A Washington, D.C.-based Democratic candidate for president of Maryland has sounded a warning that the Florida Department of Education may be tutoring some teachers and students about the many ways America has been shaped and influenced by Christianity.
Extremists still lament the removal of critical race theory and LGBT propaganda from Florida’s curriculum.
Judd Legum reports as an opportunity to once again stoke concerns about so-called “Christian nationalism” and attack the DeSantis administration.
For example, the LGBT activist publication Them
The article was published The report, titled “Under Ron DeSantis, Florida Teacher Training Included Christian Nationalist Propaganda,” states, “It’s concerning that Christian nationalists are trying to distort the curriculum from the inside, but there’s a reason they’re targeting teachers: education works.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has suspended its online attacks on Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
Note“We will continue to work to expose the lies of these Christian nationalists and protect Florida students from indoctrination.”
Legum appears to have misled his allies with a report that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office called “nonsense” by omitting not only the structure of curriculum materials but also what else was being taught.
Not only does the slide in question appear to be accurate, it is part of a broader unit that identifies other historical influences underlying America’s founding principles of law and government.
background
In their 2020 book Reclaiming America: Christian Nationalism in the United States, sociologists Samuel Perry and Andrew Whitehead argue that “the United States has blurred the distinction between Christian identity and American identity, and has sought to conflate the two.”
Closely related And we aim to strengthen and maintain their unity.”
“White Christian nationalism is a social construct, and its meaning depends on who is constructing it.”
It’s easy to blur the distinction.
Assuming we can distinguishGiven that America, like the West in general, has historically been shaped and influenced by Christianity; Alexis de Tocqueville Countless astute observers have pointed out that, roughly Two thirds Most Americans today are Christians.
Kenneth Woodward, former religion editor at Newsweek,
Recently in the spotlight In First Things, various commentators give “Christian nationalism” an identity-like character, calling it “white Christian nationalism” in distinction from “black Christian nationalism.”[m]”Which salon On the surface, they accept this and link it to various “liberal deadly sins” such as support for having children, heterosexual marriage, and “patriarchy.”
“White Christian nationalism is a social construct whose meaning changes depending on who is constructing it,” Woodward writes. “It is not at all clear what same-sex marriage, patriarchy, or encouraging couples to have children has to do with being white, Christian, or nationalist.”
Democrats and their allies in the liberal media and activists use the umbrella term to describe their ideological enemies, Christians. For example, the Public Religion Institute states:
Characteristic Last year, he said Christian nationalism was a “significant threat to the health of our democracy” and suggested that more than 51% of Americans sympathize with or support Christian nationalism.
Agreeing with these views apparently makes one a Christian nationalist.
- “The U.S. government should declare America a Christian nation”—as the Supreme Court has declared. Holy Trinity Church v. United States.
- “American laws should be based on Christian values.”
- “If America moves away from its Christian foundations, it will no longer be a country.”
- “Being a Christian is an important part of being a true American.”
- “God is calling Christians to dominate every sector of American society.”
Educating Educators
In December 2019, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Florida) tasked former Secretary of Education Richard Corcoran with implementing new civic literacy requirements for high school students. This includes:
Civic Literacy Initiative.
The Florida Department of Education is not only supporting students in this effort, but is also providing learning opportunities for educators, including a three-day summer civics professional study course.
Judd Legum, a left-leaning former ThinkProgress contributor, recently obtained training materials from a three-day course purportedly held last summer that included “a presentation on the influence of the ‘Judeo-Christian tradition’ in the founding of the United States.”
“Training materials created by the Florida Department of Education instruct middle and high school teachers to indoctrinate their students with the tenets of Christian nationalism, a right-wing attempt to conflate Christianity with American identity,” Legum wrote. “Lurked by cash handouts, thousands of Florida teachers have signed up for training using these materials.”
Legum noted that one slide obtained through a public records request by the liberal advocacy group Florida Free Reading Project showed teachers being taught that “Christianity challenged the idea that religion should be subordinate to state purposes.”
Another problematic slide quoted the farewell speech of quintessential American patriot George Washington, who said, “Of all the temperaments and habits which are conducive to political prosperity, religion and morals are the indispensable supports.”
The slides include:
Reverend Peter LillebackJohn F. Kennedy, president of Westminster Theological Seminary and professor of historical theology and church history, wrote, “To be free, you need a republic. To have a republic, you need a constitution. To have a constitution, you need morality. To have morality, you need religion.”
Among the slides that Legum clearly did not like were two that detailed various Judeo-Christian traditions and beliefs that have influenced the United States, including the idea that government is necessary because of man’s sinful and fallen condition, that all people are equal and created in God’s image, and that human beings, and Americans in particular, are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, among which are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Legum shared his thoughts on the slides with Andrew Whitehead, an expert on so-called “Christian nationalism,” who suggested the training’s goal was to “blend a very specific expression of Christianity into the government-supported and fervently defended civic life of America” and generally advance the central goals of Christian nationalism.
Whitehead further said the slide was ahistorical because the Declaration of Independence mentions a “Creator” but does not explicitly mention Christ, and George Washington did not regularly receive Holy Communion.
Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty and another purported expert on “Christian nationalism,” told Legum that the presentation “focused on the mythical founding of this country as a Christian nation, and using such cherry-picked history is the very epitome of Christian nationalism.”
What Legum didn’t mention was that this civics lesson on “how Judeo-Christian ethics, individual values, personal responsibility, and the rule of law influenced the American constitutional republic.”
Broader Units “The influence of ancient Greece, Rome, and the Judeo-Christian traditions on the American constitutional republic.”
“The ‘report’ is a load of nonsense.”
In addition to learning about the influence of biblical concepts on a predominantly Christian nation, teachers and students will also learn about the Roman influence on American civic participation, republicanism, representative government, the rule of law, and separation of powers, as well as the Ancient Greek influence on American legislatures, city-states, voting rights, and written constitutions.
“The ‘report’ is complete nonsense,” Brian Griffin, a spokesman for Governor DeSantis, told The Blaze News.
“And, of course, American history is inseparable from the positive influence of the Judeo-Christian tradition.”
“Governor Ron DeSantis’ state of Florida has prevented the left from using our education system for their radical indoctrination campaign, and they will not stand for it,” Griffin said. “We are refocusing education on core subjects like reading, writing and math, and leaning into American history and civics that will help students be informed, prepared and active members of society. And, of course, American history is inseparable from the positive influence of our Judeo-Christian tradition.”
“Our efforts in Florida have enabled the state to
1st Place in the Education Category “And we’ve been ranked number one in higher education for eight years in a row,” Griffin continued. “This civics training program is a voluntary certification for teachers that provides a $3,000 scholarship upon completion, and we encourage all educators in Florida to take advantage of this program.”
Chad Ragsdale, Dean of Ozark Christian College
Tweeted“This entire thread is revelatory, but not in the way that Judd believes. Mainly, it reveals once again that ‘Christian nationalism’ has become an empty term used for blatant ideological purposes.”
“I urge you to read it to see for yourself how out of touch with reality the left is.”
I have written Mark Hemingway of RealClearInvestigations: “What they fear as ‘Christian nationalism’ is simply a failure to acknowledge basic American history.”
In the conclusion of his essay on so-called Christian nationalism, Woodward writes: “Despite the vagueness of the term ‘white Christian nationalism’ and the difficulty of identifying its adherents, we will undoubtedly hear more about the threat it poses to American democracy as the election cycle progresses. … But what will we hear about the secularists who are more numerous, wealthier, far better educated and politically active than those who call themselves white Christian nationalists? All we will hear is the sound of silence.”
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