According to the nonprofit Bible Literacy Project, 98 percent of the country's "best" high school English teachers said students need to know about the Bible to fully understand numerous religious references in Western literature.
"Leading English teachers reported students without Bible knowledge take
more time to teach," said Marie Wachlin, the report's author. She called the
Bible "the most important single source of all our literature."
The complete works of Shakespeare have more than 1,300 biblical
references, says the report, released Tuesday (April 26). "Call me Ishmael,"
the introductory line of Herman Melville's nautical tale Moby Dick,
according to the report, is lost on most students who do not know Ishmael
was a famous castaway in the Bible.
The Fairfax, Va.-based Bible Literacy Project is dedicated to research
and public education on the academic study of the Bible in public and
private schools. In September 2005, it will launch a new textbook for
academic study of the Bible in public schools that is being billed as the
first of its kind in nearly 30 years. The textbook will aim to respect the
views of major faith groups, while endorsing none, organizers say.
The April report was conducted in two parts. The first interviewed 41
recommended English literature teachers from 10 states. The second analyzed
a 2004 Gallup survey, revealing the confusion about Moses. The survey asked
1,002 teens ages 13-18 what they knew about the Bible.
Classic and modern literature is ripe with biblical references that the
report calls the "common currency of our language," yet only 8 percent of
the public school students surveyed said their schools offered elective
courses on the Bible. Fifty-one percent of private school students said
their schools had similar classes.
"We believe this research will show the need to include more study of
the Bible as literature ... ," said John Templeton, Jr., president of the
foundation that funded the report, "and that this will open the door to more
freedom to discuss all kinds of ideas in the classroom."
The main issue for many critics, however, is not whether teaching the
Bibles is useful, but whether it is constitutional.
"Americans have a long and bitter history of fighting over the role of
the Bible in the classroom," said Charles C. Haynes, a scholar at The
Freedom Forumn's First Amendment Center, a foundation with offices in
Nashville and Arlington, Va. He added that public schools "should not
inculcate or inhibit religion."
Haynes said it is a common misconception that the Supreme Court
prohibited religious study from public institutions in a 1962 decision.
Instead, it banned state-sponsored religious practices, he said.
According to Haynes, who has worked in partnership with the Bible
Literacy Project, teaching academic Bible courses is not in violation of the
First Amendment as long they are taught "objectively as part of a secular
program of education."
Haynes said he hopes the latest report and anticipated textbook will
dispel misconceptions.
"After fighting about this for over 150 years I think it's about time for
public schools to move past the controversy and include study of the Bible,"
Haynes said.
"If we care about education we must."
