OKLAHOMA CITY — A high school curriculum supported by Hobby Lobby chain president Steve Green, billed as a way to teach archaeology, history and the arts through Bible stories, also tells students God is always there in times of trouble and that sinners must “suffer the consequences” of disobeying.
The Mustang School Board in suburban Oklahoma City voted this month to place the Museum of the Bible’s curriculum in its schools as an elective for a one-year trial after being assured that the intent is not to proselytize but to use the Bible to explain key principles in the arts and sciences.
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While the course does explain the inspiration behind famous works of art and holds a prism to historical events, it also endorses behavior for religious reasons and implies that bad things happen as a direct result of disregarding God’s rules.
The Associated Press obtained a draft copy of the curriculum from the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma, which got it from the school district.
The ACLU and the Freedom From Religion Foundation say using the curriculum raises constitutional issues and want the school district to reconsider.
The course is promoted by Green, the executive for the crafts store chain who is also a member of the Bible museum’s board. Green, who has said he wants the program in thousands of schools by 2017, declined to speak to the Associated Press.
“This is not about a denomination, or a religion, it’s about a book,” Green told Mustang school board members last November. “We will not try to go down denominational, religious-type roads.”
Among the topics covered by the curriculum are the role of religion in early America and discussing the New World as a haven for those seeking to escape religious persecution. It also talks about the role of religion in art, citing the role of patrons such as the Catholic church and wealthy families during the Renaissance.
Hobby Lobby and a sister company, the Mardel bookstore chain, sued the federal government after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, claiming that providing certain types of birth control to its workers would violate the religious freedom rights of the company’s owners.
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on the case last month.
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