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Despite Denials, Bible Literacy Project CLOSELY Aligned with Charles Haynes and the Freedom Forum/First Amendment Center

Contact: Wiley Drake, 2nd Vice President, Southern Baptist Convention, 714-865-8132

 

BUENA PARK, Calif., Jan. 3 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Bible Literacy Project, under scrutiny for being associated with Charles Haynes and those who advance a secular humanist agenda, has tried to distance itself from Charles Haynes of the Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center by saying Haynes is not an "official" Bible Literacy Project spokesman, director, or advisory board member.  Haynes, however, is a partner in developing the guidelines for Bible Literacy Project's controversial textbook "The Bible and Its Influence," as well as a contributor to the textbook itself, according to the Bible Literacy Project's teacher's edition of the text.

 

The very first page of the introduction to the Bible Literacy Project Teacher's Edition cites that "The Bible and Its Influence was created to fulfill the standards of the Bible and Public Schools: A First Amendment Guide, co published by the Bible Literacy Project and the First Amendment Center."  Charles Haynes, the senior scholar of the First Amendment Center, is widely known as the author of the First Amendment Guide. 

 

On Page T12, the Bible Literacy Project's Teacher's Edition says, "So before the development of a high school course began, the Bible Literacy Project worked with the First Amendment Center to create a comprehensive guide that could be used both for the creation and the evaluation of Bible curriculum resources for the public schools."

 

Haynes and/or the First Amendment Center are mentioned no less than 14 times on the first 30 pages of the Teacher's Edition.  The text speaks of the partnership between the Bible Literacy Project and the First Amendment Center and lists as a reference Haynes' joint work with American Civil Liberties Union attorney and activist Oliver Thomas, "Finding Common Ground: A First Amendment Guide To Religion and Public Education."  Also listed as a reference is "Religion and American Education: Rethinking a National Dilemma" by Warren A. Nord, Haynes' coauthor of the Communitarian Network's education manifesto "The Relation of Religion to Moral Education in the Public Schools." 

 

Here Haynes and Nord lay out the Communitarian (described by WorldNetDaily's Joseph Farah as "a form of communism for people who believe in God") approach to socially reengineering the public school system to accept controversial issues such as abortion and homosexuality by teaching all sides of the issue and allowing the student to determine his/her position, assuming there is no right or wrong.  It also suggests teachers should never say what is truth, only teach that truth is important. 

 

The connection of Charles Haynes to the Bible Literacy Project has recently become an issue because Haynes has served on the Pluralism Board with a wiccan high priestess, has inferred in his article "When the Government Prays, No One Wins",  that the National Day of Prayer should be illegal, has called for every school district to have open dialogue about sexual orientation in his document "Public Schools and Sexual Orientation: A First Amendment framework for finding common ground," which is endorsed by the radical Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, and he is a former employee of Americans United For Separation of Church and State.

 

The Bible Literacy Project, according to Dr. Dennis Cuddy, has "32 references to Haynes on its website.   For example, there's a CAPE COD TIMES article referring to Haynes as a member of the BLP's working group of advisors."