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[Uncivil] Texas approves textbooks with Moses as Founding Father

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  • [Uncivil] Texas approves textbooks with Moses as Founding Father

    Texas approves textbooks with Moses as Founding Father

    Christian conservatives win, children lose: Texas textbooks will teach public school students that the Founding Fathers based the Constitution on the Bible, and the American system of democracy was inspired by Moses.

    On Friday the Republican-controlled Texas State Board of Education voted along party lines 10-5 to approve the biased and inaccurate textbooks. The vote signals a victory for Christian conservatives in Texas, and a disappointing defeat for historical accuracy and the education of innocent children.

    The textbooks were written to align with instructional standards that the Board of Education approved back in 2010 with the explicit intention of forcing social studies teaching to adhere to a conservative Christian agenda. The standards require teachers to emphasize America’s so called “Christian heritage.”

    In essence, Christian conservatives in Texas have successfully forced a false historical narrative into public school textbooks that portray Moses as an influence on the Constitution and the Old Testament as the root of democracy.

    Critics called the whole process into question after publishers posted a number of last-minute changes to the textbooks yesterday, leaving board members and observers without time to figure out exactly what was in the approved texts.

    According to reports, scholars did not have an opportunity to review and comment on the numerous changes publishers have submitted since the last public hearing. Some of those changes appeared to have been negotiated with state board members behind closed doors.


    Texas Freedom Network President Kathy Miller issued the following statement:

    “What we saw today shows very clearly that the process the State Board of Education uses to adopt textbooks is a sham. This board adopted textbooks with numerous late changes that the public had little opportunity to review and comment on and that even board members themselves admitted they had not read. They can’t honestly say they know what’s in these textbooks, which could be in classrooms for a decade.”
    In addition to Miller’s complaints about the process, the Texas Freedom Network issued a statement on today’s State Board of Education vote to adopt new social studies textbooks for Texas public schools, noting:

    the new textbooks also include passages that suggest Moses influenced the writing of the Constitution and that the roots of democracy can be found in the Old Testament. Scholars from across the country have said such claims are inaccurate and mislead students about the historical record.
    Emile Lester, a professor of history in the Department of Political Science and International Affairs at the University of Mary Washington, claim the textbooks contain “inventions and exaggerations” about Christianity’s influence on the Founding Fathers and, by extension, the formation of American democracy.

    Credible historians warn the misguided attempt to suggest biblical origins for the Constitution would lead students to believe that “Moses was the first American.”

    Scholars claim the decision to include the biblical figure of Moses in social studies education is part of a concerted effort by Christian extremists to promote the idea that the United States is a “redeemer nation” – giving a divine justification for supposed American exceptionalism.

    The proposed textbooks are deeply flawed, and have no place in a public school classroom. It is wrong and factually incorrect to teach Texas public school students that the Founding Fathers based the Constitution on the Bible.

    Despite the efforts of Christian conservatives to pervert and twist U.S. history to satisfy their religious superstition, the fact remains Moses was not the first American, and America is not a Christian nation.
    http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progres...unding-father/

    Well played, fundamentalists, well played. You've successfully saved another set of kids from getting a proper education.

  • #2
    The Israelites elected their kings?
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    • #3
      Technically, the kings of Israel had nothing to do with Moses, since they came centuries later. But this is of course a pedantic point.

      This sounds ridiculous, but in all fairness, it's not like we were teaching that era fairly beforehand. Textbooks are a little better today than they used to be, but they still give roughly the same impression as Sid Meier's Colonization: that the Brits were unreasonable, our rebellion manifestly just, and the war a ferocious uphill battle. The addition of an absurd religious dimension to the general idolatry is just one more falsehood among many.
      1011 1100
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      • #4
        That does not make it OK.
        Apolyton's Grim Reaper 2008, 2010 & 2011
        RIP lest we forget... SG (2) and LaFayette -- Civ2 Succession Games Brothers-in-Arms

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        • #5
          elok: that's interesting and not a million miles away from how the founding of brazil is taught here.

          i would like to ask how, in general terms, is the colonisation itself dealt with?
          "The Christian way has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found to be hard and left untried" - GK Chesterton.

          "The most obvious predicition about the future is that it will be mostly like the past" - Alain de Botton

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          • #6
            God fearing Christians vote Republican for the most part. Simple electoral math. What did you guys expect from Texas anyway? They have to train the next generation in order to stay in power, right?
            "I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you disagree with this administration somehow you're not patriotic. We should stand up and say we are Americans and we have a right to debate and disagree with any administration." - Hillary Clinton, 2003

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            • #7
              Like any authoritarian ideology, Republicans want to rewrite history to make it look like the US has always been a theocracy. Which is worse than rewriting history to make it look like the British were the evil empire and the colonists prevailed by blowing up the death star (twice).

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              • #8
                Originally posted by C0ckney View Post
                elok: that's interesting and not a million miles away from how the founding of brazil is taught here.

                i would like to ask how, in general terms, is the colonisation itself dealt with?
                Roughly: Jamestown, then the Pilgrims, then the Revolution. Not much happened between 1620 and the 1770's (aside from a brief mention that Washington was a not-very-successful officer during the French-Indian War)
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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Elok View Post
                  Technically, the kings of Israel had nothing to do with Moses, since they came centuries later. But this is of course a pedantic point.

                  This sounds ridiculous, but in all fairness, it's not like we were teaching that era fairly beforehand. Textbooks are a little better today than they used to be, but they still give roughly the same impression as Sid Meier's Colonization: that the Brits were unreasonable, our rebellion manifestly just, and the war a ferocious uphill battle. The addition of an absurd religious dimension to the general idolatry is just one more falsehood among many.
                  The brits were unreasonable. They had a ****ing king. Royalty

                  Not sure why you feel differently.
                  If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
                  ){ :|:& };:

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                  • #10
                    Everyone had a ****ing king. Nothing unreasonable about it at the time.
                    No, I did not steal that from somebody on Something Awful.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by The Mad Monk View Post
                      Everyone had a ****ing king. Nothing unreasonable about it at the time.
                      Until we didn't. Which made us more reasonable.
                      If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
                      ){ :|:& };:

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by loinburger View Post
                        Roughly: Jamestown, then the Pilgrims, then the Revolution. Not much happened between 1620 and the 1770's (aside from a brief mention that Washington was a not-very-successful officer during the French-Indian War)
                        do the natives get much of a look in, besides the pilgrim fathers?
                        "The Christian way has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found to be hard and left untried" - GK Chesterton.

                        "The most obvious predicition about the future is that it will be mostly like the past" - Alain de Botton

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                        • #13
                          Once again, fringe people are everywhere.
                          You make yourself look just as stupid by making a statement that it's ALL textbooks in ALL schools.
                          Get a grip.
                          Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
                          "Hating America is something best left to Mobius. He is an expert Yank hater.
                          He also hates Texans and Australians, he does diversify." ~ Braindead

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                          • #14
                            And Queens!
                            To The Hijack Police: I don't know what you are talking about. I didn't do it. I wasn't there. I don't even own a computer.

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by C0ckney View Post
                              do the natives get much of a look in, besides the pilgrim fathers?
                              Pre-Revolution, not really - the Indians / Native Americans (this changed between elementary school and high school) helped the Pilgrims grow corn etc. Immediately leading up to the Revolution, it was explained that part of the reason the colonists were pissed off is that the British had a treaty with the natives that limited colonial encroachment into native territory; for this reason a few tribes fought on the side of the colonists, while most were neutral or fought on the side of the British. Post-Revolution there was a lot of genocide going on.
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