"Beginning American Education"

 

"The state must rest upon the basis of religion, and it must preserve this basis, or itself must fall. But the support which religion gives to the state will obviously cease the moment religion loses its hold upon the popular mind. The very fact that the state must have religion as a support for its own authority demands that some means for teaching religion be employed. Better for it to give up all other instruction that that religion should be disregarded in its schools. The state itself has a more vital interest in this continued influence of religion over its citizens than in their culture in any other respect." - Benjamin F. Morris. (1810-1867)

It is interesting to note that the constitution of Massachusetts of 1780 mentions Harvard College stating, "Whereas our wise and pious ancestors, so early as the year 1636, laid the foundation of Harvard College, in which university many persons of great eminence have, by the blessings of God, been initiated into those arts and sciences which qualified them for public employment, both in church and State; and whereas the encouragement of arts and sciences, and all good literature, tends to the honor of God, and the advantage of the Christian religion, and the great benefit of this and the other United States of America," 

The Charter being granted on November 11, 1701, Yale college stated, "Whereas, it was the glorious public design of our now blessed fathers in their removal from Europe into these parts of America, both to plant, and (under the Divine blessing)to propagate in this wilderness, the blessed Reformed Protestant religion, in the purity of its order and worship, not only to their posterity, but also to the barbarous natives; in which great enterprise they wanted not the royal commands and favor of his Majesty King Charles the Second authorize and invigorate them.

We, their unworthy posterity, lamenting our past neglect of this grand errand, and sensible of the equal obligations better to prosecute the same end, are desirous in our generation to be serviceable thereunto. Whereunto the religious and liberal education of suitable youth is under the blessing of God, a chief and most probable expedient . . . to dedicate their children and substance unto God in such a good service, and being ourselves with sundry other reverend elders, not only desired by our godly people to undertake, as Trustees, for erecting, forming, ordering, and regulating a Collegiate School, for the advancement of such an education; but having also obtained of our present religious government both full liberty and assistance by their donation to such use . . . do, in duty to God and the weal of our country, undertake in the aforesaid design."

On June 25, 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court declared school-sponsored prayers unconstitutional in the landmark case Engel v. Vitale. It can be argued and in some sense, I think successfully, that the ruling did not remove prayer or religious expression from our schools. It only removed a particular government-fashioned prayer being required by school administrations to be resited by students. Supposedly, students were still free to pray and engage in religious conversation voluntarily on their own. However, though that may have been true, its ruling has been used to restrict religious expression on school campuses to much greater degrees. 

Our view of education, its purpose and its support has changed much over the course of our history as a nation. ". . .whereas the encouragement of arts and sciences, and all good literature, tends to the honor of God, and the advantage of the Christian religion, and the great benefit of this and the other United States of America," 

We have come a long way from believing that “Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government, and all blessings which flow from them, must fall with them.” - Jedediah Morse, April 25, 1799. 

It is interesting to observe how all this has changed over the course of time. In 1830 during his visit to America Alexis de Tocqueville observed that every child was "taught . . . the doctrines and the evidences of his religion, the history of his country, and the leading features of its Constitution."

However, time passed and attitudes about religion and education changed. People continued to affirm the Bill of Rights, but slowly forgot the history responsible for its creation. We moved from 1830 to Roberts v. Madigan (1989), the court ruled: "It is unconstitutional for a classroom library to contain books which deal with Christianity, or for a teacher to be seen with a personal copy of the Bible at school."

So where are we going in this post? Is this another play to suggest we need to install prayer back in our schools? I think we have gone far past that, Elvis has already left the building. When Madalyn Murray O'Hair entered school that infamous day with her son and saw children resiting a school prayer, according to her son William Murray in his book, "Let Us Pray" it was a spontaneous response. She had not considered school prayer an issue or given it any thought until that moment, it was an opportunity afforded that was simply ripe for the picking. Everything was in place politicly and judicially, all that was needed was a catalyst, O'Hair became that catalyst. She is credited for the removal of prayer from our schools, however, it is unfair the rest that upon her shoulders. It was already ready to fall, she just gave it the nudge it needed. 

Recent surveys have shown a majority of those who profess Christianity know very little about their faith and the majority of the clergy who lead them do not have an orthodox view of the faith they proclaim. How would such a society even know how to pray if instructed to do so? The destination to which I am aiming is simply to open our eyes to the great chasm between where we began and where we have arrived; the chasm between who we were and what we have become. 

For true repentance to take place we must first become aware of our sin. In the eyes of who we were, our national sins would be great, in the eyes of who we are, we would be offended by their judgment. We are not Americans as defined by the ideas of those that gave birth to this nation. The American dream has taken on an entirely different meaning, we live and exist for an entirely different purpose. Times change and ours certainly has. The very principles our founders declared as indispensable to the support of this Republic, we have disdained and cast aside. We have become the very expression of which they warned us. What is it that I advocate we do? Simply examine who we are, if we decide to continue on the current path, it is our privilege to do so. But we should not travel it ignorantly and unaware of the changes that have taken place. We owe our nation a second glance at our founding principles, perhaps in that glance God would quicken conviction upon our hearts. If not, so be it, we are Americans, just maybe different Americans. 

May the grace of God be upon each of  you,

David