A religious discrimination lawsuit against the University of California system brought by a group of Christian high schools is slated for trial on Dec. 12 in federal court in Los Angeles. The UC system has refused to recognize some high school courses using Christian-based texts as meeting minimum standards for applying students. (See prior posting.) Today's New York Times carries excerpts from textbooks used in the disputed courses. Here are three of them. The full article carries more:
On Thomas Jefferson, from United States History for Christian Schools, written by Timothy Keesee and Mark Sidwell (Bob Jones University, 2001): "American believers can appreciate Jefferson's rich contribution to the development of their nation, but they must beware of his view of Christ as a good teacher but not the incarnate son of God. As the Apostle John said, "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son" (I John 2:22)".
On Mark Twain, from Elements of Literature for Christian Schools, by Ronald Horton, Donalynn Hess and Steven Skeggs (Bob Jones University, 2001): "Twain's outlook was both self-centered and ultimately hopeless. Denying that he was created in the image of God, Twain was able to rid himself of feeling any responsibility to his Creator. At the same time, however, he defiantly cut himself off from God's love. Twain's skepticism was clearly not the honest questioning of a seeker of truth but the deliberate defiance of a confessed rebel."
From Physics for Christian Schools, by R. Terrance Egolf and Linda Shumate (Bob Jones University, 2004): "You are about to embark on an adventure. The study of physics reveals the wonderful orderliness of God's creation - so orderly that it can be comprehended in terms of relatively simple principles (mathematical formulas). ... Physics is important because through it mankind learns how creation actually works. It satisfies our God-given curiosity about nature. Seeing that God does "great things and unsearchable; marvelous things without number" (Job 5:9), men have dedicated their lives to unraveling the rich mysteries of creation."
