Biblical illiteracy is a civic problem with political consequences.

This is the subtitle of Stephen Prothero's column in yesterday's Christian Science Monitor. Prothero has been hawking his new book, which is due to come out any day -- maybe today -- entitled Religious Literacy! Again, I'm awaiting a free copy to review here, if the publisher is seeing this!!

In this column, Prothero writes that it is important to America's civic life that every high school student take a course on biblical literature. Why? Because the Bible plays such an important role in American life. The problem, Prothero believes, is that politicians and others regularly use Scripture in speeches and writings and the American people are completely unaware of its use and how its being used.

Of course the issue is how such a course is to be taught. Back in the day, the Bible was taught, but usually from a Protestant/devotional perspective. Thus the Christian faith itself was being taught by the government. This isn't what Prothero advocates. Instead, he wants it to be taught academically.

One solution to this civic problem is to teach Bible classes in public schools. By Bible classes I do not mean classes in which teachers tell students that Jesus loves them or that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, but academic courses that study the Bible's characters and stories, and the afterlife of the Bible in literature and history. Recently, the Georgia Board of Education gave preliminary approval to two elective Bible courses designed to teach, rather than preach, religion. As long as teachers stick to the curriculum, this is a big step in the right direction.

I do see the value of this, but the problem is finding suitable teachers and a willingness to have the Bible taught in such a way. Many evangelicals aren't going to be happy with a presentation that doesn't privilege the text as sacred scripture. Creationists are going to want to insert a literal interpretation. There is some good curriculum out there, but there is also stuff that you might call "wolves in sheep's clothing," curriculum that seek to insert a definite religious perspective. It's important to remember that America's Catholic parochial schools emerged because nation's schools were using only the Protestant KJV and the Catholic translations were excluded.

And so, any such effort is going to be tricky! I'm curious as to what others think!