So, Texas is taking a stab at reintroducing biblical teachings and concepts into classrooms beginning next year according to The Associated Press.
At issue is whether basic Judeo/Christian doctrines should be taught from a historical perspective and whether the bleed from history to proselytization is a slippery slope.
Unless one is adamant that such moral and ethical underpinnings were not a part of our nation’s history, a view that most rational people would dismiss, the fact is, we, at a minimum, were once more Christianized and Judaized.
To the extent that ideology may corrupt a historical presentation, I think we are beyond “the earth is flat” narrative.
Routinely, teachers teach moral conduct regarding matters such as kindness, bullying, and good citizenship. Should students not know from where these teachings come from and at least how they relate to American history?
While it is true that Hinduism, Taoism, and the Islamic faith, all teach kindness, as do many other world religions, and for which I am perfectly comfortable saying as such, our foundations come from our unique Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant heritage.
History is history.
When we choose to ignore or dismiss the times in which people contemporaneously lived and say that their stories and values are misaligned today, we forget that it is these value commitments that brought us to where we are today.
To be sure, I am not suggesting a return slavery or women excluded from voting or a host of other past practices that we have remedied, I am only counseling us to consider that we should not proverbially “throw the baby out with the bathwater”.
Some things are transcendently true across all spectrums of religious belief. In our case, it is a Judeo/Christian heritage and perspective.
And while I will not argue that this faith is supremely true, which I believe it to be so, the fact remains that student ignorance of such foundations leaves out a critical component of the American experience and I would argue, exceptionalism.
What is the automobile without Henry Ford or the light bulb without Edison or flight without the Wright brothers? Should we remove such icons and their contributions to society writ large?
As Christmas fast approaches, I cannot see how we are wounded as a people for understanding and teaching our heritage warts and all.
Should we continue to debate and wrestle with theology at the highest levels of education? Yes. But before we can arrive there, it seems that a basic understanding of history harms no one unless historical revisionism is the goal, namely removal of the ethics and morals that guided our forefathers as found in biblical precepts.
My view is onward. Tell the whole story and let people of all ages decide for themselves the merits and possible deficits of Judeo/Christian teachings.
No matter what, though, running away from those that labored to give us such an opportunity to explore and know of their exploits does little to advance us.
Join with the silent chorus and affirm our foundations in the classroom and beyond.
Kent Simmons is the pastor of Canyon Community Church in Kingman, AZ.
