If the Founding Fathers were alive today, they might be labeled supporters of white Christian nationalism.
It’s an accusation the Americans United for Separation of Church and State leveled against Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R-FL) $106 million “Civics Literacy Excellence Initiative,” which focuses heavily on teaching America’s philosophical underpinnings through primary source documents, by launching an investigation Friday.
Americans United President and CEO Rachel Laser said her organization is “considering all options” to address the new curriculum.
“We’re not going to sit by while politicians smuggle white Christian Nationalism into public school curriculums under the guise of good citizenship,” Laser said in a July 1 statement. “This is another attack in the long war religious extremists and their lawmaker allies have launched on our public schools, as is the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, which shamefully takes effect in Florida today.”
The investigation was initiated after the Miami Herald published a piece last week on a recent three-day educator training session, featuring the views of three teachers who took issue with the initiative’s claims about the role of religion, early attitudes toward slavery, and the judicial interpretation method of originalism.
But the initiative’s presentation slides show that the offending statements, such as one that calls the founder’s support for “strict separation of church and state” a “misconception,” are clearly rooted in the writings of the founders. The slideshow displays direct quotes from Thomas Jefferson’s Letter to Danbury Baptist Association, in which the “wall of separation” phrase is found in its full context, and references George Washington’s letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island.
“During breakout sessions, the state’s presenters repeatedly mentioned the influence Jesus Christ and the Bible have in the country’s foundation,” the Miami Herald reported, quoting one participating teacher who said Christian nationalism philosophy was “just baked into everything that was there.”
If by “Christian nationalism” we mean any suggestion that religion influenced the founding, then — well, yeah. This seems like a bit of an own goal for an organization whose premise is that the opposite is true. The founders were by no means all Christians or believers, but the language and morals of the Bible were deeply influential in their project. They also broadly assumed that citizens would pursue virtue in their lives, usually through religion.
As such, the initiative’s presentation stresses the founders’ belief that virtue was necessary for self-government, quoting Benjamin Rush and Washington to that effect. Additionally, it highlights Christian figures such as John Winthrop and Jonathan Edwards, who helped shape the founders’ attitudes. Is presenting the religious beliefs of a historical figure going too far? It is for some people, apparently.
Critics in the Miami Herald piece also claimed that the presentation downplayed slavery. But if you look at it, the presentation correctly pointed out that even slaveholding founders such as Jefferson were ashamed of slavery. The presentation notes correctly that the practice of slavery was expanded in its time by Europeans. It traces how the idea that “all men are created equal” became the basis for ending slavery in America and later advancements in civil rights.
Manny Diaz Jr., the Florida education commissioner, wrote on Twitter that the Miami Herald article leaves out the fact that Florida law “requires teaching historical facts about slavery and the Civil Rights movement, which includes acknowledging past injustices.”
The Florida Department of Education denied any bias, telling the Miami Herald in a statement that every lesson is “based on history, not ideology or any form of indoctrination.”
“Let us know if you are actually interested in reviewing the coursework and understanding it for yourself,” the department said.
DeSantis has positioned the initiative as a way to counter the Biden administration’s grants that help “indoctrinate students with ideologies like Critical Race Theory.”
Though Florida has described the curriculum as ideologically neutral, it is based in a conservative desire to hold to history and constitutional values — something progressives seem increasingly ready to discard. When progressive organizations take offense at the founders’ own statements, they only show how badly they have confused religious freedom for religious silence in the public square. The term “Christian nationalism” is so poorly defined that it now applies even to the staunchest defenders of freedom at the American founding.
* Article from: The Washington Examiner