Perhaps the only group that Donald Trump has consistently kept campaign promises to is the Christofascists with whom he first conspired back in June, 2016, when he promised them the moon if they would rally evangelicals to support him. Since taking office he and the religiously extreme Mike Pence have rolled back policies that protect gays and religious minorities and appointed right wing judges and justices who are disposed to grant special rights to Christian extremists. But as a piece in The Daily Beast explores, these Christian extremists are also striving to push slanted "Bible literacy" courses into the nation's public schools. It is all part of an effort to make right wing Christianity the de facto established religion in the United States. Here are article excerpts:
America is, quite famously, a nation founded on the principle of freedom of religion. As a result it is easy to understand why many people would be uncomfortable with certain kinds of religious practices (mostly notably prayer) and education in public schools. A little over a week agoPresidentTrump tweeted his support for the introduction of Biblical literacy classes in schools, drawing attention to efforts by a variety of Christian groups to put the Bible back on the high school agenda.There is a strategy here: Project Blitz, an initiative sponsored by the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation, the National Legal Foundation and the WallBuilders ProFamily Legislative Network, has been orchestrating the push to create these bills.
[S]ometimes a bill is clearly about more than just biblical literacy, and that's definitely the case with Project Blitz bills.” Other measures that Project Blitz has called for includes the promotion of the motto “In God We Trust,” the introduction of a “year of the Bible” and the limiting of the rights of same-sex couples and transgender people. Chancey told me, “Project Blitz is weaponizing Biblical Literacy for the cultural wars.”
The problems with Biblical literacy courses are twofold. First, the focus on Judeo-Christian traditions to the exclusion of other religious traditions promotes the idea that Christianity is a privileged religion in the United States and misses an opportunity to educate children in the wide range of religious beliefs held by Americans. Second, it’s difficult to teach the Bible in a way that does not prejudice one particular denomination of Christianity.
To give just one truly obvious example, Jews, Catholics, and Protestants do not use the same Bible. Catholics and Protestants don’t even agree on which books the Bible should contain, much less how we should understand the content of those books. Add to this the fact that some denominations read certain passages metaphorically while others are more invested in literalist interpretations, and it’s very difficult to teach a Biblical literacy class in a non-sectarian manner. . . . . Christians should worry as much about denominational indoctrination as much as members of other religious groups and atheists should.
[A]nother problem: the way that Christian organizations weaponize archaeology in the presentation of Biblical texts. The presence of smallish rocks in the region where David fought Goliath isn’t proof of the Biblical story any more than the existence of the Sea of Galilee proves that Jesus walked on water. And even if the textbooks don’t explicitly offer this as proof or evidence of belief, it selectively employs archaeology as a support system for the accuracy of the Bible’s message.
The thing to worry about with Biblical literacy classes is not that they exist, but rather that politicians are introducing bills supporting them in an attempt to “get back” to a fictive point in time in which everyone was ‘Biblically literate.’ The problem with that is not just the distortive presentation of American history, or even the fact that these are efforts to privilege Christianity, but rather that it is impossible to present the Bible in an impartial way. Claiming to do so presents the interpretive tradition of a particular group as the collective beliefs of all Christians.
The solution is simple: keep Bible literacy classes out of the public schools. Period, end of discussion.
3 comments:
Mr. Hamar,
I follow your blog perhaps more often than I need to, both for the political views (which I largely share, and in the case of the pres. gov. of Va., I am very much in agreement with you), as well as the sometimes heart-catching beauties you post. The preening models, not so much.
But I hope I can offer a point of view to temper your ire about biblical literacy, which, by the way, in spite of Protestant protestations that we are a Christian nation, is at a remarkably low ebb, EVEN AMONG PROFESSING XIANS!!
I am, in case you didn't infer this from para. # 1, a gay man. Always was, always will be. I am a Xian--always was, always will be. I am also a Xian who votes liberal. Always have, probably will always swing left . Make of it what you will.
My approach to Biblical literacy (which I hope might defuse a little--by no means all-- of your justifiable concern about anti-LGBT indoctrination) is as follows.
I was an English teacher for 43 years in S.E. Michigan at two independent schools (I know, I know--this offered me some latitude and protection), and I can only confirm what I am sure you already know from your own education: that the political and literary blood and bones of this country were steeped in biblical thinking and references--even, I would argue, in as Out There a poem as Ginsburg's "Howl." Biblical literacy does NOT have to mean biblical indoctrination, and I know this from classroom experience.
I have no objection whatever to classes which introduce comatose 9th graders to the basics of Islam or Hinduism. But I know that Toni Morrison and F. Scott Fitzgerald (to name only two 20th cent. authors!) rely on biblical allusions and references--sometimes for bitter and ironic effect, rather than pious!--and that not to know what they are referring to has the effect of cold water on the scene or emotions in question.
Literacy is one thing; indoctrination is another. I know that some of the folks who drive you crazy want the latter. But offer them the former and see what might happen.
Sincerely, Eric Linder
"Bible literacy" is is codespeak for indoctrination. For the xtianists, there's no 'approach' to teaching the bible and they take the mention of any other canon as a personal affront.
Idiots. Only thing is, they have infiltrated the white house and are waiting for the moment cheeto is indicted to get in the oval office.
Ugh.
Literacy, that is, knowledge or competence in a particular area, regarding the Bible is not necessarily a bad thing, nor is literacy in other religious texts. It is Biblical literality that holds the great danger to democracy, freedom, and indeed rational thought. I hope someday to see open discussion about the, well, madness, of Biblical literacy. Easier to read L. Frank Baum or the Brothers Grimm literally than the Bible. As suggested in earlier comments, mere literacy is not the objective of these zealots.
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