The Craig County school system will drop a high school Bible education course that is opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union in favor of a less controversial religious curriculum.

By a 5-0 vote earlier this week, the Craig County School Board decided to drop a course called "The Bible in History and Literature" that is promoted by actor Chuck Norris and has drawn fire from civil liberties organizations in several states who claim it unconstitutionally promotes particular religious beliefs.

But Craig County schools won't do away with Bible study. The current course will be replaced in January with an alternative curriculum more acceptable to the ACLU. The new course is called "The Bible and Its Influence," a product of the Bible Literacy Project, a nonprofit group based in Front Royal.

"The Bible Literacy Project's course isn't perfect, but it attempts to take a broader view of the Bible by showing that it is interpreted in different ways by various religious groups," said Kent Willis, executive director for the ACLU in Virginia, based in Richmond.

The ACLU is a nonprofit group that describes itself as a defender of individual rights. It often works through litigation and legislation.

Critics of the current Bible curriculum in Craig County said it ignores Jewish interpretations, among other things. "We're wary of teaching the Bible in public schools because there's a tendency to teach it in a dogmatic way," Willis said. "The Literacy Project is a better attempt to get across multiple views of the Bible."

But Elizabeth Ridenhour, president of the North Carolina-based National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, the nonprofit group that distributes the course currently in use by Craig County, said the ACLU's description of the material is "totally false."

Roy Blizzard, a specialist in Hebrew studies who formerly taught on the subject at the University of Texas in Austin and is now an adviser to Ridenhour's group, said, "The book being promoted by Elizabeth's organization is a guide, not a textbook. The text in that curriculum is the Bible itself."

Craig County School Board Chairman Jim Stephens, reached by phone Friday, declined to comment on the panel's vote or either Bible course, except to say that certain statements on those matters by the ACLU are inaccurate. He wouldn't elaborate.

This week's vote came after the Virginia affiliate of the ACLU asked for more information about the course that the board approved May 6. The ACLU said it obtained copies of minutes of school board meetings, the curriculum and accompanying literature.

"We'll continue to watch the goings on in Craig County as the course is taught," Willis said, "and we hope that the school board will provide some kind of formal oversight to make certain that the religious liberty of every student is protected."