History in the Schools and Texas

On February 11, The New York Times reported on the activities of the Texas State Board of Education and we should all be very afraid.  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/magazine/14texbooks-t.html?pagewanted=1 The Texas State Board of Education has an unusually powerful impact on what is taught not just in Texas but in the entire United States.  A few years ago they went after the science curriculum imposing their will of intelligent design (a code name for creationism) be taught in a nationwide effort to remove the science of evolution.  Now it is time for the history curriculum to fall under their axe. 

Their current plan is to rewrite United States History and make the claim that the founders of our nation were devout Christians and founded the nation on biblical principles.  For anyone that has even a minimal foundation in US History and a basic understanding of our founding fathers they know this is an absolute lie.  Our founders were not devout Christians.  In fact they were devout atheists, agnostics, or deist.  They were most definitely not devout Christians much less fundamental Christians.  George Washington, like many of the Masonic Order, believed there was a grand architect, Thomas Jefferson went so far as to rewrite the Bible removing any reference to God, and Benjamin Franklin believed that if a religion was good it would survive on its own principles and if not it would perish.  These are not men who founded their beliefs, ideas, and visions for the new nation on Christian Biblical precepts.

Many hours of debate were spent defining the role of religion in the new experiment of the United States and the result was the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. 

Due to the dangers our Founding Fathers knew existed in intermingling religion and state functions they  made sure that it was understood there was a wall of separation between church and state. They expressly stated this in the First Amendment to the Constitution. In fact, James Madison, the writer of the Constitution stated, "The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries."  Granted there was a faction of Christians who wanted the United States to be founded on Christians principles but they were soundly defeated by more rational voices. 

There is no doubt religion played a role in the foundation of this nation, but that is exactly what it was - a role.  It was not the foundation.  It would be impossible to teach United States History without teaching about the religious thought that infiltrated various communities, but it would be reprehensible to teach that religion was the basis for our founding documents. 

In order to understand the mentality of the Texas Board of Education, we must understand that they are questioning academic scholars on the point that separation of church and state even appears in the U.S. Constitution.  Therefore, it is important to realize that the arugment is not being fought with a group of rational thinkers, but a group that has decided what they want to believe without regard to any facts.

Since we apparently have become a country of lemmings where we simply do as we are told and critical thought is an archaic activity, this turn of events will be devastating to the continuation of our government. If we do not understand the basic principles upon which our country was founded then there is no way to continue to exist as a nation which protects liberty and freedom. 


I fear what is happening to this country wrapped in the cloak of doing God's work.  If the Texas Board of Education succeeds in their efforts to rewrite the founding of this nation, we will lose the basic vision of what this country is about. The America I know offers hope, opportunity and the chance to be who you are and be respected for the contributions you make to the community.  It is not a country that determines your worthiness by testing your belief in their definition of God.