Is There a Teacher’s Edition for This Book?

Move over Huckleberry Finn and Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Public school teachers across the  country are starting to add a new controversial book to their curriculum—the Bible. Georgia recently became what is believed to be the first state to provide public money for high school elective courses that teach the Old and New Testaments. Similar measures have been considered in other states, but none have passed. And in at least 37 states (460 school districts total), two privately produced curriculums are used to teach the Bible.

Does study of the Bible violate church–state separation laws? Some say yes, pointing to the 1963 Supreme Court decision that removed prayer from schools. But some scholars counter that the Bible is a crucial component of literature, history, music, and film, and as such, students need to have a working knowledge of what lies within its pages.