Daniel Darling: Christianity in Texas schools

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, September 17th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Up next: the Bible in public schools.

A curriculum in Texas includes Bible stories and other religious materials and that’s raised a controversy.

State lawmakers grilled the Commissioner of the Texas Education Agency in a public hearing last month.

REP. JAMES TALARICO: There is a difference between teaching and preaching. These passages which appear at length throughout the curriculum…in my reading they are preaching.

Are the concerns warranted? WORLD commentator Daniel Darling doesn’t think so.

DAN DARLING: The usual suspects are up in arms over a proposed public school curriculum in Texas. One education publication features this breathless headline: “Bible-infused curriculum sparks Texas-sized controversy over Christianity in the classroom.” From the ominous reports, one would think that classrooms in the Lone Star State are being converted into Sunday schools. One Democratic state representative calls it “egregious.” But the reality is different.

The Texas Education Agency posted the educational curriculum in May. It’s still subject to approval by the Texas Board of Education. The materials are not mandatory, though there are incentives for school districts that opt in.

A cursory reading of the materials shows that while the curriculum features many stories rooted in the Bible, they are also joined by lessons from other religions. What’s more, there are connections between history and Christianity: such as Esther’s heroic advocacy for the Jewish people in Persia and contemporary anti-Semitism, analysis of the religious content in Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” and an explanation of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper painting.

Here’s an extended quote from Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath in The Washington Post, “There is content, where relevant, that provides information on various religious traditions. For example, as students learn about Ancient Greece, they will also learn about the religion of the Greeks. Students will learn about aspects of most major world religions. Content does not include religious lessons as one would find in a religious school, and instead is designed to provide background knowledge and vocabulary to ensure our students can reach high levels of academic proficiency and comprehend great literature.”

What should American Christians think about Biblical teaching in state schools? On one hand, it would be a violation of the First Amendment establishment clause for the government to mandate compulsory Christian education at the expense of other religions. And we should be wary of a state that is empowered to decide and teach right and wrong religion.

The former president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission Richard Land said it well: “The last thing any devout follower of Jesus should want is government control of religion. The government will always get it wrong and pious followers of Christ will have their consciences violated.”

It is the job of the Church and parents to teach Christian doctrine, not the job of the state or its agencies.

At the same time, we must acknowledge that there is no such thing as a neutral public square. The hyperbolic reaction to any mention of Christianity or any reference to the Bible is also at odds with the American experiment.

America is not a secular nation. We are a country informed, in part, by Christian ideals. Consider George Washington’s “Farewell Address,” in which he stated, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” He goes on to say, “reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

This idea has been repeated throughout American history by leaders from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan. This is why G.K. Chesterton observed that America had “the soul of a church.”

Even the Supreme Court justices who rightly struck down mandated school prayer in state institutions issued a warning against a secularizing hostility toward religion.

In recent years, the court has clawed back some of this hostility to religion, including discrimination against religious involvement in social work such as foster care and adoption as well as allowing volunteer, teacher-lead prayer in schools.

Optional curriculum—like we see in Texas—is in keeping with the wisdom of the American founders and our constitutional tradition. It doesn’t violate the conscience and honors the sacred, yet different, roles of church and state.

I’m Daniel Darling.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.