- Comments about the debate between Biden and Trump three days ago, on Thursday;
- Items about Christian Insurgence in Oklahoma schools, and David Barton;
- And how humans are wired to believe anything their parents or culture tells them to believe, up to a point, when the native intelligence of our species sets in, and young humans begin to question everything.
I cringed at the debate the other night, between Biden and Trump, and thought it was a disaster for Biden. I covered my eyes at times; I could barely watch. At the same time, as many have pointed out, Biden looked like a feeble old man, but at least he discussed policies and accomplishments, whereas Trump lied in virtually everything he said, as if he’s lived in some alternate world in which global leaders respected *him* until January 6th (!) before Biden took over and ruined everything. Some people, especially those who do not follow the news outside of partisan sources, will believe anything, anything he says. And CNN did not fact-check-challenge him. Do you want an old man who’s good some days and not others, but who has the right values and tells the truth, or a slick con-man who can play his audience to accept a constant stream of lies? A couple major news sources have called for Biden to step down; at least one, based on his lies, has called for Trump to step down. How did we get to this place?
But I’m not inclined to pursue this any farther.
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Otherwise worth noting from this past week: the further presumption of Christians into public life. First a news piece:
NY Times, 27 Jun 2024: Oklahoma’s State Superintendent Requires Public Schools to Teach the Bible, subtitled “The state superintendent, Ryan Walters, said the Bible was a “necessary historical document.” The mandate comes as part of a conservative movement to infuse Christian values in public schools.”
Oklahoma’s state superintendent on Thursday directed all public schools to teach the Bible, including the Ten Commandments, in an extraordinary move that blurs the lines between religious instruction and public education.
The superintendent, Ryan Walters, who is a Republican, described the Bible as an “indispensable historical and cultural touchstone” and said it must be taught in certain, unspecified grade levels.
The move comes a week after Louisiana became the first state to mandate that public schools display the Ten Commandments in every classroom, which was quickly challenged in court.
Then a thought piece.
NY Times, Sarah Mervosh and Ruth Graham, 28 Jun 2024: The Bible in Public Schools? Oklahoma Pushes Limits of Long Tradition., subtitled “The Bible has a deep history in American classrooms, but the state’s provocative superintendent wants to broadly expand its influence.”
The Bible has been a presence in American classrooms to at least some degree since before the origins of the country’s public school system in the 19th century.
But the announcement by Oklahoma’s state superintendent on Thursday that all public schools in the state must teach the Bible represented a major effort to expand its role and bring a Christian historical perspective to most all students. Schools have become the arena for an array of moral and cultural conflicts, and conservative Christians are asserting their political muscle even as they decline as a share of the American population.
“In Oklahoma, we are very proud to lead the country on pushing back on the leftists trying to rewrite history and say, No, we will teach from the Bible,” the superintendent, Ryan Walters, said in an interview on Friday.
Mr. Walters, a Christian conservative and former history teacher, said the mandate would focus on fifth through 12th grades, with an emphasis on the Bible’s influence in history and literature, areas where the Bible has historically been accepted in public education.
Do they not understand that some of the earliest settlers to the New World were those trying to escape the religious dominance of their homelands, the same kind of dominance these people are now trying to impose? Do they not understand the First Amendment to the US Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” These people are trying to establish their religion. Perhaps they think if they’re doing it locally, and not nationally (via Congress), it’s OK. Missing the point.
And on a point for another discussion, do these people have any idea how full of contradictions and inaccuracies their Bible is? How it represent, in my take, a kind of primitive morality that is no longer appropriate in the modern world? Obviously they do not.
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Also this.
Right Wing Watch, Peter Montgomery, 28 Jun 2024: Oklahoma Superintendent Orders Public Schools to Teach Bible as White Christian Nationalists Go ‘On Offense’
Oklahoma’s Christian nationalist state superintendent of education Ryan Walters this week instructed all public schools to teach the Bible, which the New York Times called “an extraordinary move that blurs the lines between religious and instruction and public education.”
Walters, an energetic supporter of former President Donald Trump, actively seeks the media spotlight for his aggressive Christian nationalism and culture war posturing. As Right Wing Watch has noted, “Walters seems intent on using public education funds to proselytize Christianity, while falsely characterizing church-state separation as promoting atheism.” Walters is allied with Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who has dedicated “every square inch” of the state to Jesus, saying that with his authority as governor, “I claim Oklahoma for you.”
Well of *course* he’s a Trump supporter! Since Trump apparently lives in some alternative reality. And so apparently does David Barton:
Ring Wing Watch, Kyle Mantyla, 27 Jun 2024: David Barton Vows to Ensure the Republican Platform Aligns With the First Twelve Chapters of Genesis
Besotted by myth, apparently incapable of dealing with history, and reality.
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There’s a deep truth about human nature and morality here: humans are ‘wired’ to accept whatever their parents and culture tell them, at least in the first few years. Without that, every new child would have to learn to understand reality from the ground up. It’s an evolutionary advantage for children to accept whatever their parents tell them. At the same time, the native intelligence of the species sets in during adolescence. Why do teenagers rebel? Because they realize the real world is more complex than what they were told by their parents (who are motivated to instill their children with their own culture and values). This happens over and over, in every generation, especially in recent generations as the world has been changing so much. People are leaving religion because they realize those ancient paradigms don’t account for the modern world.
