Texas approves textbooks with Moses as Founding Father

[Landslide Lyndon]

...

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2014/11/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.”

...

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.”

[Ban my account ffs!]

Yeah...the problem is the conservatives need to shut up and listen.  And let the liberal teachers, who need to get over their anti-religion schtick, be allowed to draw the parallels between the ten commandments and the rights guaranteed in the constitution.  That like Moses, the founding fathers were inspired to preserve and save humanity within their community.  Who inspired that?  Well whatever you call that or her or him...is up to you.

But no..the cream of the Texas crop wants to ensure that you know God is angry and wants to burn you...unless you worship this piece of paper and the rulemakers who wrote on it (afterall, they're worthy like Moses was). 

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Title is misleading.

Anyway, are these books only in Texas or are they going to the rest of the country?

[Ban my account ffs!]

Title is misleading.

Anyway, are these books only in Texas or are they going to the rest of the country?

Luckily all 48 states have two cesspools to choose from...Texas or California.  California being the best cesspool ever.  

Texas pulls oil out and sells it.

California turns sh**t and water into almonds, squeezes the sh**t out of them, and sells you the product at a significant markup while also making you believe it's good for you.  This is why Texas so mad.

[Likely Voter]

How long until a Texas history book has this image?

[pbrower2a]

One of the ironies is that the prohibition of covetousness all but precludes both the work ethic and capitalism that create wealth.

I interpret "Thou shalt not steal" to imply "thou shalt not exploit".

[The Free North]

Pandering to the jewish lobby of course (sarcasm)

[Kushahontas]

Title is misleading.

Anyway, are these books only in Texas or are they going to the rest of the country?

Texas produces like what, a quarter of all textbooks used in the nation (or at least that is what I think I recall hearing) so the implications are wide.

[Cassius]

Moses is preferable to John bloody Locke.

[DemPGH]

Yeah, these scammers ramming their ideology into school books is really nothing new. They of course tried it with creationism in science books, and that didn't work. But this is just really kind of dumb. The constitution was influenced by people like John Milton and a number of others and grew from the democratic uprisings in the 17th century. That's too inconvenient, though, I guess.

[RFayette]

Moses is preferable to John bloody Locke.

LOL!  Cassius posts need a smiley attached or something.

I'm not opposed to discussing America's Judeo-Christian roots, but it means nothing if you ignore the effect of the Enlightenment as well. 

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Moses is preferable to John bloody Locke.

LOL!  Cassius posts need a smiley attached or something.

I'm not opposed to discussing America's Judeo-Christian roots, but it means nothing if you ignore the effect of the Enlightenment as well. 

Judeo?

[RFayette]

Moses is preferable to John bloody Locke.

LOL!  Cassius posts need a smiley attached or something.

I'm not opposed to discussing America's Judeo-Christian roots, but it means nothing if you ignore the effect of the Enlightenment as well. 

Judeo?

Judeo from the standpoint that part of the Jewish scriptures are in the Bible, a book that did have a strong basis in how the colonies were run.  Granted, many Christians were anti-Semitic until the Holocaust, so perhaps I should've just said Christian.

[bgwah]

Texas textbooks will teach public school students that the Founding Fathers based the Constitution on the Bible

Ah, so that's how they justified slavery!

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I'm not opposed to discussing America's Judeo-Christian roots, but it means nothing if you ignore the effect of the Enlightenment as well. 

Judeo?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judeo-Christian

First became common as a PC term in the 1940s to explicitly include Judaism as part of the tapestry of American faiths.  Since the 1990s has tended to be used as a dog whistle to exclude other faiths, especially Islam. In a historical context, I have no problem with that term as while there were some Jewish congregations in the US from the beginning.

[Indy Texas]

At this point, we might as well just change our name to "Oklahoma But With Nicer Stuff and You Can See the Ocean."

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

At this point, we might as well just change our name to "Oklahoma But With Nicer Stuff and You Can See the Ocean."

Yes Indy.  Your state is a disgusting theocratic hellhole.  My sympathies.

[BaconBacon96]

Moses is preferable to John bloody Locke.

No he really ain't.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

I'm not opposed to discussing America's Judeo-Christian roots, but it means nothing if you ignore the effect of the Enlightenment as well. 

Judeo?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judeo-Christian

First became common as a PC term in the 1940s to explicitly include Judaism as part of the tapestry of American faiths.  Since the 1990s has tended to be used as a dog whistle to exclude other faiths, especially Islam. In a historical context, I have no problem with that term as while there were some Jewish congregations in the US from the beginning.

Oh I know what it means, but it is plain idiocy.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

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

I think most students can tell the difference between an influence on America and being American better than this "credible" historian. The article links to this fellow claiming that Calvin and Aquinas can't be influential because they were theologians - and we know theology has had no bearing on the development of politics and social philosophy ever! And William Blackstone couldn't have been influential because he wasn't a democrat, so I guess we just need to ignore the fact that he was being constantly quoted during the American founding. 

[Replicator]

Very stupid but Democrats want to "fundamentally transform" America and the only way to do that is to change our foundations. Rather than Moses as a founding father, their figure is a former state senator from Illinois.

[NewYorkExpress]

Very stupid but Democrats want to "fundamentally transform" America and the only way to do that is to change our foundations. Rather than Moses as a founding father, their figure is a former state senator from Illinois.

No, no.no it's a Former Governor from New York...happens to have the last name Roosevelt.. Obama's just taking what he did further.

[Replicator]

Very stupid but Democrats want to "fundamentally transform" America and the only way to do that is to change our foundations. Rather than Moses as a founding father, their figure is a former state senator from Illinois.

No, no.no it's a Former Governor from New York...happens to have the last name Roosevelt.. Obama's just taking what he did further.

See what I mean. ^

[Slander and/or Libel]

Very stupid but Democrats want to "fundamentally transform" America and the only way to do that is to change our foundations. Rather than Moses as a founding father, their figure is a former state senator from Illinois.

lolwut

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Title is misleading.

Anyway, are these books only in Texas or are they going to the rest of the country?

The problem is that there will be a group of future voters who believe that America was founded as a Christian nation, by Christians, with the intent to eventually achieve a Christian theocracy. It wasn't. Even if one student graduates from high school believing that America was meant to be officially aligned with any religion, then the system has failed.