Colleges: Bible verses contaminate textbooks

Lawsuit to settle dispute over religious references

Worldnetdaily.com
By: Bob Unruh

Officials at the highest levels of the University of California system are stomping on constitutional religious rights by banning Christian perspectives from educational materials high school students may use to prepare for college entrance, according to a case scheduled for trial later this year.

The case was triggered by the university system's decision that basic physics, American literature and biology textbooks by major Christian book publishers such as Bob Jones University Press and A Beka Book wouldn't qualify for core requirements in the state because of the inclusion of Christian perspectives.

The Association of Christian Schools International, which represents schools serving more than 1.1 million students worldwide, brought the lawsuit against the system run by Robert Dynes, UC president, alleging violations of the freedoms of speech, religion and association, and U.S. District Judge S. James Otero has refused the university's demand for a dismissal.

The move comes in a state where WND also has reported state lawmakers are considering legislation that also would ban many Christian perspectives from public schools as well. The plans would forbid anything that "reflects adversely" on the homosexual lifestyle, so any statement regarding the Bible's condemnation of that lifestyle choice as sinful would be an offense. Even "mom" and "dad" could be banned under the proposal.

The judge said in the Christian school case that the rejection by university officials of several school texts is the issue. "If in fact such rejection is based on Defendants' discrimination of Plaintiffs' applications solely because of the religious viewpoints … such action would run afoul of the limits of Defendants' freedom to determine its admissions policies."

At issue is a new and apparently standardized policy implemented by the UC system – and copied by California State officials – that rejected textbooks that addressed such subjects as literature and biology, but also included a Christian perspective.

The university's action creates issues for students in any schools using those texts, because without state system approval of the core classes during a high school education, students have little or no chance of being accepted to attend the university system.

The lawsuit alleges that the school is discriminating against Christians and the Christian viewpoint, because while a literature text with a Christian viewpoint was disallowed, "Gender Roles in Literature," "Feminine Perspectives in Literature," "Literature from the 60's Movement" and "Gender, Sexuality, and Identity in Literature" all were approved.

Burt Carney, an executive with the school association, said he's met with officials for the university system, and was told that there was no problem with the actual facts in a BJU physics textbook that was disallowed.

In fact, an ACSI report said, UC officials confirmed "that if the Scripture verses that begin each chapter were removed the textbook would likely be approved…"

"It's egregious how they are treating Christian schools in California," Carney told WND. "They are basically saying that any textbooks that include overt Christian content or themes, they're going to reject it automatically."

"Here's the very university that talks about academic freedom," he said. "It's very discriminating. They don't rule against Muslim or Hindu or Jewish [themes} or so forth, only those with a definite Christian theme."

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