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Texas public school district defends ACLU's challenge to Bible course

Attorneys representing a Texas public school district say educators have done nothing wrong by offering a Bible course as an elective.



The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit against the Ector County Independent School District (Odessa), claiming that the district has violated the U.S. Constitution by teaching the course. The ACLU claims the course -- "The Bible in History and Literature" -- is not taught objectively, as the Constitution requires, but instead is designed to proselytize by promoting one set of religious beliefs to the exclusion of others.

In a reply to the lawsuit, attorneys for Ector County ISD said the course falls within constitutional guidelines. In fact, those attorneys point out that the curriculum -- produced by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools and used in hundreds of school districts nationwide -- has withstood several court challenges.

Kelly Shackelford is president of Texas-based Liberty Legal Institute, which represents the school district in the case. Shackelford claims the ACLU has other motives.

"The shame is, they could have contacted the school district and said 'Hey, we have a problem, we'd like to help you make sure you do this constitutionally' -- but that's not their goal," says the Liberty Legal attorney. "Their goal isn't to have the class done constitutionally. Their goal is to make sure this class isn't offered at all because the ACLU isn't tolerant of classes on the Bible like this and they don't want them carried out."

According to Shackelford, the ACLU wants to block students across the nation from taking the course. "The ACLU's come and tried to go after this school district, because this curriculum ... is the most popular curriculum in the country on the Bible course," he asserts. "And they know if they knock this one down that they can knock 'em down all over the country."

The Ector County School Board approved the high school course two years ago. The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools claims its curriculum has been approved for use in 395 school districts in 37 states.

On that same note, they (ACLU) are tolerant of classes on the koran.