“But I really don’t blame religious zealots like Rev. Peter Marshall and David Barton, both of whom sat on the state’s curriculum advisory panel. They are only doing what they think is best from the perspective of their particular theologies. They are evangelists and they are evangelizing — that’s what they do.”
But you really should be “blaming [these] religious zealots” – exactly BECAUSE they are “evangelizing”! Explain why their ‘beliefs’ should be imposed into school texts and curricula? What on earth has religion to do with public (i.e. secular) schools.
You let them off way too easy.
You are right to “blame the public officials who invited the participation of evangelists in a process which is meant to respect the ideas and needs of the larger public” though. Trouble is, you’ll hear a never-ending chorus of “Let the people decide”.
Help get people’s faith/beliefs out of the public education system.

David Klinghoffer FULLY supports Marshall and Barton in asserting that
“text books which are used should reflect the “Christian roots” of our nation and the Christian faith of our nation’s majority.”

All of this philosophy aside – the deeper problem is the continual use of textBOOKS. With the proliferation of the internet and all the resources it provides, bound paper tomes that threaten the health or students backs are soon to be ineffective and passe. It is time to realize that one central authority – in print or in life – is not on anyone;s best interests. Perhaps it is best to help teach the students to think and evaluate for themselves.
This is a call for a new educational paradigm! That of course means it will be ignored. But isn’t it sad to be exhausting all this time (and eventually all this money!) on a model that is more than a century old and no longer appropriate for the contemporary situation?

Totally agree with you Rabbi, if only we had more level headed people making such decisions. The world needs more Rabbi Hirschfield’s.

I completely agree with you, Rabbi. Whatever happened to the separation of church and state that our founding fathers designed into the Constitution? I believe that these religious people (of any denomination, buy the way) need to stay out of the discussion of what is to be written into textbooks and taught to students. I believe we’ve gone through this issue several times before; for example, when other minority religious groups have brought lawsuits against their children being forced to accept another religion’s dogma and so on over their own.
The Constitution makes this very clear. Separation of church and state is firmly stated. But ever since the first Bush administration religion has been creeping over the line, and has now entered government in full force. Something must be done to prevent any one religion from dominating our government and its principles.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this issue.
I don’t have a problem with religious history being taught in schools. I myself have taught classes on religious diversity to high school students to foster an understanding of the different faiths that make up the American religious landscape, in hopes of promoting something closer to true tolerance and acceptance.
But as you’ve rightly pointed out, “There is a difference between teaching about the history of religion in America and preaching the Gospel to a captive audience of children in our nation’s classrooms.”
Has the Texas Board of Education forgotten about the separation of church and state? The first amendment protects freedom of religion — rather than freedom *from* religion — and unless Texas is prepared to include in their public classrooms religious instruction from every faith tradition, the Board might want to step back and re-think whether preaching has a place in public schools.
Religion is — and should — be a matter of personal and familial choice. If parents want their children to have religious instruction, that’s their responsibility, not the Texas Board of Education’s prerogative.
Or perhaps this is a deliberately provocative effort. Is the Texas board is spoiling for a fight, all the way to the Supreme Court?

On the one hand, I don’t think they should evangelize in textbooks, on the other hand, that is already being done in our classrooms from those on the left. There is a clear bias in most textbooks in the schools today. We can’t exclude the words of Thomas Jefferson (or any of the founding fathers) from history books, just because his words don’t fit the political agenda of those on education boards across the country. There needs to be a balance of some sort.
Also, religion played an important role in the founding of this country, and if that can’t be discussed then we are rewriting the history of this great country. The role it played may not be the role portrayed in the textbooks you are talking about, but it’s also not the role it played in the current textbooks. There must be some middle ground between the religious right who would paint this country as a christian theocracy and the liberal left who would paint it as a socialist / humanistic society.
Would you ever see these words of George Washinton’s farewell address in a liberal history book:
“Let it simply be asked where is the security for prosperity, for reputation, for life; if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in the Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion”
– George Washington
[Farewell Address to the Nation, September 19, 1796]
Or these words:
“It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.
–George Washington
There are many other examples and we can’t just ignore them if we are going to paint a true picture of this country’s history.

Would you ever see these words of George Washinton’s farewell address in a liberal history book: “”Let it simply be asked where is the security for prosperity, for reputation, for life; if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in the Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion”
– George Washington
[Farewell Address to the Nation, September 19, 1796]”
Houghton-Mifflin has this in several of the history text books used in our school. Perhaps if you would actually get out and look at the books being used in school instead of sipping the kool-aid offered by the ignorant fools on the right you would find that many of their statements are demonstrably false.
But of course, that would spoil your meme that Christianity is under attack and actually force you to grow up and learn to live in a pluralistic society that does not bow the knee at the Republican God you worship.

“I blame the public officials who invited the participation of evangelists in a process which is meant to respect the ideas and needs of the larger public.”
This comment made me think of Roger Williams, who believed that Christians had a role to play in civic life as being just one of many voices that need to be woven together to create public policy. The key point here is “one of many”: we Christians should present our views and then try to find common ground with others — not to evangelize through government but to work for the common good of all the people in our communities.
Surely Christians can see the value in many of the civil rights movements of the past 60 years? Surely Christians can work with minority groups to ensure that the struggles of African Americans, Latinas/os, Asian Americans and Native Americans are preserved in our histories? Why is that so difficult? And are Phyllis Schlafley and the NRA really more important than Thurgood Marshall and Cesar Chavez?

Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.
Whatever may be conceded to the influence
of refined education on minds of peculiar
structure, reason and experience both forbid us to
expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion
of religious principle.

“Surely Christians can see the value in many of the civil rights movements of the past 60 years? Surely Christians can work with minority groups to ensure that the struggles of African Americans, Latinas/os, Asian Americans and Native Americans are preserved in our histories? Why is that so difficult?”
It undermines the theme of American triumphalism that resonates through the nationalistic religion practiced by these people. Such sputtering usually marks the beginning of the decline of a nation or society. I sincerely hope that the ravings of these folks is not a similar bellwether.
“And are Phyllis Schlafley and the NRA really more important than Thurgood Marshall and Cesar Chavez?”
To these folks…yes.

So these Bible thumpers are doing what is right from their perspective. Fine. So is Osama bin Laden, and so were the Christians of 500 years ago who burned and tortured Jews, Moslems, and “heretics.” One of the heretics threatened with a horrible death was Galileo, who dared to report that the earth revolves around the sun, not vice-versa.
Many of the founders of this nation were devout Christians, but many were not, and they wisely prohibited the introduction of religion into law. Those who believe that religion should be taught in public schools might have liked living in Spain under Franco or living in present-day Iran or Saudi Arabia.
“Radical clerics” are enemies of genuine faith, whether they’re called sheik or reverend, whether their names are something like Raheeshnishfomunjuru or Robertson and Huckabee.

hlvanburen,
Did I ever say I was a Republican? I’m actually an independent who intends to vote for the Democrat candidate in my states election for Governor. Ummm… and you shouldn’t go around judging what G-d people worship. I don’t fall in line with the Democrats or the Republicans on many issues, which is why I am an independent. Both parties are so riddled with corruption that it’s hard for a G-d fearing person to be happy with either party.
In this case I think they are taking things too far, but I also think that some school books take things too far to the left. It’s easy to criticize the side you are against without listening to them and that’s the problem with our society, everybody is talking and nobody wants to listen. That’s why we have such a huge divide in this country. Let’s take a quick look at one of the things they want to change in the textbooks:
Curriculum standards also will describe the U.S. government as a “constitutional republic,” rather than “democratic”
Ummm… our government is a constitutional republic, not a democracy. Some people would like it to be a democracy, but it’s not. That’s just one example of a completely valid change.

Oh, and if you are Jewish and think the Democrats are pro-Israel, then you should take a look at what their biggest campaign funders think of Jews and Israel. For that matter, see what the Administration thinks of Israel:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_palestinians_israel
I’m not saying Republicans are perfect (obviously not since I am voting for a Democrat for Governor), but the Democrats have some serious issues that you can’t ignore as well.

The so-called secularists have no problem with the teaching of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses in public school. Just as long as it is God.

CORRECTION
Just as long as it is God. — – > Just as long as it isn’t God.

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