Group Wants Christianity Out of History Books

Group wants Christianity out of history books
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/14/2010 4:00:00 AM


The Texas Board of Education is holding public hearings and will vote this week on the content of textbooks, which will impact many other states that follow Texas' lead.

Committees of teachers and experts have crafted the proposal that will be up for consideration by the State Board of Education today (Thursday). Dozens of amendments and ideological battles are expected. Whichever curriculum standards the board chooses will be the guideposts for teaching history and social studies to some 4.8 million K-12 students for 10 years. (More details from Associated Press)

One of the major problems is a push by a small group that wants to censor religious information regarding historical figures from textbooks. Jonathan Saenz, director of legislative affairs at Free Market Foundation, tells OneNewsNow the group has been very aggressive.

"We just think it's ridiculous," he says. "If you're going to talk about history and social studies, we should be doing it accurately; we should do it in a factual way," Saenz contends. "If some of our historical events and figures, [and] part of their history and significance has to do with their religious beliefs, then students should not be banned from being taught about that."

Saenz cites an example of Martin Luther King, Jr., and suggests that if teachers acknowledge him, they should also be able to say he was a Christian and how that influenced his role in the civil rights movement. The legislative affairs director says opponents are bringing up the tired and false argument of separation of church and state.

"The reality is it's undeniable that our country has a rich religious heritage [and] that the faith of our founding fathers had a tremendous impact on our government and law," he notes. "And so to teach students...otherwise, it's just wrong and it's something that we hope the State Board of Education won't tolerate."

Initial votes will be conducted this week, and a final vote will be tallied in two months. Those decisions will establish textbook content for the state for the next ten years as other states will purchase and use those same textbooks.