There’s a fierce curricular battle going on in Texas, where a blue-ribbon committee of “experts” is trying to revise the statewide “social studies” curriculum.
You may fondly remember previous such battles, like “should we teach kids about the ‘second shooter on the grassy knoll’ theory?” and “should we take a fieldtrip to the studio where they filmed the ‘moon landing’?” and “are seventh-graders mature enough to learn about the small number of international elites (like the Bilderberg Group) who control most of the world’s major governments and corporations and media?”
(In case you don’t remember, the answers were “no,” “no,” and “yes.”)
The current battle is, unfortunately, far less interesting:
Peter Marshall, one of six “expert reviewers” appointed by the State Board of Education to help write the new standards, argues that children cannot get an accurate portrayal of American history without knowing about the religious motivations and Bible-based worldview of the original settlers and Founding Fathers.
“You can’t properly tell American history unless you teach the biblical motivations of the people who discovered the country like Christopher Columbus; the people that settled it like the Pilgrims and Puritans; the people who formed government like the Founding Fathers,” said Marshall, a Presbyterian minister and president of the Massachusetts-based Peter Marshall Ministries. “My point in all of this is that children of this nation need to be taught the truth about the biblical world view. The influence of the Bible and the Christian faith is absolutely gigantic in American history.”
I suppose he’s right. Think about how Columbus refused to baptize the Native Americans so that he could legally enslave them. That could totally count as “biblical motivation.” And “torturing people to maintain order” is totally an Old Testament kind of tactic.
What qualifies Marshall an “expert reviewer” of textbooks? The article doesn’t say, but I’m guessing it’s related to his “How We Can Restore America” plan:
[U]nless we have a rebirth of the Spirit of God in each new generation of Americans, our Constitution will not work, and we will not be able to have a society with liberty and justice for all. Why? The simple reason is that in order to have a just society we have to care for our neighbor. But the Bible tells us that every human being is born with a sinful and fallen nature — we are by nature self-centered. So, in order for us to care about our neighbors we need an infusion of the Spirit of God that will get us out of our natural self-centeredness. That is why we need revival in each generation of Americans.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. But if knowing about people’s biblical motivations is so important, why should we restrict it to “social studies”? Let’s also devote mathematics classes to explaining how famous mathematicians were motivated by their theology, science classes to explaining how famous scientists were motivated by their theology, and home economics classes to explaining how famous home economists were motivated by their theology:
“You can’t properly teach home economics unless you teach the biblical motivations of people who invented the recipes like Betty Crocker; the people who perfected its housekeeping technologies like Mr. Clean; the people who created its sewing techniques like Linda Lockstitch.”
Because if learning about Betty Crocker’s religion doesn’t infuse kids with the Spirit of God, then I can’t think of what would.
Um… Yeah, pretty much. Last time I checked, I think schoolkids are taught about the religious motivations of the original Pilgrims. In fact, I think it ought to be taught in more detail (e.g. how the Pilgrims weren’t actually trying to escape religious persecution per se, they just wanted the right to persecute people who didn’t ascribe to their religion. Salem Witch Trials, here we come!)
I’d also be fine with a little more education about the Founding Fathers’ attitude towards organized religion.
“I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved — the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced! …knavish priests have added prostitutions of it, that fill or might fill the blackest and bloodiest pages of human history.” — John Adams
“Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and dogmatism cannot confine it.” –John Adams
“Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.” –Thomas Jefferson
Granted, most of the founding fathers (including Adams, and maybe even Jefferson though he is often portrayed as a deist) were still ultimately True Believing Christians, but AFAIK current American public education makes no mention of their contempt for the closed-mindedness and intolerance of the churches they were familiar with. I’m entirely down with Peter Marshall’s plan if his intention is to educate schoolkids about this aspect of the Founding Fathers’ “motivations!”