Home Schooling

On September 11, 2001 religious fanatics of a backwards sect of Islam crashed four jetliners in an attempt to strike a blow for their God in the name of everything they considered holy. Some 3000 people died that day in the United States due to the action of 19 hijackers with a misguided and narrow view of religious duty. We tend to lessen the impact of the religious part of this equation in this country because we as a people don’t want to face up to the fact that it was a religious act to the 19 men who carried it out.

Most American’s ideas of religion have little to do with war or terror but history tells us that this is a willing misunderstanding of the true nature of organized religion. Throughout recorded history human beings have been slaughtering each other over religious ideas. This is an undeniable side effect of all organized religion. The Islamic fundamentalist holds neither a monopoly nor even a patent on religious terrorism. The seeds of religious terrorism go as far back as the beginnings of Judaism and have been an undeniable and indispensible tool of the leaders of organized religion since the very beginning of all three major western faiths, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

The power that goes along with leadership in organized religions has been shown again and again throughout our history to be corruptive and violent in extreme. In a country that prides itself on its humanitarianism and undeniably is a leader in this area of human endeavor, the US is also home to a large and seemingly growing base of religious fanatics determined to carry out a holy war against the infidels. Infidels in this case are defined as anyone who doesn’t agree with religious orthodoxy; the correct orthodoxy in their view but an untrammeled and ill conceived orthodoxy that is actually little more than ancient tribal hatred carried through 3 thousand years of power consolidation.

In this country we seem to be massively confused by common terms that are used as bulwarks against the spread of knowledge that could ameliorate these hatreds. We have an idea of religious tolerance that closely matches the “don’t ask, don’t tell” silliness that today is the official policy for gays in the military. If you wonder where such a silly idea could come from it is burned into our psyche from our confusion about what religious tolerance means. Tolerance is defined as:

"a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry"

Fair, objective and free from bigotry is one thing; it is not synonymous with blissfully ignorant or willingly confused. There is a quote from Thomas Jefferson that is often bandied about in support of our current understanding of religious tolerance:

“But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg”.

Unfortunately, this is the second of two sentences in his famous “Notes on Virginia”. The first sentence comes more to the point of our current problems:

“The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others”.

Jefferson, one of our earliest and most ardent supporters of religious freedom, understood that there is in this freedom, as in all others, a dividing line between our individual freedoms and those of our fellow man. This point is the dividing line between liberty and tyranny, the point where your rights begin to infringe upon my own. While it is inherently necessary for us to give everyone a right to their own opinion it is also undoubtedly necessary for us to know where the line between opinion and danger to others exists. If your religious opinions include the idea that you are duty bound to kill others who don’t believe as you do we have crossed that line. I would further submit if your religious opinions include the idea that an apocalyptic bloodbath is inevitable in our future and that everyone must either ascribe to your views or be in league with the devil then we have also crossed that line. Ideas influence action. We cannot realistically separate our actions from our beliefs so it is imperative that we should re-examine our beliefs.

In my opinion we have obliterated that line with our current understanding of the term religious tolerance. We don’t ask the questions that point out the ludicrous nature of belief systems out of some misguided notion that it would be intolerant to do so. We don’t bring the dank ignorance of fundamentalist religion out into the light of logic because of this same misunderstanding of terms. The fundamentalist Islamic, the fundamentalist Christian, and the fundamentalist Jew hold ideas that are illogical, unreasonable, and dangerous to those of us who believe reason and discourse to be the guides to understanding but we don’t bring these ideas out into the open because we misunderstand the term tolerance. Tolerance doesn’t mean we shouldn’t discuss such things, it means we should give all ideas the same consideration and equal weight in discovering their veracity or lack thereof.

We don’t accept cold fusion because no one has been able to prove it but we routinely accept such silliness as virgin births, resurrection, and turning water into wine because it is written in some ancient tribal manuscript thousands of years ago by people who were neither there to witness it nor a part of that generation. Not only do we accept such lunacy, we use it as a root basis for our world view.

Can anyone deny that the US attachment to Israel is based on the ideas promulgated in the Bible? Seriously; a chosen people who have the right to displace another ancient tribe because an ancient set of books written by the founders of this tribe says it will be so?

How do we, as reasonable human beings possibly combat ideas that purport to come directly from an all knowing being?

Any argument that devolves into the hysteria of ancient manuscripts from violent wandering tribes or the unquestioned belief that an all knowing being commanded a chosen few is an argument for infantile children, yet we seem to accept it as an end to discussion when carried out in public in this country every single day. Ignorance can thrive only in the absence of knowledge. Organized religions have known this for centuries, which is exactly why Copernicus correct theories were ostracized and Galileo himself spent the latter years of his life under house arrest. Organized religion has always been against the spread of knowledge for the simple reason that many of its most basic tenets rest upon the ignorant utterances of its founders. Remove these props and the whole theory collapses; hence the leaders of organized religion’s historical fear of knowledge.

While it was undoubtedly retardant to the spread of scientific knowledge, the persecutions of the Christian Church against Galileo and Copernicus’ theories pale in comparison to the dangers presented by the Pandora ’s Box of fundamentalist violence that we see in the world all around us today. The Middle East is a powder keg of war and violence between Jews, Islamics, and Christians that is starting to spill over into Europe. Africa is much the same way yet we persist in ignoring the incontrovertible fact that organized religion is at the root of many of these conflicts.

We find the ideas of Islam that call for violence against the non-believers to be anathema yet we ignore the fact that Christianity and Judaism are rooted in the same ideas. Christianity itself is steeped in the idea that an unavoidable apocalyptic all consuming war is the future of mankind. While modern day Christians may preach tolerance and respect for all religions they hold at heart the idea that all must one day join with them or with the forces of evil. There is no real tolerance in these ideas, only a mild forbearance of the perceived ignorance of those not yet converted or indoctrinated in the faith. The very idea that one all knowing being revealed the truth to one set of people in one set of books is the antithesis of tolerance; rather it is the source of all intolerance. After all, if you truly have the belief that all mighty God has spoken it becomes sacrilege for man to question with his power of reason.

The only true solution to many of the problems in the world today requires that we as a people drop some of these ancient tribal superstitions and begin dealing with each other as human beings. Since most of these ideas are passed from generation to generation through the family it is imperative that we find ways to discuss them, to hold them up to the public light of reason. Every time we turn away in silence and bite our tongue in some misbegotten idea of tolerance, we allow ignorance to spread. Every time we avoid the subject when we are proselytized by the faithful we follow this same path. Conversation, reason, and understanding can only conquer ignorance if we attend to it by practicing their usage.

All of this leads to the reasons for this post. Recently, I read an article about home schooling. While most everyone agrees that public education in this country is at the nadir of effectiveness I am not sure we understand the consequences of mass home schooling or the reality as to why many groups are advocating it.

Unfortunately, home schooling in many cases has become synonymous with religious indoctrination. Without even going into the fact that it does little or nothing to prepare children for dealing with their peers, some of the curriculum being taught is narrow at best and flat out erroneous in many cases. We are all familiar with efforts to indoctrinate “intelligent design” into our public classrooms as some sort of pseudo-scientific alternative to evolution and I was not at all surprised to find that this is one of the basic tenets of many such programs but I was a little surprised at some of the other things that are being taught as factual.

“Under God” is one such textbook being advertised as an entry level study of government. The title gives this one away, but here is an excerpt describing its content:

“The purpose of this essential book is best set forth in the preface: “The goal of 'Under God' is to develop effective citizens within the framework of the Christian faith and Christian principles. To help students attain this goal, 'Under God' includes sound ideas about the foundations of constitutional government and the historical background of United States government. The starting point in teaching government is the basic conviction that God ordains it. He is the source of authority. That concept is the root of good government. The fear of the Lord is not only the basis, but also the motivation for good citizenship."

The starting point in teaching about United States government is the basic conviction that God ordains it? The fear of the Lord is not only the basis, but also the motivation for good citizenship? Of course what is not said but certainly implied here is that the Godless cannot possibly be good citizens under the United States government. This is about as far from the guiding principles put forth in our Constitution as one can possibly get. It is in fact advocating an all knowing dictator, the fear of whom is the true basis and motivation for good government. It is mind boggling that we could accept this as teaching literature from which to learn about US Government and I find it a little scary to think that this is how even a small part of the present generation is being taught. The book is further recommended with the following passage:

“Under God is recommended as a textbook for an 8th or 9th grade course in U.S. government. Its structure and presentation, however, make it a valuable text for high school students and adults who do not have a thorough understanding of our government and its roots. Originally published in 1966 by The National Union of Christian Schools (now Christian Schools International), "Under God" was periodically revised through 1990. We have been very pleased to take over this project and, under the direction of Mr. Hendricks, make the necessary revisions to keep this book current.”

I can agree that it would not be suitable for high school students and adults who do have a thorough understanding of our government and its roots because such people would recognize it as being diametrically opposed to the true basis of our government. Beyond that, it is unvarnished religious propaganda and would be instantly recognized as such in any open presentation of its views but that is kind of the whole point of this post. It is not being presented in an open environment where opposing viewpoints are available; it is being indoctrinated into children who don’t know any better. To add to that folly it is being done in most cases by the one person who the child trusts the most; their parent.

In the history section of the same website I found the following note in bold print at the start:

“History has not only been planned by God, but proceeds according to His purpose. For this reason all history - ancient, medieval, and modern - must be viewed as the sovereign rule of God over the affairs of men. It is more than a chronicle of names, dates, places, and events. A proper understanding of history is built around the key events of the Bible and should be understood in terms of Christ and the building of His Church”.

“For these reasons, this history program concentrates on the unfolding of world history with a special emphasis on the shaping of Europe and America. It seeks to trace the hand of God's providence in history as He used the efforts of Christians as they applied God's Word to their nations and cultures”.

All history must be viewed as the sovereign rule of God over the affairs of men? I suppose this is why the inquisitions happened and why the period where the Christian Church did largely rule over government in Western Europe is correctly known as the Dark Ages. Since the key events of the Bible hold the only correct understanding of history it doesn’t make much sense to reference anything written since. I cannot imagine the backwards and ignorant progeny of this type of education would ever achieve anything in this world beyond the furtherance of blind hatred, tribal prejudice, and endless war. It is in such confined and constricted corners of ignorance where the Bin Ladens of the world are spawned. One of the little noted parts of the 9-11 commission’s report dealt with the source of much of the same information that Bin Laden today espouses; the madrasses or schools that Saudi Arabia funded with oil money from the US fostered the widespread acceptance of such radical views throughout the Middle East. The same type of indoctrinatory teaching is today being peddled in home schools without opposing viewpoints. In my view, the worst thing we could do as a society is to perpetuate this type of one dimensional teaching by educating a whole new generation by this methodology in our country.

Another book that purports to be a good teaching source about American government for high school students is titled “America’s Christian Heritage”. This book is further described with the following:

“Not too long ago, the fact that America was founded as a Christian nation was self-evident just by looking at the original documents and overflow of evidence. But sadly, with the rewriting of America’s history and the concerted effort of academic circles and the media to downplay this fact, this basis for our government is being lost.

Noted Christian historian, Gary DeMar, answers these secular denials of America’s Christian heritage as he presents evidence from a broad range of historical sources and lets the record speak for itself. This readable account is an excellent supplement for any history curriculum and government/civics course.

The quality of production and full-color spreads make this an ideal “coffee table book” that can open opportunities for discussion and sharing one’s faith and ideals.”

Sadly, there are those today who are indeed trying to rewrite America’s history but most of them seem to be fundamentalist Christians with an ideology to promote. The original documents and indeed the original writings of most of the Founding Fathers on the subject are chock full of the idea that the US government should NOT be a proponent of any one religious faith. The only people who argue against this notion do it from behind closed doors or bully pulpits where theirs is the only voice heard because they know that a fair examination of the facts will bear this out. Again, this doctrine is not dangerous only erroneous. However, if this doctrine is the ONLY one espoused and there is no open discussion of its merits it can and will lead to erroneous understandings by its adherents that can and will be dangerous to the future of this country because the young students of today are the leaders of tomorrow. This is both the source of my concern and the reason why adherents of this type of indoctrination are so avid in their efforts.

Another offering for teaching US Government principles is titled “American Government” which sounds innocuous enough. The book is described as follows:

“American Government breaks down the principles and mechanics of a constitutional republic into information the student can understand. Emphasis is given to the responsibility of Christian citizenship. The Constitution, political parties, elections, pressure groups, citizenship, and more, are taught from a biblical perspective. Each branch of the government is studied in detail. This course can be covered in one or two semesters; the one-semester course would then be followed by Economics”.

I would love to quote from the book itself but am not going to spend the $38.50 required to do so. I can only imagine the idiocy that could ensue trying to describe the Constitution, political parties, elections, pressure groups, citizenship and more from a biblical perspective. What I can’t imagine is how anyone remotely familiar with the basis of US Government could possibly conclude that using the biblical perspective is a good way to teach it to enquiring minds.

There is a long list of books on “intelligent design” and the refutations of evolution but I won’t bother to go into those as I don’t believe they impinge as directly on the problems I started out this post trying to discuss.

All of this boils down to the point that organized religion has shown itself to be much more a cause of war and violence than a solution. Even a casual perusal of history will bear this out in spades. I believe we are coming to a point in human history where we will either have to set these ancient tribal superstitions aside or allow them to destroy us. It seems obvious to me that the first step in this process is a fair and open discussion of the facts where all viewpoints are considered equally. Unfortunately, home schooling is the polar opposite of this type of discussion and serves to further propagate the problem by providing insulated pockets of indoctrinated belief wherein the light of reasoned debate never shines. It seems to me that if we accept the premise that a solution is needed to the problems we face in the world today we must accept the realization that it has to start with each of us.