Separation of Church and State – Where, oh where have you gone?

July 18, 2009 · Filed Under Baum's Blog 

I admit that while I try to be open-minded, I really don’t get it when people argue for teaching creationism in public school classrooms.  Creation is a myth, not fact – and I thought school was just the facts, ma’am.  I also thought there was this really cool thing called the separation of Church and State.  Right, there is.  It’s just that some people want to ignore it.

And, now… it has somehow gone to a whole new level.  An article in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday (The Culture Wars’ New Front) discusses a recent fight over school curriculum in Texas.  This time it’s not about biology though.  This time the debate is over how much faith belongs in American history classrooms.

My answer: None.

That would be too simple though.  Three reviewers of Texas’ state social studies curriculum have said the K-12 curriculum should “emphasize the roles of the Bible, the Christian faith, and the civic virtue of religion in the study of American history.”  Two of the reviewers also want to de-emphasize historical figures like Cesar Chavez and Thurgood Marshall because they are seen as liberals.  Wow – liberals.  Huh.

The reviewers want children to know that America’s founding principles are biblical.  What does that mean?  That there were people who established this country by using the Bible as a roadmap?

These reviewers also say that the principles of the separation of powers established in the Constitution come from the Bible which sees man as inherently sinful and in need of a system of checks and balances.  Really?  What else does the Bible say – and by the reviewers’ logic, shouldn’t everything in the Constitution be based on it?  Since when do we use an ancient document written in an entirely different cultural setting to apply to modernity?  And do we really need the Bible to tell us that people sometime do things they shouldn’t?  I figured that out pretty young – on the playground.

I am a fan of teaching Bible – in religious schools.  I am a fan of talking about Torah – in synagogue.  I do not think there is a place for teaching Bible in history or science classes (unless it’s to learn about various religions in a history class). Schools and governments should not make choices about the Bible children learn – families should.

The article quotes a Christian minister saying “We’re in an all-out moral and spiritual civil war for the soul of America.”  I suppose that he would consider winning to mean that we all learn about how important Christianity is and embrace that religion.  Sorry, Minister.  I like being Jewish.  And I really like keeping faith out of the public schools.

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Comments

One Response to “Separation of Church and State – Where, oh where have you gone?”

  1. Cynthia Tyler Says:
    July 18th, 2009 at 8:04 pm

    My first thought is “Oh, my G-d.” And then I realize, that is entirely the point
    My G-d is MY G-d. Not yours, not theirs, and certainly not to be discussed
    in a school that is public, and supposedly secular.
    I think it is good for students to learn about all religions when they are in school.
    It is an unfortunate fact that much of man’s history has been shaped by followers of one religious belief or another. Wars have been instigated by quests for land and its resources, or to quell the perceived threat posed by another religion, and very little else.
    But religion has also been a primary source for much of the world’s artistic expression. If you know nothing of the Christian New Testament you’ll be ignorant of the meaning of thousands of paintings and sculptures produced from the beginning of the Common Era,
    and well into the Renaissance.
    One should learn about religions – all of them. Become educated about the beliefs of others. But there is a big difference between being taught the history of a religion’s development, its effect on political history, its expression in art, and being presented with the tenets of a single system of religious belief as the only truth. And this latter process has no right to a publicly funded classroom during mandated school hours.
    As far as the founding fathers are concerned, while faith was important to many, the winds of Humanism still blew fiercely at that time. The creators of this great experiment we call America were not untouched by the wide-ranging philosophies that floated about
    in the very air they breathed. Why are so many modern-day Christians unwilling to admit that?
    A morally Christian beginning? Tell that to the people who were here first.
    And, please, keep My G-d out of YOUR schools.

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