Ector County Independent School District has hired Liberty Legal Institute, a Plano-based religious-right litigation group, to represent the district in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union challenging the district’s use of the controversial, Chuck Norris-endorsed National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools Bible course. (By the way, NCBCPS is the worst acronym ever.)

In a federal lawsuit of virtually biblical proportions, attorneys for the Ector County Independent School District swear the district won’t be billed for legal services.

The suit — filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and others — asks ECISD to abolish its Bible class because course material in the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools’ curriculum violates individual religious liberties.

ECISD’s board of trustees voted 6-0 May 21 to have Plano-based Liberty Legal Institute represent ECISD at no cost in a federal lawsuit over its Bible course.

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“Everything we do is going to be paid for by us,” Sasser said. “The district doesn’t have to pay a dime — nothing.”

The Institute became involved in the case, Sasser said, because it’s important to “level the playing field” between ECISD and the ACLU.

“Because one of the problems with the ACLU is they try to pick on communities they think they can push around,” Sasser said. “When the school district is in the right, and they are doing things in terms of the letter of the law, they shouldn’t be bullied by people riding into town like this.”

I love Hiram Sasser. When Biblical Studies Professor Mark Chancey from Southern Methodist University reviewed the NCBCPS curriculum for the Texas Freedom Network (which ultimately led to NCBCPS’ changing their curriculum to address some of the sectarian, academic crappiness and plagiarism concerns brought up by the report — but in no way making the curriculum acceptable to be taught in public schools under the Constitution), Sasser, in an obvious reference to TFN, said that anyone who disagrees with his group’s appraisal of NCBCPS’ Bible curriculum “has just got to be French.”

While the district will also be helped by a local law firm (which will be paid by Liberty Legal), I find it interesting that they would contract with a clearly religious-right organization when, ostensibly at least, they are claiming to be following the letter of the law with the curriculum and not pushing a sectarian agenda. Liberty Legal is pushing such an agenda; ipso facto, so is ECISD.