Religion in Education.
By Chris Van Buskirk

In today's day and age we walk on eggshells in public education to not cross the line between church and state. Students have been sent home for wearing religious t-shirts, and we all know the court cases removing prayer, the Decalogue, or any mention of God from public education lest we offend or oppress our fellow atheist citizens. In our rush to be politically correct, it might be worthwhile to pause and take a look at the roots of public education, and learn a bit of from whence we came…

The first instance of public education in America was in the Massachusetts Bay colony in 1647. A law passed that year stated, "It is therefore ordered that every township in this jurisdiction, after the Lord hath increased them to fifty households shall forthwith appoint one within their town to teach all such children as shall resort to him to write and read…" Interestingly, the name of this law was the The Old Deluder Act, and its stated purpose was to keep children from being deluded by Satan. How? By teaching them to read, so they could read the scriptures.

This is by no means an isolated example. Nor does the practice die away as our country is being formed. In fact, the most popular school textbook of the 19 th century were McGuffy's Readers. Lesson number 58 reads, "When the morning has begun, Think the Lord is nigh. All you do and all you say, He can see and hear: When you work and when you play, Think the Lord is near." In McGuffy's 5 th Reader he gives some words attributed to John Adams, "It is my living sentiment, and, by the blessing of God, it shall by my dying sentiment; independence now and INDEPENDENCE FOREVER." Now remember, this is in he public schools across America.

Another popular book in American classrooms even today is the dictionary. The King of Dictionary's is, of course, Webster's. Before compiling his dictionary, Noah Webster became the preeminent educator in early America by published a spelling textbook for classrooms called the Blue Backed Speller (so named for obvious reasons.) Webster peppered his spelling book with Biblical commands, "The Holy Bible is the book of God." "Good men obey the laws of God." The Blue-Backed Speller, as it was called, was the tool millions of Americans used to teach their children to read, whether at home or at school. Webster's philosophy is evident when he states, "If [our] government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the Divine Commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the Laws."

Unfortunately in the years since this viewpoint waned away. We continue to harangue on the "separation of church and state" as justification for eliminating religious issues from public view. The phrase "Separation of Church and State" has been bandied about for so long that 67% of all Americans believe that it is actually in the Constitution. In fact, those three words appear nowhere in the Constitution. This reached its height in the case, with Madeline Murray O'Hare's celebrated case in which the Supreme Court removed prayer from public schools. Later they removed the Ten Commandments from public schools, stating, "If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any effect at all, it would be to induce the students to read, meditate on, perhaps to venerate and obey the Ten Commandments. This is not an acceptable objective." (United States Supreme Court, Stone vs. Graham.) It can only be concluded that the systematic process of removing absolute standards of right and wrong from public education leads to an environment where morality is blurred, vague or nonexistent. The logical outcome of this thought process is the shootings at Columbine High School. Perhaps if the young men involved had read, mediated and perhaps venerated and obeyed the command not to murder, the tragedy might have been averted.

As the debate rages on about the relationship between religion, the Bible and prayers in public school, it might be worthwhile to remember where we came from, and think upon the words attributed to Abraham Lincoln, "The philosophy of the schoolroom today is the philosophy of government tomorrow." Do we really want to grow old in a society where the government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness because the citizens neglect the Divine Commands?

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