The Christian right is making a fresh push to force religion onto the school curriculum in Texas with the state’s education board about to consider recommendations that children be taught that there would be no United States if it had not been for God.
Members of a panel of experts appointed by the board to revise the state’s history curriculum, who include a Christian fundamentalist preacher who says he is fighting a war for America’s moral soul, want lessons to emphasise the part played by Christianity in the founding of the US and that religion is a civic virtue.
Opponents have decried the move as an attempt to insert religious teachings in to the classroom by stealth, similar to the Christian right’s partially successful attempt to limit the teaching of evolution in biology lessons in Texas.
One of the panel, David Barton, founder of a Christian heritage group called WallBuilders, argues that the curriculum should reflect the fact that the US Constitution was written with God in mind including that “there is a fixed moral law derived from God and nature”, that “there is a creator” and “government exists primarily to protect God-given rights to every individual”…
Another of the experts is Reverend Peter Marshall, who heads his own Christian ministry and preaches that Hurricane Katrina and defeat in the Vietnam war were God’s punishment for sexual promiscuity and tolerance of homosexuals. Marshall recommended that children be taught about the “motivational role” of the Bible and Christianity in establishing the original colonies that later became the US…
Dan Quinn of the Texas Freedom Network, which describes itself as a “counter to the religious right”, called the recommendations “troubling”. “I don’t think anyone disputes that faith played a role in our history. But it’s a stretch to say that it played the role described by David Barton and Peter Marshall. They’re absurdly unqualified to be considered experts. It’s a very deceptive and devious way to distort the curriculum in our public schools,” he said.
Not that being biased and unqualified means much to American politicians – Texas flavor or otherwise.
“God given rights?”–hah, hah. Rights that god doesn’t recognize in his own kingdom? People voting and determining their own destiny is about as anti-god as you can get.
Give me a break.
I need a T-shirt that says, “Absurdly Unqualified” on it.
this generation of kids are already dumb as shit. they can’t read, write, or do basic math skills, so lets add one more subject that they’ll fail at spectacularly.
P.S. the era of the public school is almost over. the smart kids go to private, charter, or special magnet schools run by private companies. the only ones that go to public schools are the retards (both figuratively and literally) the poor, and the criminal scum.
Thanks you Texas … for taking the heat off Kansas. What a bunch of goobers.
I’m perfectly fine with it if they can prove the existence of their imaginary friend in the sky. 🙂
@ #3
Public schools aren’t that bad. They could certainly be better, but I went to public school in Oklahoma and I think the classes were adequate. I was able to take math all the way up to calculus. History was the only subject that really sucked. There are very few good history teachers, they’re all coaches.
Living in Austin, I forget just how stupid this state is 10 miles in any direction out of town!
As an atheist, I still do give credit to the mostly god-fearing persons who settled, pillaged and founded this country. Just as there would be no Russia in its current form without Lenin or Stalin, Germany without Hitler, France without Napoleon. In spite of these negative historical figures who undoubtedly changed the direction of a land area, they must still be acknowledged in a neutral as possible way so that we can learn from their successes and mistakes. I am not supporting the TX position, just there can be discussion of what morality existed during the founding of the USA and not communicate a desire to return to it or make fun of it. However, we can still laugh at people believing Zeus came down in the form of a swan to seduce Leda, because that is some funny stuff.
#3
They’re already so dumb that even by adding moronic classes such as career education (a whole year) and cooking most are still failing. Every time I see my brother’s class schedule I literally want to strangle whomever assign them. How the hell can you have a class schedule for a whole year with no Science, Math, English, History, etc?
All of these arguments simply show (if you believe them) that there wouldn’t be a United States if there wasn’t a “belief” in God. That’s not the same as there actually being a God. There wouldn’t have been a Soviet Union if there wasn’t a “belief” that communism worked better than capitalism. That doesn’t make it so.
“If this is your God, he’s not very impressive. He has so many psychological problems; he’s so insecure. He demands worship every seven days. He goes out and creates faulty Humans and then blames them for his own mistakes. He’s a pretty poor excuse for a Supreme Being.” —Gene Roddenberry
Being a Texan I feel that I must say this happens a lot. A year rarely goes by without several people attempting to change the way our children are taught about faith and religion. If they merely want to acknowledge the fact that the founders were religious and their relationship with Christianity helped the American revolution, I don’t think that is so bad, as long as they are able to give a full view of the issue, and not a three line paragraph.
It’s Texas. Enough said!
Christian fundamentalist give the mentally ill a bad name.
100 % tax deductible.
http://www.ffrf.org/
There you go #10, way to bring sanity to the discussion.
#3 – You’re an idiot. Poor reading, writing, math, etc. isn’t a result of poor public schools. It’s a result of poor parenting. A free quality education is available for any kid who chooses to take advantage of that opportunity. Unfortunately many parents are failing at instilling within their kids a desire to succeed.
BTW – the public school my kids are attending is currently experiencing a population explosion from all of the transfers from local private schools. It’s not the economy causing it, it’s the fact that the public schools (Anne Arundel, MD) are outperforming almost all of the private schools in the area. Luckily people hear still know how to raise their kids.
Yeah, that’s why the Declaration on Independence and the Magna Carta both use GOD as the basis of our rights.
Yes, in GOD’s Kingdom you do get to vote and exercise your free will. You either believe and obey out of love for GOD, Christ and the Holy Spirit or you don’t and you exercise your free will not to be part of HIS Kingdom. That’s the ultimate in voting rights, try that with Hillary and President Hussein’s Health Care. You’ll be in prison faster that a Muslim can cut off you head, well that both the same so whatever. You Globalist Commies know what I mean, you are such cowards and hypocrites. Typical of Eidead.
Whatever…………….
Traaxx
So, how are they different from the Taliban?
Uncle Dave…you’re gonna have to get permission from the owner of that trademark, Mrs. Palin.
If the Texas history books are worth a damn, they already cover the Spanish Catholic influence that was central to the settlement of Texas in the first place. California, too. The relevant religious history is already there.
McRowan you’re right…#3 is a moran.
Hey traax==which is worse, being in prison for a lifetime imposed by someone who hates you, or being in hell for eternity imposed by someone who loves you? Concentrate on the time span. Good catholics always crack me up. Free Will–what god causes is your fault.
Hah, hah.
Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone upon man
-Thomas Jefferson
During fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been it its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolences in the clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution
-James Madison
Lighthouses are more useful than churches
-Benjamin Franklin
This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it
-John Adams
Hmmm. I wonder if they’ll be teaching those quotes along with it.
“Not that being biased and unqualified means much to American politicians – Texas flavor or otherwise.”
Why pick on Texas? Sure they may be ignorant people with views you don’t share but Texas is way ahead of California economically and educationally.
Sure California was ahead of Louisiana last year educationally if not economically but after the education cuts they just made that won’t last. They’re going to be dead last in the nation. Yeah I know they were once first in the nation but that was before the progressives and liberals took over and improved things.
In fact this is a major issue with me. If ignorant narrow minded religious people can do a vastly better job of running a state than educated liberal/progressive elites what does it say about the relative value/usefulness of each groups education and values systems?
I’m pragmatic and if it doesn’t work it isn’t good.
The fact is Texas is in much better shape than the United States Government which in my humble opinion has the worst Congress and President in the History of the nation based on performance certainly counting LBJ which was the previous low mark in my life time.
Of course the Obama foreign policies will need to be demonstrated to be as outrageously brain dead and destructive to the nation as his domestic policies before he can exceed LBJ on that front but he hasn’t been in office for a year yet so there is still plenty of time and he’s certainly made LBJ look like a financial and economic Genus of the first order.
LBJ heath care reforms were also vastly more helpful to the people (I don’t think he had any but in this case nothing is vastly better than a completely botched plan that will make heath care worse.
I think the Obama health care planners are the kind of people that would put a tourniquet around somebody’s neck to stop the bleeding.) I thought the first rule in medicine was first do no harm?
My extremely negative views of Obama are something I have only reached in the last few months. I tried to give him and his party the benefit of the doubt but they convinced me.
We got what for TARP?
We are getting some government jobs from the Stimulus plan but if this was supposed to have some sort of immediate effect why have we only spent less than 8% of the funds? If we were only going to spend 30% or so of the funds in the next year or two why was the rest even in a stimulus plan for this year?
Answer: Very little of the money in the Stimulus plan was ever meant as stimulus money.
Crap and Trade: Somewhere between two and three million jobs down the tube with most of the jobs going to nations that aren’t going to make people pay a thousand or more dollars a year more for energy than needed for no reduction in CO2 production world wide.
Conclusion: We are about to take a lot of pain for no gain.
The Health Care Reform: For What is almost certainly going to cost over a trillion and a half dollars in a few years we are going to end up with worse health care for most Americans and more people dying younger.
I thought reform made things better? Not with these people running things.
Tell me again why I should vote Democrat? Sure shrub made a lot of bad choices but so for as I can see the Democrats have squared, cubed and raised his follies to the tenth power in less than a year.
I knew they were fiscal incompetents that thought Santa Claus paid the bills but I’m still flummoxed by their powers to damage this nation and the numbers of people that support their Santa Claus doctrine.
Church and religion – and most notably church governance and the experience in distributed/multilevel governance that the people of the US gained through it – are absolutely culturally indispensible to the series of events that led to a successful nation being founded here. My undergraduate advisor wrote a book on the subject – after a brief search I have failed to find a link, please give me a second while I reel once again from the fact that I was in college 20 years ago – but it’s a fascinating subject.
Did you know that ‘presbyter’ means roughly the same thing as ‘soviet’? It refers to the system of local committees which delegate members to regional committees which delegate to national (no doubt skipping steps there, you get the idea)…
That said, a study of the impact of religion on political culture is quite distinct from a study of religion itself. However, it does appear from the article that it is the former being discussed here:
————–
“In light of the overwhelming historical evidence of the influence of the Christian faith in the founding of America, it is simply not up to acceptable academic standards that throughout the social studies (curriculum standards) I could only find one reference to the role of religion in America’s past,” Marshall wrote in his submission.
—————
I also like what they’re trying to do re: using the term ‘republican values’ rather than ‘democratic values’ – without reference to the party names – we are a republic, and the founders were rightfully scornful of democracy as a form of government. Historically democracy is a stage republics fall through on their way to tyranny. Of course ‘democratic’ is fine – indispensible, even – as an adjective that applies to your republic.
Oh, and as usual, Eidard is inaccurate and inflammatory with his small contribution to the posting.
No one is planning to re-write history, Eidard. RTFA >you< posted.
Words mean things.
Mr. Baggins, the textbooks are NOT worth a damn, read the article – that’s exactly what they’re trying to include.
Mcrowan, if in your tiny little world the public schools are wonderful and the private schools suck, that’s great for you. Meanwhile, nationally, our public schools are a DISGRACE. Try to keep up.
#24 Bob…Add Michener’s Texas to the required reading list and be done with it.
#23–bob==Eideard is actually one of the worst editors in posting misleading headlines. Often he thinks it is funny to stir us up.
Nonetheless, on this particular posting, he is being quite accurate while you are not.
I did rtfa==perhaps too quickly.
Care to provide specifics?
#27 bobbo said “Eideard is actually one of the worst editors in posting misleading headlines. Often he thinks it is funny to stir us up.”
Maybe that’s why he’s a good editor. I bet if you did a measure of the number of responses to his posts he might be highest.
#23 bob…the article says nothing about the current history books, pro or con. And maybe you want to look up the definition of “exactly.”
FWIW, just a week ago I spent a day with a bunch of Texas teachers discussing a couple new books they may eventually (hopefully) use in some classes…books I wrote. I have some awareness for the textbook adoption process in Texas. I don’t do history books, however. These religious nutsacks are attempting to incorporate a bunch of crap into the next generation of history books, nothing more than that.
Go jump on the moran bus with joe, ok?
#28–qb==obviously, I defined “good” as being accurate. Obviously, you define “good” as raising the number of responses.
I maintain that you cannot be “good” and inaccurate. I maintain that raising the number of responses is not good in and of itself. I propose that “the best” editor is one that can be/do both.