The Culture Wars' New Front: U.S. History

The Wall Street Journal has a piece that looks at one of the other areas where the Christianist are seeking to dumb down the nation's students and in the process rewrite the true history of the country. One would think that rejecting science and evolution and peddling creationism lunacy would keep them busy enough, but such is not the case. Their agenda literally includes rewriting history to coincide with their imagined parallel universe. As the saying goes, those who do not history are doomed to repeat it. I truly cannot understand the mindset of those who are so desperate to avoid the truth if it threatens their fragile faith constructs that are in reality a flimsy house of cards - which I guess is a good thing. I also cannot understand why lying is never an issue with such alleged Christians. Here are some highlights from the Journal story:

*

The fight over school curriculum in Texas, recently focused on biology, has entered a new arena, with a brewing debate over how much faith belongs in American history classrooms.

*
The Texas Board of Education, which recently approved new science standards that made room for creationist critiques of evolution, is revising the state's social studies curriculum. In early recommendations from outside experts appointed by the board, a divide has opened over how central religious theology should be to the teaching of history.

*
Three reviewers, appointed by social conservatives, have recommended revamping the K-12 curriculum to emphasize the roles of the Bible, the Christian faith and the civic virtue of religion in the study of American history. Two of them want to remove or de-emphasize references to several historical figures who have become liberal icons, such as César Chávez and Thurgood Marshall.

*

The three reviewers appointed by the moderate and liberal board members are all professors of history or education at Texas universities, including Mr. de la Teja, a former state historian. The reviewers appointed by conservatives include two who run conservative Christian organizations: David Barton, founder of WallBuilders, a group that promotes America's Christian heritage; and Rev. Marshall, who preaches that Watergate, the Vietnam War and Hurricane Katrina were God's judgments on the nation's sexual immorality.

*

[T]he emphasis on Christianity as a driving force is disputed by some historians, who focus on the economic motivation of many colonists and the fractured views of religion among the Founding Fathers. "There appears to me too much politics in some of this," said Lybeth Hodges, a professor of history at Texas Woman's University and another of the curriculum reviewers.

*

[O]utside observers argue that curriculum analysts should be trained academics. "It's important to have trained historians establishing the framework," said David Vigilante, associate director of the National Center for History in the Schools at the University of California, Los Angeles.

*

Detailed examples of suggestions can be seen on the Journal website. It's amazing that as the rest of the world becomes more educated, the Christianists want to dumb down our children to the level of farm animals and/or indoctrinate them like was done in the former Soviet Union. Why not have a witch doctor advise on medical school curriculum? It's not much different than having religious fanatics advise on history curriculum. These people are a clear and present danger to religious freedom and Constitutional government.