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Even before new guidelines, Bible on South's reading list By VICKI GUARINO A new curriculum guide released nationally last month tells a group of Medford teachers something they've known for several years: The Bible is a valuable resource for literature studies. "The Bible and Public Schools: A First Amendment Guide" has received across-the-board endorsement from Christian educators, Jewish groups, school boards and labor unions. The guide lays out for teachers a middle ground between those who want Bible courses in schools to promote faith and those who prefer God never be mentioned in the classroom. It encourages schools to offer courses in the Bible as literature; explain the role of religion in political and social movements such as abolition, temperance and civil rights; and expose students to the basic ideas of the world's major religions. Those are some of the things South Medford High School teachers have been doing for five years. Freshmen in honors English classes have been reading Genesis to gain a background and understanding of the Jewish people in connection with a classroom examination of the Holocaust. Genesis tells students something of the history of the Jewish people, engendering a deeper understanding of the Holocaust, says South teacher Todd Bloomquist. South students read, discuss and analyze the Bible not as history or as a matter of faith, but as literature, he says. The stories of Genesis stand on their own as literary works and serve to illuminate Jewish history, says Bloomquist, and they provide students with reference points for further reading throughout high school and college. "The Bible is the single most quoted piece of literature that has ever been written," Bloomquist says. "It's the biggest publication there is. Ignoring it is silly." The newly released education guide makes a similar conclusion. Students "cannot be uncritically taught to accept the Bible as literally true, as history," the guide states, but neither can schools "jettison accounts of miraculous events ... for it radically distorts the meaning of the Bible." The guide was developed by the Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., and the National Bible Association. "The First Amendment is not intended to make our schools a religion-free zone," said Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the center. It was the very presence of the Bible at South that prompted Bloomquist to introduce it in the classroom. He came across volumes of the King James Bible, given freely by Gideons International, in a South storeroom. At the time, Bloomquist was looking for materials for students that he could tie into the Holocaust studies. "I was looking for resources and I stumbled across those Gideon Bibles," he said. Bibles long have been acceptable as a teaching resource, Bloomquist found when he checked Medford school district curriculum guides. He figures the book fell into disuse because teachers became wary of its potential political charge. "I think people are scared of it, and there's an assumption that you can't use it, but that's not true at all," he says. "It's not illegal as long as it's taught appropriately." Publishers of the "Bible and Public Schools" guide point out that the Supreme Court has ruled that public schools may teach students about the Bible as long as the teaching is "presented objectively as part of a secular program of education." Bloomquist says, "No one wants anybody's faith or theology jammed down their kid's throats." Aware of the potential for misunderstanding, however, Bloomquist and other South teachers have made a point of discussing the Bible use in the classroom during parent conferences. Also, the teachers send a letter home explaining the literary study. Only once has a parent expressed concern, but the issues were resolved after a conference with Bloomquist. "I'd say if there has been any comment at all it has been a very positive response," he says. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA