Vouchers and “SCIENCE” Text Books

President George W. Bush and Governor Jeb Bush have both opened the door for evaluation and criticism of schools involved in the voucher system and in other faith based endeavors. It should be obvious that tax payer money should not be spent in the public arena without some sort of evaluation.

A very effective method of evaluation of any school curiculum is to examine the books that the school uses. This would give some indication as to the teaching of religion to students on the voucher system. Both Bush’s oppose and the people who support vouchers has assured the public that there would be no religious instruction the these students.

I doubted that because I have reviewed several books that are used in private schools and find that religion is taught first in all classes and the subject matter comes second with certain publishers.

There are a number of publisher who sell text books to private schools. In Florida A BEKA BOOKS of Pensacola Christian College, claims to be the worlds largest publisher of Christian text books. Bob Jones University Press also publishes books on every level, and they distribute thousands of books to religious schools.

My background is in biology and I have evaluated several biology texts in the thirty two years that I was a high school and community college teacher. I purchased and read for review four Bob Jones books and one A Beka book that are being used in science classes. I reviewed Bob Jones 1st (1980) and 2nd (1997) editions of the seventh grade, Life Science For Christian Schools by William S. Pinkston and David R. Anderson, the 8th grade book, Earth Science for Christian Schools, by George Mulfin and Donald E, Snyder (1995), and the 10th grade, Biology for Christian Schools by William S. Pinkston (1999). The A Beka text that I review is Biology, God’s Living Creation.

The overall assessment of these texts is that they are not science books, they are religious books. They are very well done on a craftsmanship level. They have the highest quality paper, the art work is excellent, and they have first class photography.

There are five major points concerning these texts;

1. Rather than describing them as science books, I would say that they are anti-science; the attitude they promote at all times is a disregard for science and the accomplishments of science. In several chapters in all four of the Bob Jones books students are told that if scientific evidence disagrees with the Bible, disregard the scientific evidence. None of the books give any reference to any science book, science journal, or publication found in science literature. Students are told to disregard any statement found in encyclopedias that disagrees with the Bible.

2. The appeal is to authority and not the scientific method. In all three books God, Lord, Creator or Jesus is referred to several times and the Bible is the only reference ever used. The major tenet of science that with new evidence scientists, and the rest of us can change our minds, is completely lost in the authority if the Bible. In Life Science (2nd ed.) there are references to God or Jesus over 380 times, and the Bible was given as a reference over 150 times; in Earth Science God or Jesus is referred to over 200 times, and the Bible verses are given as a reference 82 times; Biology has over 600 references to God or Jesus, and over 350 references to Biblical verses.

3. Fear of eternal damnation and Satan are used to control student thinking, a negative form of the appeal to authority. Students are told that the Bible tells what type of thoughts they should think, what type of thoughts they should not think and since a thought can be right or wrong, it is spiritually significant and has “eternal” consequences.

4. The publishers of these books have a very different definition of science. Science is replaced with phrases like; Some scientists say, it could have been, probably, is it possible that, many Bible scholars agree that, it may have, and it might have been etc.

5. From the title if each text it can be seen that the publishers and the schools that use these books believe that Christians need special books because they believe that their “science” is correct because it is based on the Genesis. These books students that almost all of the basic scientific information about Astronomy, Geology, and Biology that is taught in universities round the world is wrong.

A few examples from the text books will illustrate that these are religious books and teach inaccurate science.

From Life Science page 143, “Was leviathan a fire-breathing dragon? Some skeptics say that since fire-breathing dragons are a myth, the Bible must be a book of fairy tales. Christians must reject such interpretations. Is it possible that a fire-breathing animal really existed? Today some scientists are saying yes.”

Earth Science for Christian Schools says that environmentalists fear for the future, but for the wrong reasons. They teach that the earth will be destroyed in a manner more terrible than their worst fears - not by pollution, but by a sudden judgment of God. They say that there is no need to work to save the environment, that instead people should serve the Lord.

This book declares that many creationists believe that the pre-flood mountains were lower than the present mountains and that the flood of Noah’s time “may” have caused the present mountain ranges. Then as usual it states that only when theories agree with the Bible does science approach the truth of God’s creation.

As unbelievable at it seems for a science book they state that Satan wants people to doubt God, that he bends facts, supplies twisted interpretations, and plants thoughts in peoples minds to make them doubt what the Bible says about Creation.

Biology For Christian Schools address the gay issue by teaching that God calls homosexuality a sin, and those who engage in this act are reprobates and that God condemns them for it along with adultery, fornication, idolatry, and other sins.

My thoughts have been to many of the anti environmental quotes from religious right politicians and the fear that many innocent children could be exposed to these books through the voucher system. I wonder if tax payer money has ever been spent on books published by Bob Jones University Press. I hope not, but this happening in the future seems likely unless the legislature stops the voucher system. A sign of hope comes to me when ever I discuss vouchers with people who are not creation trained. They are always surprise at the material in the Bob Jones and A Beka texts and want to be sure that nothing like then is ever supported by tax payer money. Most think that a religious school teaches regular subjects like English and science with a course or two on religion, but that is not the way it is in many religious schools. Instead religion is taught in every class and the subject matter comes second. The easiest was to discover what is being taught in any school, public or private is to check on which text books are used and who publishes them. Let us hope that the legislature does this and uses facts to determine their vote.