No News, or, Why Are People So Stupid? Steve Green, currently enjoying some fame as the nation's foremost religious hypocrite, has a plan. The Hobby Lobby billionaire who objects to his employees having access to the same health care he profits from hopes to install a biblical curriculum in public schools. Sarah Jones explains: An Oklahoma school district has approved the use of a Bible curriculum designed by Steve Green, the controversial owner of Hobby Lobby. The Mustang public schools will begin offering the curriculum next academic year. As reported by Religion News Service, Green's curriculum is designed to correspond with his planned Museum of the Bible, which is currently under construction in Washington, D.C. Jerry Pattengale, who heads the Green Scholars Initiative and is overseeing the curriculum's development, said the ultimate goal is put the curriculum in “thousands” of schools. Little is known publicly about the details of the curriculum. However, in a 2013 speech he delivered to the National Bible Association, Green explained that it's divided into three sections: the history of the Bible, the story of the Bible, and the impact of the Bible. Classes about the Bible don't necessarily violate the separation of church and state. It all depends on what is taught and how it's taught. Green's speech indicates that he may have ulterior motives. It appears that Green doesn't intend to simply teach students history. “The history is to show the reliability of this book,” he told his audience, and added, “When you present the evidence, the evidence is overwhelming.” And it seems it's no coincidence that the curriculum is intended for high school students. Green stated that he had originally considered a college-level course but decided on a high school elective instead, “because we wanted to reach as many as possible.” “That's our goal, so that we can reintroduce this book to this nation. This nation is in danger because of its ignorance of what God has taught,” Green stated. No wonder he hopes to place the class in thousands of public high schools. While Mr. Green and his partner in supremacism, Jerry Pattingale of the Green Scholars Initiative—an organization investigating the historicity of the Bible—suggest their curriculum would be taught in a nonsectarian manner, it is hard to see how presenting the Bible as definitive history is nonsectarian. Furthermore, as he hopes to save the nation from "its ignorance of what God has taught", one would be hard-pressed to argue a nonsectarian goal. After all, the goal is apparently to prove that the Bible is historically accurate. Or, at least, presuppose the point and teach from there. Of course, there wouldn't be an issue if Green, and the Mustang public schools, wanted to create an elective in religious studies. As long as the class is taught in an objective manner, there's no constitutional violation. But it is unquestionably illegal to teach the Bible as scriptural truth. Given the content of Green's speech, his ties to disgraced fundamentalist preacher Bill Gothard, and his ongoing, religiously-motivated legal battle against the Affordable Care Act's contraception mandate, there's clear evidence that his intention is to proselytize, not to provide an objective overview of a book held sacred by many diverse sects. The Mustang public schools are, as Religion News Service notes, in Green's backyard. A billionaire, Green enjoys strong influence in the area and this likely contributed to the school board's decision. But as they prepare to implement his Bible curriculum, the board members should remember that the First Amendment applies to their district, as it applies everywhere. Such curricula have a problematic history, as Ms. Jones notes, pointing to a 1998 case in which a "Bible History" class in Riverdale, Florida, was predicated on ignorance: In his public high school classroom here, Mark Axford, a history teacher, was gingerly telling his new students what the course would entail. He was being cautious because the subject was the Old Testament, the textbook the Bible, and every word he said was being videotaped for review by lawyers and a Federal judge in a pioneering legal case. "We want to talk about the story of Noah and the flood," Mr. Axford said last month, on the first day of class. "Well, is it true or not true? That's not for me to say. That's not for us to say. We're just going to look at it and see what we can verify and can't verify." Later, a student asked whether the ark had ever been found. Mr. Axford said that "they found something on a mountain" but that scientific tests showed it was not old enough. "Could it have been Noah's ark? Who knows? This is the type of stuff that, when you mix history and faith, it's complicated." (Navarro) Yes, because that's the thing about what can be verified or not. "Who knows?" is, apparently, the ultimate answer. Then again, "The memory of Jesus and the miracle of His Resurrection live in Jerusalem every day", apparently counts as nonsectarian. Because, you know. Freedom. Or something. In Mr. Axford's class, the discussion one day turned to Abel and Cain. A male student wondered where the two brothers had come from. "In the beginning there was Adam and Eve," a girl said, "and Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel." Mr. Axford quickly intervened. "For whatever reason, we're not supposed to talk about that," he said. "You just read it on your own. I don't know why. Please don't ask me why."____________________ Notes: Jones, Sarah. "The Good Book Taught Badly?: Okla. School District Approves Hobby Lobby Owner's Bible Course". Americans United for Separation of Church and State. April 16, 2014. AU.org. April 21, 2014. https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-se...la-school-district-approves-hobby-lobby-owner Navarro, Mireya. "Florida Case Highlights Conflicts On Use of the Bible as a Textbook". The New York Times. February 17, 1998. NYTimes.com. April 21, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/17/u...flicts-on-use-of-the-bible-as-a-textbook.html
