Peter Lang, 1995)Google Scholar; Brown, Steven P. and Bowling, Cynthia J., “Public Schools and Religious Expression: The Diversity of School Districts’ Policies Regarding Religious Expression,” Journal of Church and State 45, no. 2 (2003): 259–81CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Deckman, Melissa M., School Board Battles: The Christian Right in Local Politics (Washington: Georgetown University Press, 2004), 3–26 Google Scholar; Lugg, Catherine A., “Reading, Writing, and Reconstructionism: The Christian Right and the Politics of Public Education,” Educational Policy 14, no. 5 (2000): 622–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Provenzo, E. F. Jr., Religious Fundamentalism and American Education: The Battle for the Public Schools (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990)Google Scholar; Gaddy, Barbara B., William Hall, T., and Marzano, Robert J., School Wars: Resolving Our Conflicts over Religion and Values (San Francisco: Jossey- Bass Publishers, 1996)Google Scholar; Detwiler, Fritz, Standing on the Premises of God: The Christian Right's Fight to Redefine America's Public Schools (New York: New York University Press, 1999)Google Scholar; Sikkink, David, “The Loyal Opposition: Evangelicals and Public Schools,” in A Public Faith: Evangelicals and Civic Engagement, ed. Cromartie, Michael (Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003), 173–86Google Scholar; Diamond, Sara, Not by Politics Alone: The Enduring Influence of the Christian Right (New York: Guilford, 1998), 173–97Google Scholar; and Zimmerman, Jonathan, Whose America? Culture Wars in the Public Schools (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002), 135–228 Google Scholar.
11. Prothero, Stephen, Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know—and Doesn't (San Francisco: HarperSanFranciso, 2007)Google Scholar; Laurence Moore, R., “Bible Reading and Nonsectarian Schooling: The Failure of Religious Instruction in Nineteenth-Century Public Education,” Journal of American History 86, no. 4 (2000): 1581–99CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Fessenden, Tracy, “The Nineteenth-Century Bible Wars and the Separation of Church and State,” Church History 74, no. 4 (2005): 784–811 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Brown, Amanda Colleen, “Losing My Religion: The Controversy over Bible Classes in Public Schools,” Baylor Law Review 59 (Winter 2007): 193–240 Google Scholar; DelFattore, Joan, The Fourth R: Conflicts over Religion in America's Public Schools (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004)Google Scholar; Keller, Sharon, “Religion and Normative Education in the Light of Current Law,” Educational Policy 14, no. 5 (2000): 564–81CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Alley, , Without a Prayer, 89–97, 175–209Google Scholar; Detwiler, Standing; Bracher and Barr, “Bible.”
12. Studies that do treat courses include Detwiler, Standing and DelFattore, Fourth R; see also Chancey, Mark A., “Sectarian Elements in Public School Bible Courses: Lessons from the Lone Star State,” Journal of Church and State 49, no. 4 (2007): 719–42CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Chancey, Reading.
13. Tyack, David B., “Onward Christian Soldiers: Religion in the American Common School,” in History and Education: The Educational Uses of the Past, ed. Nash, Paul (New York: Random House, 1970), 212–55Google Scholar, quote from 214; cf. Brown and Bowling, “Public Schools.”
14. On various notions of what evangelicals mean when they refer to a “Christian America,” see Smith, Christian, Christian America? What Evangelicals Really Want (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000)Google Scholar.
15. On the two Christian Right goals of recognition and restoration, see Watson, Justin, The Christian Coalition: Dreams of Restoration, Demands for Recognition (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997)Google Scholar. I use “Christian Americanism” as an umbrella term that includes what Watson calls “constitutionalism,” the idea that the American legal system should be based on “the biblically informed original meaning of the Declaration and the Constitution” (116), as well as probably less common beliefs such as Dominion Theology, which asserts that Christians have been given dominion over the earth, Reconstructionism, which advocates the imposition of Mosaic Law, and similar views. See Chancey, Mark A., “A Textbook Example of the Christian Right: The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 75, no. 3 (2007): 554–81CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Lugg, “Christian Right”; Detwiler, Standing, 102–30, 193–95, 250–51; DelFattore, , Fourth R, 249–54Google Scholar; Berlet, Chip and Lyons, Matthew N., Right-Wing Populism in America (New York: Guilford Press, 2000), 252–64Google Scholar; Diamond, Sara, Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States (New York: Guilford, 1996)Google Scholar; and Goldberg, Michelle, Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism (New York: W. W. Norton, 2006)Google Scholar.
16. Zimmerman, , Whose America? 135–59Google Scholar.
17. On the early course, see William August Flachmeier, “Religious Education and the Public Schools of Texas” (Ph.D. diss., University of Texas at Austin, 1955), 131. On its demise, see Pope, Ginger, “ECISD to Have a Bible Elective,” Odessa American, April 27, 2005 Google Scholar.
18. Pope, Ginger, “Odessans Push for Bible Elective,” Odessa American, March 27, 2005 Google Scholar.
19. http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/main/default.aspx. On the ADF, see Brown, Steven P., Trumping Religion: The New Christian Right, the Free Speech Clause, and the Courts (Tuscaloosa and London: University of Alabama Press, 2002), 41–44 Google Scholar.
20. The group's goal is quoted from its Web site (www.bibleinschools. net). On its Christian Right associations, see Chancey, “Textbook Example”; Chancey, Mark A., “‘Complete Victory Is Our Objective’: The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools,” Religion and Education 35, no. 1 (2008): 1–21 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Lugg, “Christian Right”; DelFattore, , Fourth R, 249–54Google Scholar; and Detwiler, , Standing, 193–95Google Scholar.
21. This description of the meeting is based on an audio recording; Ginger Pope, cf., “ECISD to Study Bible Class Further,” Odessa American, March 30, 2005 Google Scholar.
22. Pope, Ginger, “ECISD Board to Consider Bible-based Curriculum,” Odessa American, April 16, 2005 Google Scholar; Pope, Ginger, “ECISD: Public Can Shape Bible Course,” Odessa American, April 30, 2005 Google Scholar.
23. Pope, Ginger, “Expert Warns Board of Legal Perils of Bible- Class Proposal,” Odessa American, March 29, 2005 Google Scholar.
25. David J. Lee, “Bible Curricula Debated,” Odessa American, November 11, 2005.
24. Gibson v. Lee County School Board, 1 F. Supp. 2d 1426 (M.D. Fla. 1998). Lee County School District's attorney, Lee Martin, comments, “Over the last decade, I have repeatedly heard the contention by NCBCPS that the New Testament Curriculum adopted by the Lee County School Board was not theirs. This is not true. The curriculum adopted was that presented and defended by NCBCPS” (personal e-mail communication, May 1, 2007). Johnson addressed the issue in an April 1, 2005, letter to the ECISD superintendent. The underlying logic of his argument was simply that the NCBCPS had revised its curriculum after Lee County adopted it. Since Lee County was not using the newest version, the NCBCPS could not be held at fault for its problems. On the case, see Lugg, “Christian Right”; DelFattore, , Fourth R, 251–54Google Scholar; and Detwiler, , Standing, 193–95.Google Scholar
26. Chancey, Reading.
27. “This Kind of Dogma Just Won't Hunt,” Odessa American, April 9, 2005.
28. Pope, “ECISD Board to Consider.”
29. McLemore, David, “Elective Bible Classes Prompt Concern,” Dallas Morning News, April 30, 2005 Google Scholar.
30. Pope, Ginger, “ECISD Enters National Spotlight,” Odessa American, May 4, 2005 Google Scholar.
31. Blumenthal, Ralph and Novovitch, Barbara, “Bible Course Becomes a Test for Public Schools in Texas,” New York Times, August 1, 2005 Google Scholar.
32. Pope, “ECISD to Have a Bible Elective”; see also Pope, “ECISD: Public.” Most of the description above of the meeting is based on audio and video recordings.
33. The Bible Literacy Project and the First Amendment Center, The Bible and Public Schools: A First Amendment Guide (New York: Bible Literacy Project; Nashville: First Amendment Center, 1999), at http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/about.aspx?id=6261; Society of Biblical Literature, Bible Electives in Public Schools: A Guide (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2008); Chancey, “Sectarian Elements.”
34. The name of the test is derived from Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971).
35. This test was first articulated in Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668 (1984).
36. Wiley v. Franklin, 474 F. Supp. 525 at 531 (E. D. Tenn. 1979).
37. Paterson, Frances R. A., “Anatomy of a Bible Course Curriculum,” Journal of Law and Education 32, no. 1 (2003): 41–65 Google Scholar.
39. The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, The Bible in History and Literature ([Greensboro, N.C.]: Ablu Publishing, 2005).
40. Ibid., 172.
41. Evidence that the NCBCPS seeks a privileging of (its) Christian views, rather than simply inclusion of those viewpoints alongside those of other groups, is provided by its discouragement of world religions courses. Its brochure urges: “DON't BE MISLED BY POLITICALLY CORRECT WORLD RELIGIONS COURSES” and “Such courses tend to promote faiths such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism. While these courses are also legal, they teach comparable [sic] religions rather than a true Bible curriculum” (NCBCPS, The Bible in History & Literature: A Comparison of Two Public School Curricula [no date], at http://www.bibleinschools.net/Is-this-Legal.
42. Mark Chancey, The Bible in Public Schools: Report on the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools (Austin: Texas Freedom Network Education Fund, 2005), at http://www.tfn.org/site/ PageServer?pagename=biblecurriculum. More than 185 scholars endorsed the report (http://www.tfn.org/site/PageServer?pagename=endorsements). See also Chancey, “Textbook Example.”
43. Texas Freedom Network, “Turning Public Schools into Sunday Schools,” August 1, 2005, press release.
44. NCBCPS, “National Council on Bible Curriculum Responds to Attack by Anti-Religion Extremists,” August 4, 2005, press release. NCBCPS spokespeople repeated claims of the report's inaccuracy and production by humanists, radicals, and “left-wing” activists ( Pope, Ginger, “Group Raises Concerns about Bible Elective,” Odessa American, August 2, 2005 Google Scholar; Mark Babinec, “Group Assails Bible Study Course Taught at Schools,” Reuters, August 2, 2005; and Stephen M. Crampton, “Bible Bashing 101: How the Media Controls the Message,” AgapePress, August 17, 2005).
45. TFN obtained multiple copies of this August 12, 2005, letter from Texas school districts.
46. Juli Cragg Hilliard, “The Book of Controversy: Teaching the Bible in Public Schools Raises Hackles, Inspires Curriculum,” Publishers Weekly, September 21, 2005.
47. Breed, Breenan and Richards, Kent Harold, “Review of The Bible in History and Literature ,” Religion and Education 34, no. 3 (2007): 94–102 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Chancey, “Textbook Example.”
48. Schippe, Cullen and Stetson, Chuck, eds., The Bible and Its Influence (Fairfax, Va.: BLP Publishing, 2005)Google Scholar.
49. On the initial reception of the BLP, see Chancey, “Bible Bills.”
50. Steve Crampton, “Why the Bible Is the Best Textbook for a Bible Curriculum,” originally published in 2005 by AgapePress and now available at http://www.bibleinschools.net/The-Curriculum.
51. See Berit Kjos, “Could this be part of the ‘end time’ deception?” (http://crossroad.to/articles2/05/bible-literacy.htm and “A More Adaptable Bible? A Critique of The Bible and Its Influence” (http://crossroad.to/articles2/05/bible-textbook.htm), both posted in 2005, and Dennis Cuddy, “The Holy Bible in Public Schools” http://www.newswithviews.com/Cuddy/dennis49.htm, November 14, 2005.
52. Lee, David J., “ECISD Board to Choose Bible Curricula,” Odessa American, December 19, 2005 Google Scholar.
53. The description of the meeting is based mostly on an audio recording; cf. Lee, “Bible Curricula Debated.”
54. Letter from Marietta Scurry Johnson to Raymond Starnes, October 4, 2005.
55. Lee, “ECISD Board to Choose Bible Curricula.”
56. Letter from the Becket Fund's Anthony R. Picarello, Jr., to Michael Atkins, ECISD attorney, December 18, 2005. For an example of other groups’ statements, see ADL November 7, 2005, press release, “ADL Says Bible Teaching Guide for Public Schools ‘Unacceptable’” (http://www.adl.org/PresRele/RelChStSep_90/4821_90.htm).
57. On anti-BLP sentiments, see Gorania, Jay, “Board Decision Draws Mixed Reaction,” Odessa American, December 21, 2005 Google Scholar.
58. The description of the meeting is based on audio and video recordings and on Gorania, “Board Decision,” and Lee, David J., “National Spotlight on ECISD in ‘05,” Odessa American, January 1, 2006 Google Scholar.
59. See also Newman's comments in ACLU, “What Odessa, Texas, Parents Say about Religious Bible Teachings in Public Schools” (http://www.aclu.org/religion/schools/29736res20070516.html#Moreno).
60. Edwards, Jennifer, “Odessan Threatens Bible Class Suit,” Odessa American, August 31, 2006 Google Scholar.
61. Wiley v. Franklin, 468 F. Supp. 133 at 146 (E. D. Tenn. 1979).
62. Edwards, Jennifer, “Bible Class Revealed: Teachers Speak Out about Objectives, Curriculum,” Odessa American, August 22, 2006 Google Scholar.
63. See Chancey, “Textbook Example,” and especially Breed and Richards, “Review.”
64. Barton, David, Foundations of American Government (Aledo: WallBuilders, 1992)Google Scholar.
65. “How We Got the Bible” (Torrance, Ca.: Rose Publishing, no date).
66. This emphasis is clear in the letter distributed to Permian High School parents and students at the beginning of the year that described the class as “a history course.”
67. “Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary, Article 11,” November 4, 1796.
68. Moreno v. Ector County Independent School District Board of Trustees —Complaint, filed May 16, 2007, in the Western District of Texas federal court (http://www.aclu.org/religion/schools/29683lgl20070516.html).
69. ACLU and PFAW, “Texas Parents Challenge Unconstitutional Bible Class in Public Schools: ACLU and PFAWF File Lawsuit against Ector County School Board for Impermissibly Promoting Religion,” May 16, 2007, press release (http://www.aclu.org/religion/schools/29738prs20070516.html).
70. ACLU, “What Odessa, Texas, Parents Say.”
71. Elaine Marsilio, “Free Bible Defense,” Odessa American, June 1, 2007; see Brown, , Trumping Religion, 28 Google Scholar, on small law firms like Liberty Legal.
72. On ties between ADF and Liberty Legal, see Brown, , Trumping Religion, 159 Google Scholar n. 14. ADF's Form 990s show that it gave Liberty Legal $179,391.05 in 2007, $210,286 in 2006, and $154,737 in 2005. It is possible that the ADF helped Liberty Legal formulate its legal strategy; Brown, cf., Trumping Religion, 55–58 Google Scholar.
73. Marsilio, Elaine, “ACLU, Parents Sue ECISD,” Odessa American, May 16, 2007 Google Scholar.
74. Free Market Foundation, “Bible Curriculum in Schools,” at http://www.freemarket.org/Legislature_Issues_BibleCurriculum.aspx; Liberty Legal Institute, “ACLU Attacks Texas School District: Liberty Legal Institute Says the Suit Is Baseless,” May 16, 2007 (http://www.libertylegal.org/Media_Archives_2007_ACLUATTACKSTEXASSCHOOL.aspx); cf. http://www.libertylegal.org/cases.aspx#moreno.
75. Defendants’ Original Answer, filed July 2, 2006, in the Western District of Texas federal court.
76. “ECISD Must Find Independent Leader,” Odessa American, July 13, 2007; Elaine Marsilio and F. A. Krift, “The ECISD Puzzle: Can Trustees Put the Pieces Back Together?” Odessa American, July 30, 2007.
77. Elaine Marsilio, “Closed Door Bible Classes,” Odessa American, May 18, 2007. Course materials for 2007–2008 were unavailable for review.
78. Marsilio, Elaine, “Bible Suit Settlement: Trustees, ACLU Reach Agreement in Lawsuit,” Odessa American, March 6, 2008 Google Scholar.
79. “Mediator-Proposed Settlement Document Re: Bible Curriculum Design Suit for Ector County Independent School District” (http://www.libertylegal.org/cases.aspx#Moreno).
80. ACLU, “Texas School Board Agrees to Stop Teaching Unconstitutional Bible Class in Public Schools,” March 5, 2008, press release (http://www.aclu.org/religion/schools/34356prs20080305.html).
81. Liberty Legal Institute, “ECISD Will Continue Bible Courses: Bible Courses Utilize Bible as Main Textbook,” March 5, 2008, press release (http://www.libertylegal.org/Media_Archives_2007_biblecasemediation.aspx).
82. Elaine Marsilio, “Bible Course Passes,” Odessa American, May 29, 2008. The “Statement of Purpose” and the sample unit are available at http://www.ector-county.k12.tx.us/ecisd/cwp/view.asp?A=3&Q=275040.
83. The sole story in the local newspaper on the new course suggested that it was uncontroversial ( Waggoner, Roy, “Eating History: Cultural Bible Students Hold Passover Meal as Part of Revised Class,” Odessa American, October 24, 2008)Google Scholar.
84. Bradford Wiles, “School Board Approves Bible Course for High School,” http://www.ourvalley.org (no date).
85. Lowe, Cody, “Religion Course at School Disputed,” Roanoke Times, May 22, 2008 Google Scholar.
86. Meg Hibbert, “Different Bible Course Proposed for Craig County High School,” “OurValley.org,” October 15, 2008 (http://ourvalley.org/news.php?viewStory=3430).
87. “Craig County Drops Proposal to Teach Controversial High School Bible Course,” American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, news release, October 10, 2008.
88. Engelland, Sandra, “Board Delays Decision on Bible Course,” Keller Citizen, October 31, 2008 Google Scholar; Manley, Bridget, “School Board Decides to Postpone Bible Class Decision,” Craig Daily Press, February 29, 2008 Google Scholar; Andrew Wind, “Waterloo Will Not Consider High School Bible Class,” WCF [Waterloo and Cedar Falls, Iowa] Courier, October 12, 2008.
89. Nashville-area Wilson County provides another example of a district that selected the BLP. See Natalia Mielczarek, “Wilson Students Say Elective Bible Course Doesn't Preach: Churchgoers or Not, They Like Class that Stirred Church-State Debate,” Tennessean, October 22, 2007.
90. Chancey, “Bible Bills”; and Phillip Rawls, “State School Board Approves 2nd Bible Textbook,” Anniston Star, November 14, 2008.
91. Chancey, Reading and “Sectarian Elements.”
92. PFAW, The Good Book Taught Wrong: Bible History Classes in Florida Public Schools (2nd printing, 2000) at http://site.pfaw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=press_reports.
93. Bracher and Barr, “Bible,” 191; Arthur Gilbert, “Reactions and Resources,” in Religion and Public Education, ed. Theodore R. Sizer (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1967), 37–83; Michael D. Waggoner, “Reading the Terrain: Environmental Factors Influencing Religious Literacy Initiatives in Educator Preparation,” Educational Horizons 82 (Fall 2003): 73–84.
94. First Amendment Center, “State of the First Amendment 2007” survey (http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/about.aspx?item=state_first_amendment_2007).
95. Chancey, Reading; PFAW, Good Book.
96. Kjos, “Could this be?” and “A More Adaptable Bible?”
97. Prothero, Religious Literacy, and Moore, Diane L., Overcoming Religious Illiteracy: A Cultural Studies Approach to the Study of Religion in Secondary Education (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
98. For other examples, see Chancey, “Textbook Example,” “‘Complete Victory,’” and Bible in Public Schools.
99. The word “God” has been replaced by “Bible.” The column was originally published on April 17, 2007, by WorldNet Daily but is now available at www.bibleinschools.net/node/34.
100. See Goldberg, Kingdom Coming; Berlet and Lyons, Right- Wing Populism, 252–64; Diamond, Roads to Dominion; Detwiler, , Standing 165–84Google Scholar, 250–51.
101. For examples from NCBCPS materials, see Chancey, “Textbook Example,” and “‘Complete Victory.’”
102. Pope, “Expert Warns.”
103. First Amendment Center, “State of the First Amendment 2007.”
104. According to the North American Religion Atlas (www. religionatlas.org), Ector County is less religiously diverse than many communities, both in Texas and elsewhere. In 2000, it had a smaller proportion of Roman Catholics than the state as a whole (12.6% vs. 21%), and a higher proportion of Protestants, especially Baptists (23.8% vs. 17.9%) and “other conservative Christians” (9% vs. 3.5%). Its Jewish population was statistically smaller (.2% vs. .6%), and it had no Muslims or adherents of an “Eastern Religion.”
105. ACLU, “What Odessa, Texas, Parents Say.”
106. Audiotape of ECISD meeting, December 20, 2005.
107. Marsilio, “ACLU, Parents.”
108. Jim Brown, “Odessa Bible Course Attracts Who Else the ACLU,” Christian News and Media Agency, August 2, 2006.
109. TFN, “Turning Public Schools into Sunday Schools.”
110. Numerous other examples could be noted; see, for example, the letter to the editor by Marvin D. Nathan, Anti-Defamation League, in the December 24, 2005, New York Times.
111. NCBCPS, “National Council on Bible Curriculum Responds.”
112. Liberty Legal Institute, “Hostility to Religious Expression” (Plano, Tex: Liberty Legal Institute, 2008), 23; cf. Hiram Sasser, “Religious Speech and Equal Access in Public Schools” (Plano, Tex: Liberty Legal Institute, no date), both at http://www.libertylegal.org/resources.aspx.
113. On NCBCPS appeals to rights, see Chancey, “Textbook Example,” and “‘Complete Victory.’”
114. Ruth Campbell, “Attorneys File for Mediation in Bible Course Case,” Midland Reporter-Telegram, July 3, 2007.
115. Marsilio, “ACLU, Parents.”
117. On Christian Right usages of this strategy, see Moen, Matthew C., The Transformation of the Christian Right (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1992), 126–37Google Scholar, and especially Detwiler, Standing, 165–84.
118. On the ACLU as an enemy of religious freedom, see Alliance Defense Fund, “The Truth about Separation of Church and State” (http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/issues/ReligiousFreedom/ChurchandState.aspx).
119. Brown, “Odessa Bible Course.”
120. Marsilio, “Free Bible Defense.” An ironic aspect of this comment is that Liberty Legal frequently files suits against school districts, as a perusal of its Web site reveals.
121. Free Market Foundation, “Bible Curriculum in Schools”; Liberty Legal, “ACLU Attacks.”
122. Free Market Foundation, “Bible Curriculum in Schools”; cf. Liberty Legal, “ECISD Will Continue.”
123. Wilcox, Clyde, Onward Christian Soldiers? The Religious Right in American Politics, 2nd ed. (Boulder: Westview Press, 2000), 110–12Google Scholar; see also Brown, , Trumping Religion, 8–9 Google Scholar; Detwiler, Standing, 163–69. On the dangerous nature of PFAW, see the NCBCPS brochure, which describes it as an organization “closely allied and even more radical than the ACLU” that “openly advocates for such radical liberal causes as homosexual rights and the desecration of the American flag” (available at http://www.bibleinschools.net/Is-this-Legal).
124. Wilcox, , Onward Christian Soldiers? 114–32Google Scholar; Gaddy, Hall, and Marzano, , School Wars, 33–54 Google Scholar; Provenzo, Religious Fundamentalism; Diamond, , Not by Politics Alone, 70–71 Google Scholar.
125. Bonnie Gober, “Stand Firm on Bible Class,” Odessa American, February 1, 2008.
126. Liberty Legal, “Hostility.” See Detwiler's excellent discussion of reductionist and alarmist rhetorical tactics (Standing, 139–49, and, for their use in Gibson v. Lee County, 193).
127. Moore, Overcoming Religious Illiteracy.
128. Chancey, “Textbook Example.”
129. DelFattore, Fourth R.