Texas education officials backed a new elementary school curriculum aimed at returning the Bible to public school education. This decision, although not without controversy, is a positive step toward American roots.
The movement toward a curriculum that returns the Bible to public education follows such moves as Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters purchases Bibles for classroom usage and the Louisiana State legislature requires a poster displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms across the state.
Rather than dealing with the ins and outs of public policy, it is far more crucial that Americans understand the fundamental argument as to why not only the Bible, but also the broader Christian tradition, is necessary as a pillar of public education.
American history is fundamentally Christian. Western history is fundamentally Christian. Any proper student of history, literature, art and, most importantly, the moral fabric of the nation they inhabit must understand the claims presented in the Bible and ultimately fulfilled in the Gospels.
One does not have to convert to the Christian faith, but they should most decidedly not remain ignorant of it, lest they forfeit their inheritance.
The popular spirit of the liberal cries total religious representation or no representation at all and that cry has ultimately led to a complete apprehension to educating young students on the history of their nation. Public dissatisfaction has also made educators shrivel away from the true questions that liberal education seeks to teach its students. For example, what is the good? What is justice? What is a good life and how can people achieve it?
The purpose of liberal education has historically been understood, up until recently, to liberate man from his passions, to raise him from his bestial nature, to edify him and to allow him to contribute positively to his community in ways both moral and economic.
By removing the Bible as the foundational text for the basis of Western education, students have been left foolish, ignorant of their cultures and amoral.
As a result, many young people remained petrified to make any substantive claims about the nature of reality lest they appear intolerant. There were never demands for students to convert to Christianity or become mass-attending Catholics. Still, young adults and students should have a substantive grasp on the heartbeat that animates the fabric of their lives.
Many foundational documents that shaped the formation of the United States referred to God and the Bible. These were not claims that hinged on some abstract and metaphysical idea of an impersonal being somewhere in the universe, but rather on the Christian God. This is the very same God who became man, walked among people and demanded all men be granted equal rights because they were made in His image, and that was reason enough.
If the American people continue to remain ignorant of their culture and religious heritage, the culture will simply cannibalize itself and the salt will lose its taste, having forgotten its identity as a “shining city on a hill.”
Education has become amoral, which in turn contributes to corruption, immorality and evil that pervades today’s society.
In his seminal work “The Abolition of Man,” C.S. Lewis made a striking comment on the necessity of a properly educated and morally formed society that was as applicable in his day as it is today.
“In a sort of ghastly simplicity, we remove the organ and demand the function,” Lewis said. “We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.”
One can only pray we thaw out our nation’s heart lest it be lost too soon.
