The religious right has gotten involved
in school curriculum issues
Image © Getty Images
Now, however, there's a nifty -- and extensively detailed -- piece in the magazine section of the New York Times (About.com's parent company), in which Russell Shorto takes a long hard look at the religious backgrounds of our founding fathers. Shorto interviews Don McLeroy, a Texan and devout Christian who has gotten involved in the school curriculum debate. McLeroy is part of the state school board, and wants to make sure that Christian beliefs are included in school textbooks -- you know, making sure that kids understand that the earth is only six thousand years old and stuff.
Anyway, the article continues with a fascinating look at religious activism, and the evolution of Thomas Jefferson's "church and state" letter and how it has impacted legal decisions on a national level. Shorto points out that our nations founders -- Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and others -- were "rooted in Christianity -- they were inheritors of the entire European Christian tradition -- and at the same time they were steeped in an Enlightenment rationalism that was, if not opposed to religion, determined to establish separate spheres for faith and reason."
Like I said, it's a long article, but certainly worth reading. It's fascinating and well-researched, and definitely worth the time it takes to get through it.
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I don’t have a problem with saying Under God in My pledge of Allegiance because My God is not Your God and I’m sure the powers that be understand the difference. They tend to be smarter than we give them credit for.
I don’t have a problem with prayer in school or before a football game as long as it is not required or forced and as long as my children can pray to their gods, and Muslims to Allah alongside the Christian God That’s fine with me. It’s supposed to be a free country and yes I understand if you don’t allow someone to light a candle and leave their Athame’s at home. Common Sense should always be the rule.
I don’t have a problem with saying the Founding Fathers of this country were Christian by faith and their decisions were guided by that. But you had better mention they never said every American had to be a Christian or that this nation was built to be the promised land. And you might want to mention that Benjamin Franklin was this side of a heretic, was threatened with excommunication, and happened to be one of the primary authors of the Constitution.
Yes, Religion played a part in the founding of this nation. Yes Religion had a massive role in the shaping of this world from the Age of Enlightenment, the Renaissance, The Inquisition the Crusades and the Burning of Alexandria. There is as much evil done in the name of God (Any God) as there can be imagined…just as there has been great good and acts of sacrifice that stagger the mind. Each should be taught, informed and passed along to teach our children what the effects of their actions are both as inspiration and warning.
This Started out as a rant against Christian Right Wing religion being slipped into children’s history books to revise the history of our nation and the finding of our scientists. I realized though that the real point is that the decisions as to what to include in the books is not being made by professional educators and learned professors…no.. it is made by a dentist, a lobbyist, and a lawyer…2 out of 3 professions are the first to be shot, hung and dismembered in time of revolution. The point here though is not meant to be a rant against religion infiltrating my science or politics… but it is against a dentist telling a teach and professor what should be in a text book. I may enjoy politics and Science and History… but I am not qualified to tell a history teacher or a board of PhD Scientists that they are wrong. So let’s allow the educators make the decisions shall we?
This reflects a lot of an earlier article at the Washington Monthly from last month. It’s a sorry state of things, but at least it shone some light at the end, though not much. The Christians are very forward with their agenda and yet they are able to keep ther positions on the board. Something seems very wrong about that. It’s these types of stories that make me consider moving to Canada or Great Britain. For a country with so much potential, the US really gets in its own way.
Thanks for finding this article…have to say it seems to hit the spot today:-D
A picture is worth a thousand words. Just go to Yahoo Images or Google and type in Statue of George Washington as Zeus. And All the Founding Fathers were Free Masons.
Hey now,( in defense of my fraternity)
not all of the Founders were Freemasons.
Only 9 signers of The Declaration were for sure.
The point I want to make is that if Christianity
was indeed THE religion of these folks then why
did Thomas Jefferson go and write his own Bible
or rewrite one to suit his own needs!???
Not a very Christian thing to do and quite
possibly a very heretical thing to do.
Peace, Love and Blessed Be the Heretics.
Quiet a lot of the “Founding Fathers” were Unitarian or Universalists (two seperate things then). Can’t remember which ones right now, but they were the Biggies. And yes, I know that Unitarianism was a lot more Xian than it is today, but at that time it was still not “true” Xian. And it was accepting of ALL religions as being equal and all people as being equal (yeah, yeah, I know about the slave owners). So this idea of the FFs being one wayers, NOT. BB Diana (a Pagan UU)
I find it interesting that we are totally overlooking the fact that, even though Anglos claim to be “founding fathers” of this land, Native Americans *were here first* and their polytheistic religions are definitely often looked down upon by the closed-minded Dave Schultheises of the world. We are not alone in our religious prosecution. Here is a debate on this perspective. http://www.city-data.com/forum/religion-philosophy/87605-long-ignored-religion-our-real-founding.html
I also found this webpage to be quite interesting and sheds light upon the “Xtian founding Fathers” theory. http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/summer97/secular.html
Makes me want to run for the School Board – maybe even move to Texas and run for their School Board. My chest started to contract and the shortness of breath set in about page 4-5…. I was very much relieved after reading some of the comments posted, but still a very scary tendency…..
As I understand it, the Founding Fathers created a country that is ruled by the people. If this is true, then what they meant or did not mean is moot. They are dead and have been for more than 200 years. Thus this country is ruled by the people now and it is OUR beliefs that matter now. Just as when we die the beliefs of our children and grandchildren will rule this country and be the basis of the Law. What WE teach our children will be this basis. What they learn in school is important, but I remember better what my parents taught me. They believed in the separation of churcha and state and now so do I. This is what I teach the children in my family and hope that it will continue to be interpretation of law in the future.
Rowan says, “They are dead and have been for more than 200 years. Thus this country is ruled by the people now and it is OUR beliefs that matter now.”
That’s fine for daily life, but the discussion is about History textbooks, which need to cover those 200 years ago that you mention. This isn’t just about beliefs, but History books, and not about how the country is ruled. I’m just pointing out that your post is going off-topic a little. I agree with your sentiment though.
As an educator, it is already frightening to me to read the errors in the text books. It is even more frightening to hear my colleagues reactions-half of them could care less and the students are even less concerned than those who try to teach them. Our educational system is already on a downward surge – and I don’t see much hope on the horizon. Religion will just be another excuse for another party day.
By chance, I was listening to a Podcast this evening and it touched on this topic a touch. It’s a discussion with a Virginia guy running for state legislature who is of a mixed religious background consisting of Methodist and Buddhism.
The political guy, Erik, talks about how there has been some out-lash about his religious background, but also some praise from the community. He also brings up Thomas Jefferson,
“But, Thomas Jefferson in that document, which is a founding document of the Commonwealth of Virginia, explicitly laid out that there can be no religious test for candidates to the public office that you’re… basically, it’s a non-issue. Your religion or lack of religion cannot be used as a qualification to hold a public office.”
The linked page above has a link for the audio podcast as well as a transcript of the podcast for those who don’t want to listen. The quote from above is early on in the interview.
If you look at the Treaty of Tripoli, you’ll see it says the USA was NOT founded on the Christian religion(s), but freedom of religion. The Pledge of Alligence originally had no reference to religion, and in my opinion, “under God” should be taken out because it contradicts the whole concept of freedom of religion. While some schools and government areas don’t care if you omitt or change “God”, some do.
The pledge of allegiance was originally an advertising campaign, lol. It has no bearing on anything as far as I am concerned.
If I am correct about my public school history (nurse by profession) …I think it was Thomas Jefferson that founded the first university ever to not have a central chapel but rather a library in it’s stead (Virginia)and even went as far as re-writing the Bible (Jefferson Bible). It was these things along with an overt resistance to forced compliance/ obedience through fear of the Christian God, that had he not been in a position of leadership would have landed him at the knotted end of a noose and eventually did land him poverty stricken at the end of his life. Therefore, I would draw the conclusion that he and his colleges (as you are known by the company you keep) had the express intention of leaving religion separate from state, and Madison and Washington et..al were just not as extreme in action as Jefferson.
I live here in small town Texas and am smothered in the Christian ideology (and hold my tongues sometimes to the point of chewing it off). My son who plays football has been in the huddle – prayer before a game but he really is not offended by it and we talk about what is comfortable for him (if my feelings are not his then so be it). He has just turned 11 and he has come to the conclusion that Jesus likes football so if he (Jesus) wants to help us win then it’s no big deal. I find myself laughing and thinking “so much for your agenda”. I have even considered invoking Jesus, our new football god, when our boys come up against tough rivals. As for in the schools, if you want to push a particular religion it belongs in it’s own class – as an elective in middle/ high school. (and if there is a Christianity 101 then too needs to be a class for each religion to include general paganism. IMO it belongs with art, music and other creative concepts in which a young adult can elect to be exposed or not. I would not support force-feeding our youth any dogma in the name of public (required and tax funded) education. One of the most influential school boards and leader in public education… maybe, uber fundamentalists with an agenda… you bet.
So you’re actually trying to argue that this wasn’t a Christian nation with a secular government, cause it was and it still is. I’ve got a question for ya. If we weren’t a bunch of Christians, back in the day, how did all those people get burned at the stake for witch craft? Answer; the 13 colonies were very religious, and far and away Christian.
Will~ No one was ever burned at the stake for witchcraft in America. Of the twenty people who died in Salem, nineteen were hanged and one was pressed to death — in 1692, nearly a full century before those thirteen colonies became a nation of their own, rather than a group of British controlled colonies.
No one here has ever argued that the early settlers of this country were not Christians.
patti