United States District Court (1979) Eastern District of Tennessee, in the case of Wiley v. Franklin, 468 F.Supp. 133, 149-150 (E.D. Tenn. 1979), stated:
<The Bible is replete with writings relevant to such secular subjects and interests as history, both ancient and modern, literature, poetry, music, art, government, social customs and practices, values, behavioral sciences, and, more generally speaking that broad range of subjects, values, interests, and activities encompassed within the generalized phrase "Western Civilization." To ignore the role of the Bible in the vast area of secular subjects such as herein above referred to is to ignore a keystone in the building of an arch, at least in so far as Western history, values and culture are concerned.
Bible study courses can be so designed and taught as not to constitute the teaching of religion and as not to violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment when taught in the public schools.
The Constitutional issue presented in teaching the Bible study courses in the public schools is not the Bible itself, but rather the selectivity, emphasis, objectivity, and interpretative manner, or lack thereof, with which the Bible is taught.
None of the foregoing instructions shall limit or restrain the defendant school boards from entering into any arrangement they may elect with any individual or organization, including the Public School Bible Study Committee, for the funding of the...Bible study courses.> 1979US001
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
1979US001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). United States District Court, 1979, Eastern District of Tennessee, in the case of Wiley v. Franklin, 468 F.Supp. 133, 149-152 (E.D. Tenn. 1979). Elizabeth Ridenour, Public Schools-Bible Curriculum (Greensboro, N.C.: National Council On Bible Curriculum, 1996), pp. 29, 43, 45. Robert K. Skolrood, The National Legal Foundation, letter to National Council on the Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, Sept. 13, 1994, p. 3, 5, 6.