Texas textbooks teach America is ‘Christian nation’

[KamaAina]

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2014/11/texas-textbooks-teach-america-is-christian-nation/#ixzz3JOXRgRF9

Liars for Jesus: Christian conservatives in Texas force false historical narratives into public school textbooks, claim the Founding Fathers based the Constitution on the Bible, and the American system of democracy was inspired by Moses.

The Texas State Board of Education will vote Nov. 21 on new social studies textbooks for public schools. An analysis of the new history, geography and civics textbooks up for review reveals dozens of biased, misleading and inaccurate lessons meant to create and perpetuate the false impression that America is a “Christian nation” while denying or minimizing the Founding Father’s support for separation of church and state.

The textbooks were written to align with instructional standards that the Board of Education approved back in 2010 with the explicit intention of forcing social studies teaching to adhere to a conservative Christian agenda. The standards require teachers to emphasize America’s Christian heritage....

Emile Lester, a professor of history in the Department of Political Science and International Affairs at the University of Mary Washington, claimed the textbooks contained “inventions and exaggerations” about Christianity’s influence on the Founding Fathers and, by extension, the formation of American democracy.

And don't forget, boys and girls, publishers hate to print special dumbed-down textbooks just for Texas, so they end up inflicting them on all of us.

[badtoworse]

1. The demographics are what they re.

http://religions.pewforum.org/reports

[el_bryanto]

16. That's not what people mean when they talk about this being a Christian Nation though

What they mean is that Christians should generally be in charge (which they usually are) and that other faiths are basically "second-class citizens."

I'm a Christian myself, but teaching that this nation is a Christian nation leads directly into Dominionist theology which is not good.

Bryant

[badtoworse]

19. I think it's accurate to say that the country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles.

IMO, the founding fathers derived their moral compass from a religious upbringing that was based on Christian teachings. That does not mean they wanted a state religion.

[el_bryanto]

20. That's innaccurate as well

While i agree that Judeo Christian Principles played a role in it - so did enlightenment principals which had little to do with Christianity.

Bryant

[badtoworse]

21. I'll need to look into that, but I'm using a smart phone on the bus right now.

Any links for later?

[arely staircase]

24. America is a Greco-Roman-Judeo-Christiab-Rennaissance-French Enlightenment Nation nr

[badtoworse]

33. I would say that your statement is accurate

It's interesting that if you Google "founding fathers, Judeo-Christian", you get links to articles that make a strong case one way, but Google "founding fathers, enlightenment" and you get a different picture. You're correct; both were factors.

Thanks for pointing that out.

[WinkyDink]

25. You would be incorrect. The FFs were DEISTS who incorporated ENLIGHTENMENT principles; i.e.,

the elevation of SCIENCE, with God considered the "Watchmaker," the "Geometer."

Google is a good enough "link."

[badtoworse]

34. See Post 33

[JustAnotherGen]

2. I draw the line

At exporting it to my school district. My property taxes are extremely high and I feel I should have a greater say and what is taught in the two schools within two miles of me than a bunch jack asses in Texas.

I.E. - It's unfortunate that Texas could drive this.

I think this is something that IF I run for school board (thinking more towards council woman) I would run on a 'don't tread on our town' and push to have alternative TRUE history taught.

I can't imagine the North East states (thinking of where I graduated from high school - NY) would allow Texas to over rule it's Regents curriculum.

[KamaAina]

4. It's not the states, it's the publishers

Texas buys all its textbooks centrally (does the name Texas School Book Depository ring a bell?). And publishers hate to lose that big of a market.

[JustAnotherGen]

6. Oh I'm well aware of that

But the publisher is basically capitulating and thus - will be inflicting this pain on EVERYONE.



Not just the people of Texas.

I take serious issue with this not only as a New Jerseyan who foots the bills of many red states - but as a Unitarian in the same vein as John and Abigail Adams.

[hifiguy]

3. The response of Jefferson, Madison, Adams and Washington, deists all,

You can't fix this kind of stupid. And this kind of stupid might just plow the country over before it can be beaten back into its caves.

[diabeticman]

5. This is a HUGE problem. Texas is where most of American School textsbooks are publish. IF this

book exists in TEXAS it will soon be bought by other school boards throughout U.S.

[JustAnotherGen]

7. Exactly

And where is the protest from the public schools in Texas?

[ctaylors6]

11. Trust me parents protest here in TX,

often mightily. What I and many others have found is that trying to affect an agenda at the state level for a state this size is not nearly as practical as working with the local school district and even directly with an individual school and teachers.

My kids (who range up through high school age) have not had any history classes, with one exception, in which the text book was used as the primary source of information. The text books are often barely used or supplemented extensively, especially at the higher levels of classes (e.g. AP). The one exception was when one of my kids had a Texas history teacher who taught primarily out of the text book, and that teacher still supplemented with outside material a decent amount. When my other kids took Texas history, the text book was not the primary teaching source.

The only classes in which my kids' teachers have used textbooks as the primary resource are the math classes.

[Brother Buzz]

12. That was then, this is now

States can now digitally customize textbooks. They simply need to step up and review the material and make any changes before purchasing.

[Runningdawg]

8. The first home work assignment these students should be given

is to take out their pocket copy of the Constitution (if you do not have one, one will be provided for you) and highlight each and every instance where they find they word CHRISTIAN.

[KamaAina]

10. Yup!

And welcome to DU!

[Runningdawg]

13. Thanks

Life long Democrat, new to forums.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

9. History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free

History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.

-Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, Dec. 6, 1813. (Founding Father)

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

35. I thought he was referring to Roman Catholics then

I haven't done reading on this topic in a long time, but I believe I came to the conclusion that - in the main - the founders were deists who believed that religion was good for the common folk.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

14. Is that most sacred of Texan symbols, The Alamo built by the Jesuits, a Christian place?

I was raised a Catholic and as a kid down south was told by several southerners that I wasn't a Christian. Texans stood and died for a Papal monument. I wonder if that's in the textbook.

[KamaAina]

15. "We all have the right to worship in this country: Christians, Catholics and Jews"

-Marion G. "Pat" Robertson.

[H. Cromwell]

17. Going by the numbers

The United States is a ‘Christian nation.' ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States

Religion in the United States

The majority of Americans (73%) identify themselves as Christians and about 20% have no religious affiliation.[1] According to the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) of 2008, 76% of the American adult population identified themselves as Christians, with 51% professing attendance at a variety of churches that could be considered Protestant or unaffiliated, and 25% professing Catholic beliefs.[3][4] The same survey says that other religions (including, for example, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism) collectively make up about 4% of the adult population, another 15% of the adult population claim no religious affiliation, and 5.2% said they did not know, or they refused to reply.[3] According to a 2012 survey by the Pew forum, 36 percent of Americans state that they attend services nearly every week or more.[5] According to the 2011 Gallup poll, Mississippi is the most religious state in the country, while Vermont is the least religious state.

[KamaAina]

18. That is not what the right means by "Christian nation"

They mean one governed exclusively by Christians, according to their extreme interpretation of "Christian principles". Basically, they want Iran or Saudi Arabia, with Christianity taking the place of Islam.

[Populist_Prole]

22. Bingo. Well said.

They can tap dance all they like with semantics, but the real deal is that they want the US to be a theocracy.

Where the fur is really going to start flying is when the various sects or denominations of christianity struggle for top billing.

[MohRokTah]

44. "Majority Christian" and "Christian Nation" are two completely different things.

It is accurate to say the United States is a majority Christian nation.

Removing the adjective "majority" makes the statement false on its face.

[0rganism]

23. i do wonder how they cover the Treaty of Tripoli (1796)

"Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion... "

[derby378]

29. I imagine the "N-word" will be invoked in any refutation

You just wait. The Klan and neo-Nazis have been getting a little uppity lately.

[KamaAina]

31. Outstanding!

[shenmue]

26. Garbage

[Gothmog]

27. US is not based on christianity

Most or many of the founders were deists and not true christians

[JEFF9K]

28. I wonder if the textbooks will mention ...

that the Republican Party's policies are unChristian?

[walkingman]

30. I think this

is a clear indication that our nation is predominately low IQ. I live in Texas and it truly is like a "Whole 'Nother World"

[KamaAina]

37. Hi, y'all! Much obliged!

And welcome to DU!

[Jim Beard]

32. Back when I was in the 7th grade in 1959 Texas textbooks

for Texas History class stated the Stephen F Austin only brought CHRISTIANS to settle Texas. We all (or many of us) thank Texas was settled by crooks and people running from debt. That is why we have the Homestead Law. Sam Houston had declared Bankruptcy.

[KamaAina]

38. I never knew that!

Another new Texas Dem checking in! Welcome!

[hughee99]

36. Well, on the upside, at least many aren't learning. N/t

[Nye Bevan]

39. Strange how the only textbook excerpt the article gives does not even mention Christianity:

The following, taken from a McGraw-Hill government textbook, is but one problematic example:

"[The] biblical idea of a covenant, an ancient Jewish term meaning a special kind of agreement between the people and God, influenced the formation of colonial governments and contributed to our constitutional structure."

[WillowTree]

40. I thought I heard that they ultimately did not approve those books.

[KamaAina]

41. The vote is Friday.

The Texas State Board of Education will vote Nov. 21 on new social studies textbooks for public schools.

[WillowTree]

42. Ah. Perhaps that's what I heard. I'd be lying if I said that I was paying real close attention.

Thanks for the clarification.

[MohRokTah]

43. California must vote to reject these tex books.

That's the only way. If California votes to reject them, the standard will become the texts chosen by California.

[Archae]

45. I really pissed off a fundy teacher I had in high school...

She tried (but failed) to keep her fundy ideals out of the English classroom we had her for, and she just was not ready for me in the least.

She told us Moses wrote Genesis to Numbers, and was inspired by God in all he did and said.

I piped up, and said "Even when he advocated genocide and taking virgin captives for the purpose of rape?

She called me a liar.

I showed her in her own Bible the passages.

Under God's direction, Moses' army defeats the Midianites. They kill all the adult males, but take the women and children captive. When Moses learns that they left some live, he angrily says: "Have you saved all the women alive? Kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves." So they went back and did as Moses (and presumably God) instructed, killing everyone except for the virgins. In this way they got 32,000 virgins -- Wow! (Even God gets some of the booty -- including the virgins.) Numbers 31:1-54

She blew her stack, trying to have me expelled, I ended up "taking" her class in the library instead.