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November 25, 2004

Things may not always be as they appear

There's an article out today from Reuters headlined Declaration of Independence Banned at Calif School, with the following lede:

A California teacher has been barred by his school from giving students documents from American history that refer to God -- including the Declaration of Independence.
Read a bit further, though, and you'll find that what was actually barred were materials containing "excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, George Washington's journal, John Adams' diary, Samuel Adams' "The Rights of the Colonists" and William Penn's "The Frame of Government of Pennsylvania.""

The distinction may be important, because the issue is likely not the actual quotations from the Declaration of Independence itself (or the other historica material), but rather the context in which its presented. In reporting on this story over at Seeing the Forest, Dave Johnson notes that, based on the information in the article, it can be inferred that what happened was "the teacher was forcing his students to listen to and read "Christian Nation" propaganda. The school asked him to stop. The teacher is suing the school with the help of a right-wing "Christian Law" organization, the Alliance Defense Fund."

Johnson also referrs readers to the San Mateo Times which offer more details on the story, and which notes:

A Cupertino public school teacher is suing his district and his principal, who banned him from using excerpts from the Declaration of Independence and other historical documents in his classroom because they contain references to God and Christianity.

The San Mateo Times article also highlights the content of some of the exceprts being used, including:


If, in fact, the teacher is trying to use these excepts to attempt to prove to school children that the US is "supposed" to be a "Christian Nation", then the teacher is right to refuse to allow him to continue doing so. The article does note:
Speaking from his home Wednesday, a school holiday, Williams said the problems started last year after he responded to a student who asked why the Pledge of Allegiance includes the phrase, ``under God.''

Eventually a parent complained and the principal started requesting his lesson plans and handouts.

The teacher defends himself, however saying:
``I've never even tried to hint the kids need to believe this or this is the right religion to believe,'' said Williams, who has been teaching eight years. ``I'm just trying to teach history.''
Of course, one could argue that if Christians feel it is dangerous to a child's religious upbringing to be taught the Theory of Evolution, others could argue that a child's secular upbringing could be compromised by being taught that the Founding Fathers intended this nation to be ruled by the Christian faith - especially since there is so much evidence pointing to just the opposite.

This is a situation that I think bears watching. I'm trying not to jump to conclusions about it, but the headlined claim that the school has "Banned the Declaration of Independence" is clearly false. Certain materials that contain quotes from the Declaration in an unknown (to us) context have been banned, but that banned may have been entirely justified if, as appears may be the case, the materials are intended to convince children that the US should be ruled by Christians and Christian laws.

Posted by thorswitch at November 25, 2004 08:23 AM

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