Dallas, USA - Two advocacy groups filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against a West Texas school district on behalf of eight parents who say a Bible course violates their religious liberty.
The American Civil Liberties Union and People for the American Way Foundation sued the Ector County Independent School District, asking the Odessa school system to stop teaching the course.
"Religion is very important in my family and we are very involved in our religious community. But the public schools are no place for religious indoctrination that promotes certain beliefs that not all the kids in the school share," Doug Hildebrand, a Presbyterian deacon who is among the plaintiffs, said in a written statement released by the ACLU.
The Ector school board approved the high school elective in 2005. It teaches the King James version of the sacred text using material produced by the Greensboro, North Carolina-based National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, and uses the Bible as the students' textbook.
Backers of the National Council include David Barton, who operates a Web site that promotes helping local officials develop policies that reflect Biblical views and encourages Christian involvement in civic affairs. Other supporters of the program include the conservative American Family Association, Eagle Forum and Plano-based Liberty Legal Institute.
"There is no question that these Bible electives are constitutional," said Kelly Shackelford, Liberty Legal's chief counsel. "The United States Supreme Court has stated more than once that teaching about the Bible is not only constitutional, but essential to a quality education. This lawsuit is a loser."
Critics claim the coursework contains errors, dubious research and blatantly favors a fundamentalist, Protestant view of the Bible.
Lisa Graybill, legal director of the ACLU of Texas, said the National Council course is "basically a Sunday School class within the walls of a public school."
Mike Adkins, spokesman for the Ector Independent School District, said previously that the district is comfortable with its curriculum.
School Superintendent Wendell Sollis said district officials are reviewing the lawsuit with their lawyer, and declined to comment further. "We are not going to debate the individual points of the suit publicly," he said.