Conservative spotlight: Elizabeth Ridenour

Human Events, Jul 1, 2002 by Agostino, Joseph A

National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools

For most of America's history, the Bible was taught in her schools, including in her public schools. But as most conservatives know, in recent decades the U.S. Supreme Court has invented "constitutional" doctrines that keep the Bible out of public classrooms-or do they?

In fact, though setting up various extra-constitutional roadblocks, the court has always allowed the Bible to be taught as history or literature. Some groups, including the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools (NCBC), have taken to devising curricula that meet the court's standards.

The description of NCBC's course objective says, "This course is designed to teach the Bible with primary emphasis on the text in order to: 1. To equip the student with a fundamental understanding of the important literary forms contained in the Bible as well as people and symbols often referred to in literature, art, and music; 2. To equip the student with a fundamental understanding of the influence of the Bible on history, law, American community life, and culture; 3. To give insight into the world views of America's founding fathers and to understand the Biblical influences on their views on human rights; 4. To provide greater knowledge of Middle-Eastern history, geography, religion, and politics; 5. To inform the students of the importance of religion in world and national history, without imposing the doctrine of any particular religious sect."

"Unless you have a working knowledge of the Bible, you have a difficulty understanding our Constitution and founding documents," said Elizabeth Ridenour, president of NCBC. She said that over 100,000 students in 33 states have taken NCBC's course, and "we have never had one complaint about the course, not even one, from parents,- students, or school personnel. It's amazing."

Ridenour said that she used to believe the line, pushed by liberals, that somehow, all reference to religion must be excluded from the public square and public institutions. "Like most people," she said, "I'd been duped by the phrase 'separation of church and state.' It doesn't mean what people think it means." She pointed out that the separation phrase "does not appear in any of our founding documents."

The author of that phrase was Thomas Jefferson-who wrote it in a private letter. As NCBC's website notes, even-the free-- thinking Jefferson said, "I have always said, and will always say, that studious perusal of the sacred volume will make us better citizens." In fact," says NCBC, "While President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson was elected the first president of the Washington, D.C., public school board, which used the Bible as a reading text in the classroom."

Though parents, students, and school employees may not be complaining, the usual suspects are. Ridenour named the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and People for the American Way (PAW) as the primary opponents of her group's curriculum. "They try to bully the school districts," she said.

Right now, the ACLU is trying to prevent schools in Miami-Dade from offering the NCBC curriculum, even though the course would be offered as an elective, as it is everywhere else. "They don't like anything having to do with God in the public schools," said Ridenour of the ACLU. "They don't like that word. They have no valid legal grounds."

Says NCBC, "There has been a great social regression since the Bible was removed from our schools. We need to refer to the original documents that inspired Americanism and our religious heritage. Historians say that religion has been the major motivating force in all of human history. When some people are trying to completely remove the Bible from schools, students' rights are being violated. Textbook publishers are censoring history when they give us misrepresented versions, empty of religion."

Some of the spokesmen that NCBC has recruited for its efforts include Dr. D. James Kennedy, actress Jane Russell, and Capt. Scott O'Grady, who was shot down over Bosnia and then rescued by U.S. Marines. One of the lawyers who vetted NCBC's curriculum for constitutional muster, said Ridenour, is Robert P. George, professor of jurisprudence at Princeton. Rabbi Daniel Lapin of Toward Tradition and Rep. Robin Hayes (R.-N.C.) sit on the group's advisory committee.

"I think we picked up 18 or 19 school districts in the last six months," said Ridenour. "People have asked us to develop a curriculum for a second-year course. Right now, what we want to do is expand and upgrade what we have."

NCBC may be reached at PO. Box 9743, Greensboro, N.C. 27429 (336-272-3799; fax: 336-272-- 7199;e-mail:biblecurriculum1@yahoo.com; website: www.bibleinschools.net).