TEXAS: THE BIBLE AS TEXTBOOK

The great state of Texas may make the Bible a textbook:

The bill's author, Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, said learning about the Bible is necessary to understanding America and Western culture.

"We need for people to know why we are the sort of country we are," said Chisum, who teaches Sunday school at a Baptist church. "We ought to know where we come from and why we do what we do."

The bill instructs teachers to teach the Bible from a secular point of view, Chisum said. No text other than the Bible would be required, according to the bill. School districts and students could chose which version to use, and teachers would not need special training, Chisum said.

Bible classes would be offered in the next school year if the bill becomes law.

Bills like this are worth it just for the fun of watching the secularists go ballistic.

'BAMA KNOWS ITS BIBLE

Unlike much of the rest of America, a survey finds that Alabama rates well in biblical literacy:

For example, nearly 70 percent of respondents to last week's Press-Register/University of South Alabama survey correctly named all four canonical Gospels. "They don't call it the Bible Belt for nothing," said Keith Nicholls, a political scientist and director of the USA Polling Group, which conducted the poll.

Most Americans, however, can't identify even one of the four Gospels, according to polls cited by Boston University professor Stephen Prothero, who has received national acclaim for his recent book titled "Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know -- and Doesn't."

The Press-Register/USA poll of 404 adults statewide has a margin of error of 5 percentage points. The survey included some questions that were similar to ones that Prothero has asked his Boston University students.

More than 70 percent of the Alabama respondents knew the location that the Bible identifies as Jesus' birthplace (Bethlehem) and nearly 90 percent correctly stated that a famous phrase from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount -- "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God" -- comes from the Bible.

It's nice to be in Alabama!