[Dialogue] Congress Aims to Dumb Down History, Pushes Fiction of Christian Nation in Public Schools

[Harry Wainwright]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 15, 2008
11:56 AM 

CONTACT: Secular Coalition for America
Anne Singer, Communications Director anne at secular.org
202-271-4679

 

Congress Aims to Dumb Down History, Pushes Fiction of Christian Nation in
Public Schools
The Secular Coalition for America Responds

 

WASHINGTON, DC - January 15 - Rep. J. Randy Forbes (R-VA) and 31 other
Representatives could bring House Resolution 888, introduced December 18,
2007, to a floor vote as early as this week. H. Res. 888, "Affirming the
rich spiritual and religious history of our Nation's founding and subsequent
history.." specifically proposes an "American Religious History Week" to be
taught in public schools each May. Lori Lipman Brown, Director of the
Secular Coalition for America, issued the following statement in
anticipation of a vote: 

"Congressman Forbes apparently knows as much about history as pollsters know
about voters in New Hampshire. 

"The Secular Coalition would welcome the unbiased teaching of America's
religious history, but this resolution presents such a distorted version of
that history, real education can't possibly be its goal. 

"The fact is the "spiritual and religious history of our Nation's founding
and subsequent history" is rife with persecution against Catholics, Jews,
Muslims, atheists and other minorities. The Puritans, for example, not only
burned witches at the stake, but they also tortured and hanged Quakers. In
19th Century Philadelphia, Catholic children in public schools were forced
to read the Protestant Bible, and their churches were burned when they
resisted. Various groups gained political power on explicitly Christian
platforms, such as the Know Nothings' anti-Catholic campaign, and the Ku
Klux Klan's political and violently brutal campaigns against Jews,
Catholics, religious liberals and, of course, African Americans. 

"Today, military personnel who don't identify as born again Christians are
being harassed, and students who opt out of prayers in public school are
being bullied. All this counts as religious history, too, but it's not in
the resolution. 

"The "whereas" paragraphs in this resolution are dishonest: they
deliberately confuse the personal religious beliefs of our nation's
political leaders with their public actions; they ignore the fact that our
Founders (many of whom were deists anyway) checked their religion at the
door when they wrote the Constitution. Contrary to what Rep. Forbes would
have us think, the word 'God' never appears in the U.S. Constitution, and
that's the document which governs our nation and sets the standard for
keeping religion out of government and government out of religion. 

"Our supporters are contacting their members of Congress and asking them to
vote No on H. Res. 888. If we don't stop it, next thing you know they'll be
trying to teach the Immaculate Conception in biology class." 

The Secular Coalition for America is the national lobby for atheists,
humanists, freethinkers and other nontheistic Americans with the unique
mission of protecting their civil rights. From our office in the nation's
capital, our full-time lobbyist and support staff engage public policy
makers and the media to increase the visibility and respectability of
nontheistic viewpoints and to protect and strengthen the secular character
of our government as the best guarantee of freedom for all. Information at
http://www.secular.org. 

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