The fight over naming a specific textbook for a proposed Bible course in public schools continues.
House Bill 58 — sponsored by Rep. Ken Guin, D-Carbon Hill, and Speaker of the House Seth Hammett, D-Andalusia — authorizes local school boards to offer a high school elective course titled The Bible and its Influence. The legislation also names the book “The Bible and its Influence” as an optional textbook for the course.
The legislation garnered three hours of debate Feb. 7 but failed to gain the necessary vote to bring it up for a vote by the House of Representatives. Because the general fund and education budgets have not been passed by state lawmakers, any bill moving ahead of them must receive a three-fifths vote, known as the BIR, in order to be moved to the forefront.
The motion failed when 42 representatives voted against it. Those opposed included 39 Republicans and three Democrats, making it a nonpartisan vote, said Dan Ireland, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP).
“Democrats and Republicans voted for it not to come up,” he said. “The book (recommended in the legislation) lacks a lot of intellectual integrity.”
And, according to Ireland, the book is the only problem.
Others agree. Along with ALCAP, Eagle Forum and Christian Coalition of Alabama are opposing the book’s inclusion in the legislation.
“I’m for Bible teaching wherever it is,” Ireland said. “But this book leaves a lot to be desired.”
While the bill called for only “The Bible and its Influence” as the textbook, it has since been amended to include “any other textbook, including the Bible … .”
But Ireland and others aren’t satisfied with that. “By mentioning the book, the school boards won’t go any further than that,” he said, noting a book should not be mentioned at all, leaving it up to the State Board of Education to adopt the list of appoved textbooks.
The school board could potentially pick this book, but it would be selected by the current way textbooks are selected, he said. “It would not be picked by the Legislature.
“This bill is different because it mentions a book by name as well as a publisher,” Ireland noted.
“My sincere evaluation is that this is a good bill that could have been easily passed without a dissenting vote if it had not mentioned a recommended book by name,” he said.
Rep. Steve McMillan, R-Bay Minette, said naming a specific book sets “a dangerous precedent in direct conflict with the spirit and letter of the state’s competitive bid law singling out one vendor’s products.”
Guin said he is not trying to mandate that this book be used, but he believes it is important to name the book. He also said he is not giving up on the bill. “This is the only textbook out there,” Guin said. “It provides a starting point. Let’s put all the tools out there.
“If the Legislature designates something specific, we raise the comfort level of the boards of education,” he said, noting the fear of a lawsuit for offering a course on the Bible.
“I have agreed to most all amendments suggested to the bill,” Guin said. “But I’m not removing the name of the book.”
Randy Brinson, who introduced Guin to the textbook, wants the book to remain a part of the legislaiton.
“The book goes through the entire Bible and pulls out social aspects as needed,” he explained. “It gives different interpretations from the various faiths. It tells what each side believes.”
Brinson, a member of Taylor Road Baptist Church, Montgomery, in Montgomery Baptist Association, said, “We are becoming the first generation to lose what the Bible is all about.
“We have failed in the past (to offer Bible education). We have done it the wrong way,” he said. “Most school boards won’t put in a Bible course because the majority in history have led to a lawsuit.”
But Brinson believes HB 58 offers an acceptable way to offer a Bible course. “We can insulate the school boards to feel comfortable doing it,” he said.
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