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Teaching The Bible In Texas Public School Book Review

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Book Review: Reading, Writing & Religion The author of the book “Reading, Writing & Religion II: Teaching the Bible in Texas Public School (Updated Edition)” is Professor Mark A. Chancey, who is in the department of Religious Study in Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences at Southern Methodist University. In Dr. Mark A. Chancey’s preface, he has showed there is a phenomenon that Texas public schools tend to have an interest in bringing Bible back to the courses. Dr. Mark A. Chancey shows his concerns about claims about current Texas public schools which have Bible courses, he has questioned some aspects from academic purposes and respectfulness of religious freedom, and then he has recommend some possible solutions for those challenges. …show more content…

Through investigation, researchers have find out that most of the Texas Bible courses are “explicitly devotional in nature and reflect an almost exclusively Christian perspective of the Bible” (Chancey, 19). The instructors naturally regard their students as Christians and they sanctify their Bible but treat other forms of Bibles as “deviations from the norm” (Chancey, 22). None of those actions are appropriate in a classroom since they are biased and they are challenging the religious freedom, and those public schools are for everyone, but not only for …show more content…

Chancey has given four possible solutions, which are: 1. Follow the guidelines which has been wildly accept to avoid from violating religious freedom; 2. To enhance the transparency to keep the process of course decision making is fair; 3. To ensure teachers are fully qualified for teaching Bible courses; 4. To ensure that class materials are the state of fair which don’t contain bias; 5. School should make effort on monitoring the Bible courses to avoid the resurgence of those issues. And according to Dr. Chancey, those recommendations are “1. School districts should adhere to guidelines proposed by the First Amendment Center – The Bible and Public Schools: A First Amendment Guide. These guidelines have been endorsed by 20 religious and educational groups, including the National Association of Evangelicals, the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, and other Christian, Jewish and Islamic organizations. 2. The process by which local school boards decide to offer Bible courses and choose the curricula for those courses should be open and transparent and invite the full participation of parents and other citizens from the community. 3. School districts should make sure that teachers have the appropriate academic background and sufficient training on the legal issues involving the teaching of Bible and religion-related courses in public schools. 4. Classes should avoid relying primarily on sectarian resources for student readings, teacher

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