Alabama State Senator Scott Beason has
turned out to be the principal opponent of a new textbook, the Bible and Its
Influence,
backed by liberals for schools which want to teach about the Bible. Writing in
Worldnetdaily.com, Beason outlines not only the background of the chief
architect of the book but details how the book undermines belief in
God.
Beason notes that Dr. Charles C. Haynes
is a consultant for the Bible Literacy Project. Haynes is the author of a piece
entitled “When the Government Prays, Nobody Wins,” which implies that the
National Day of Prayer should be eliminated. He has authored books with the
Council On Islamic Education. He serves on the board of the Pluralism Project
along with Wiccan High Priestess Margot Adler. He also authored “Sexual
Orientation and Public Schools: All or Nothing?” which has been endorsed by the
radical Gay Lesbian, Straight Education Network. Haynes was a reviewer and
consultant for the Bible Literacy Project’s textbook The Bible and Its
Influence.
That textbook redefines Biblical terms
and demeans God, according to a number of reviewers who have reviewed it. The
book asks, “Do absolute good and evil exist?” In the Judeo-Christian tradition,
God represents all that is good but the textbook asks, “Where does all of the
evil come from? How would a good God let something like the Holocaust happen?
Why would God let innocent children suffer?”
The book further denies the moral value
of Old Testament illustrations. For example, “Job is one of the most difficult
books in the Bible in that the text provides no clear moral or answer to Job’s
situation.”
On page 72 the book debases the
character of God: “God’s help comes with strings attached – commandments or laws
that the Israelites must obey in order to keep the faith.” On page 138 the text
demeans God by making Him accountable to man. The text diminishes the value of
Old Testament texts. On page 160 the text reads, “The Lord blessed the latter
days of Job more than his beginning. This ending through pleasing in some ways
has failed to satisfy various readers over the centuries.” On page 75 the text
book says the Ark of the Covenant “has become famous in Western
imagination.”
I could go on and on citing problems
with this text book. The late eminent Christian pastor Dr. D. James
Kennedy said, “It would be a tremendous mistake to impose such very
anti-Biblical material upon our children in public schools.”
Use of The Bible and Its
Influence
has become controversial in school boards and state legislatures, especially in
the South. When I was made aware of the “Bible Literacy Project” I rejoiced,
thinking that this was a way for students to study religion in the Godless
public schools. I endorsed the Project. Now that I have been made aware of what
this Project is really about, thanks to Senator Beason, I hereby withdraw my
endorsement. Once again liberals stole what began as a worthwhile initiative.
This is worse than public schools without God. This may well cause young
impressionable young people to lose their faith and to be contemptuous of those
who have faith.
