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12/06/2004: "Feel That Nose?"

A fifth grade history teacher in CA has recently become a cause celebre, a poster child for the right wing “God in public school” militants, in the same way (but on the opposite side of the political spectrum) that Scopes became the cause celebre among progressives when he was tried in Tennessee for teaching evolution in science class. This “history teacher” has gained the acclaim of the right wing by going out of his way to spotlight references to a Creator in the Declaration of Independence. His act has reportedly launched a torrent of emails to compete with the 88% that (according to a recent internet traffic study) constitute spam. So what’s wrong with what he’s doing? The answer is simple. Just as a science teacher should be teaching science rather than pseudo-science, a history teacher should be teaching history rather than pseudo-history. It’s a question of motivation. Why is making a special effort to call out references to God in the Declaration? He’s using his platform as a teacher to mislead his students about the intent of the Founding Fathers. This intent is quite clear, as spelled out in the Constitution, that most important document of American government. The Constitution proscribes government entanglement with religion. Indeed, and very significantly, it is We the People who legitimize the government, not God, who is not mentioned a single time. Was this an oversight? Not at all – these were religious men, as amply shown by their letters, speeches, and, as the political right is so fond of pointing out, the Declaration of Independence. So couldn’t they see that “forgetting” to mention God in the Constitution would cause all sorts of problems for future generations, who would have to scour other sources to justify creating an establishment of religion supported by government programs like public education? Nope - they were very deliberate about their intent to keep government out of religion and religion out of government. Getting back to our history teacher, it’s clear that what he’s up to is un-teaching of history, trying to give his students a false perspective on history. You can bet he’s not mentioning how Jefferson’s invoking of God in the Declaration served a very practical political purpose! This purpose, as we pointed out yesterday, was to contradict the divine right of kings by replacing it with a divine right to rebel against tyranny. In contrast to what the political right wants to teach in public school history class, the Founding Fathers did not use religious references to indicate their desire to create a theocracy. If they wanted theocracy, they had only to write it into the Constitution. Letting a history teacher with a political agenda slide by with teaching un-history is exactly the same as letting a science teacher with a political agenda slide by with teaching non-science. Letting them do it is letting the camel’s nose in the tent, and I know from personal experience that the political religious right is one persistent camel!