Yay for Texas!!!

[Peikko 1,575]

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".

Barton says children should be taught that Christianity is the key to "American exceptionalism" because the structure of its democratic system is a recognition that human beings are fallible, and that religion is at the heart of being a virtuous citizen.

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.

"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.

Marshall later told the Wall Street Journal that the struggle over the history curriculum is part of a wider battle. "We're in an all-out moral and spiritual civil war for the soul of America, and the record of American history is right at the heart of it," he said.

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.

Quinn says that the issue is likely to lead to a heated political battle similar to the one in which the religious right tried to force creationism onto the curriculum. While it wasn't able to inject religious theories in to the classroom, the Texas school board did make changes to teaching designed to undermine lessons on evolution such as introducing views that the eye is so complex an organ it must have involved "intelligent design".

"I think, as there was with science, there's going to be a big political battle," he said.

Social studies teachers will meet shortly to consider the panel's views and make their own recommendations to the board of education which has the final say. The board is dominated by conservatives who appointed Barton and Marshall to the panel.

Other states will be watching what happens in Texas carefully as the religious right campaign seeks new ways to insert God in to the classroom after the courts limited the extent to which creationist theories could intrude on the teaching of biology. But religion is not kept out of schools entirely. Many children recite the pledge of allegiance in class each morning which includes a reference to the US as "one nation under God".

The panel made other recommendations.

Barton, a former vice-chairman of the state's Republican party, said that Texas children should no longer be taught about democratic values but republican ones. "We don't pledge allegiance to the flag and the democracy for which it stands," he said.

And while God may be in, some of those he influenced are out.

According to a draft of guidelines for the new curriculum, Washington, Lincoln and Stephen Fuller Austin, known as the Father of Texas after helping to lead it to independence from Mexico, have been removed from history lessons for younger children.

There's no doubt that history education needs a boost in Texas.

According to test results, one-third of students think the Magna Carta was signed by the Pilgrims on the Mayflower and 40% believe Lincoln's 1863 emancipation proclamation was made nearly 90 years earlier at the constitutional convention.

Link

[EstebanTrabajos 7]

gotto go undercover now

[DeadPoolX 9]

That's just stupid. I grew up in Texas and I was never taught such idiocy.

[mawilson 2,133]

Religious indoctrination is critical to America's survival in the 21st century.

The young generation needs to hear the gospel message and learn what it means to be a

Christian in today's world.

It is only through Jesus that we can be connected to the lineage of God and defeat China

and India's economic might.

[sophannaven 0]

no comment.....

[jundp 191]

Oh my.

God is responsible for the birth of America as a nation only because Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic church in the 1500s and declared himself the head of the Church of England. Continued religious persecution in England certainly played a part in the founding of the American colonies, and certainly puritanical prudishness was a part of early American life, but to say that it must be taught in American schools is ridiculous.

I suppose these are the same people who changed history in the texts to show that Native Americans said "hey, please slaughter us and take our lands! Kthxbai!"

[jundp 191]

The young generation needs to hear the gospel message and learn what it means to be a

Christian in today's world.

There's nothing wrong with this, as long as it's done in the context of church, at home with the family, or in a school that is based upon spiritual values. I have no problem with my daughter learning Scripture or morality based on our faith in her Catholic school. However, if she was in a public school I would certainly have a problem with it. I chose to put her in a private, faith-based school.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

These religous freaks are scary stuff, I tell you.

[AnaAndDaniel 0]

guns and God!

yeeehhaaaw!

tejas baby tejas!

Daniel

[Peikko 1,575]

I would rather see critical thinking taught in schools. Outside of school Children and adults can address their spirituality in whichever fashion suits them best.

[DeadPoolX 9]

I would rather see critical thinking taught in schools. Outside of school Children and adults can address their spirituality in whichever fashion suits them best.

The problem with teaching critical thinking is that the teachers have to understand it.

[mawilson 2,133]

These religous freaks are scary stuff, I tell you.

[Peikko 1,575]

Actually, what I would like to see taught is a proper appreciation of ethics. It is quite possible to teach an ethical structure that precludes reference to any god that allows humans to interact respectfully and responsibly. That way, the 'my god says this, your god says that' could be bypassed on those occasions when one's gods are not the same.

I would rather see critical thinking taught in schools. Outside of school Children and adults can address their spirituality in whichever fashion suits them best.

The problem with teaching critical thinking is that the teachers have to understand it.

Well yes, but from little acorns...

Edited July 23, 2009 by Madame Cleo

[Amby 490]

can they go to the atheist summer camp too?

[DeadPoolX 9]

Actually, what I would like to see taught is a proper appreciation of ethics. It is quite possible to teach an ethical structure that precludes reference to any god that allows humans to interact respectfully and responsibly. That way, the 'my god says this, your god says that' could be bypassed for those occasions when one's gods are not the same.

Teaching ethics opens up a whole new can of worms. What's considered ethical here may not be considered ethical somewhere else. It's hard to make students understand that when they're too busy texting each other during class.