Districts in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, New Hampshire and Texas have adopted the $50-a-copy text, which was written in consultation with scholars, religious groups and lawyers. The BLP, based in Fairfax VA, reports that several dozen school districts have stated their intention to adopt the book for next year--but no orders have been placed yet.

Meanwhile, Religion BookLine reports: "The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, which calls the Bible its textbook and supplements it with a 300-page teacher guide, got approvals from 24 new districts in January and from four more in February. That's up from an average of two new districts per month over the past 12 years, according to president Elizabeth Ridenour. 'It's really been snowballing,' said Ridenour."

The Council's website claims that 346 school districts in 37 states have adopted their curriculum. This announcement is accompanied by streaming audio of a trumpet flourish.

The Religion BookLine article observes that the BLP faces "an uphill challenge" to get its text adopted because school districts have avoided teaching potentially controversial Bible-related. (Only 8 percent of districts have such courses.) Additionally, "the BLP text has stirred controversy by touching also on thorny questions of authorship and non-literal interpretations."

To gain acceptance, the BLP has gathered endorsements from Christian conservatives such as prison activist Chuck Colson and National Association of Evangelicals president Ted Haggard. The BLP also recently released statements from six evangelical scholars, who described the curriculum as "compelling," "accurate" and "breathtaking."

The BLP seems undeterred by the text's slow adoption rate. Religion BookLine reported that Sheila Weber, BLP spokeswoman, told them "It takes a long time to get the word out to teachers and students and to shift their curriculum. This is not just a matter of plugging a new algebra book into an algebra course."

Bible Literacy Project:
http://www.bibleliteracy.org

The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools
http://www.bibleinschools.net/sdm.asp