My Educational Theology 4: Education in America

As today’s western cultures and societies have evolved in the last 200 years, education has become a hybrid of the families’ vocational training and the religious communities’ religious training. Particularly in America, both early American families and the church founded a fourth institution—community education of children—to be a social benefit. The first public schools in America were established by the Puritans & Pilgrims in New England[1]. As America grew, expanded westward and prospered, this fourth institution began to be coordinated by the government. Originally schools in the west were established by citizen groups to the benefit of their children. As governments were organized and schools grew and education became of higher social premium and needed regular funding, schools came under the auspices of the local government. As local, state and federal governments grew in size and power and became increasingly liberal during the 1930’s, `40’s and `50’s, so did the power of the government over schools and the curriculum in the schools. During the late 20th Century, formal religion and religious teachings were forcibly removed from the public school system[2].

So western civilization has developed a culture in which the vocational training of children and much of their socialization has been given to the local schools. In America, that development has long been a part of our American culture and was embedded in Christian socialization and religious thought and ethics. Therefore, the secularization that our increasing liberal governments brought to our schools posed a difficult issue for American Christian parents. Do they leave their children in an increasingly secular training environment that has come under the influence of a secular-humanist system of thought and ethics and rely again on the family and the church to provide the religious and ethical socialization of their children or do they begin an entirely new brand of education that combines the more traditional American religious combination of vocational and religious education. Thus the Christian school movement of today shifted into high gear.

Recognition must be given to a number of Christian branches or denominations who have and continue to provide this combination of vocational and religious training for their children. They have set the model for the newer movement of “evangelical” Christians to establish their own versions of Christian schools. Many new evangelical Christian schools have followed the traditional models of the Catholic, Reform and Lutheran churches in starting schools in the basements of their churches.

Building on the American tradition of education and the model of older Christian denominations, a new unique feature in the modern rise of Christian schools is the multi-denominational approach to schools. This approach has at times proven difficult, yet very successful when schools are established to support the general Christian community (usually focusing on the Protestant evangelical version of Christianity to the exclusion of the Orthodox, Roman Catholic or Lutheran versions) in teaching shared values and doctrines. Christian schools have always been more than Christian people teaching “secular” topics such as math, reading, writing, the arts and the sciences. Christian education has always been about the dispensing and infusing of God’s truth not only through these “liberal arts”, but very specifically teaching young Christian children to “understand and obey the things Jesus taught” His disciples so that they may live godly lives, serve as witnesses of Jesus Christ to the lost[3], and teach others how to live godly lives[4].

[1] First public school promotes Christianity. Massachusetts Puritans found the first "free grammar school" in North America explicitly to teach religion. Puritan schools reflect the religious faith and values of a homogeneous community. Puritan minister John Cotton stresses "zeale is but a wilde-fire without knowledge." The Puritans' goal is to have a devout and well-educated community. Even in the 19th and early 20th century, U.S. public schools will remain de facto Christian institutions (1635: First Public School), (John Cotton). Also see America’s Godly Heritage [video] (Barton).
[2] (Barton)
[3] Acts 1:8
[4] 2 Timothy 2:2; 2 Timothy 3:16-17

We The People Are the Ultimate Authority

Romans 13:2
For there is no authority except form God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

I firmly believe that we the people are the ultimate human authority in the United States of America because we are a republic or a Jeffersonian Democracy (if you prefer). Therefore we the people are accountable to God for those we put in office. Think about it…re-read The Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution and all the writings of our founding fathers.

I believe in America God has instituted we the people as “the authority instituted by God”.” What are we the people doing with that authority?

Every 2-4 years we loan our authority to the President and Congress in order to make laws are designed to protect and prosper us, to execute foreign policy and appoint judges to insure justice in the land.

• If we are God’s appointed authority in the land, then are we the people not ultimately accountable to Him for who we loan our authority to and how they use our authority?
• Will we not be judged according to their actions by the Supreme Judge of the World?
  

We should judge our elected officials according to God’s standards, for He will judge both them and us for their actions.

• The fact is that we the people are responsible for not putting regulations on the banking industry and therefore the mess we’re in—because those we loaned our power to misused the power we gave them.
• We the people are responsible for the way the US is defending our freedoms at home and in Iraq and in Afghanistan because we the people elected a President who took us to war and a Congress who approved and funded the war—and we re-elected them.
• We the people should be congratulated for the protection of America since 9/11 because we’ve elected officials whose administrations have kept us safe.
• We the people have become negligent of our responsibilities as citizens and power holders of the United States. Each of us was born into or immigrated to a unique country at a unique time in history, yet we have become content to let other people vote or let other people tell us how to vote or to be swayed by the outward appearance of candidates and their rhetoric.

If we the people are the authority instituted by God in our country, then we need to bear that responsibility carefully and conscientiously. Is Candidate X as good for us as he says he is? Will Candidate Y protect us as much as he claims? Does this amendment to our state constitution really accomplish what its proponents claim it will? Is it well written? Will it stand up in a court of law? Does it better our state? Does it uphold biblical principles? Does this other law help us be better stewards of Creation as God as commanded us to be? Does that other law mandate or forbid behavior that is really the result of a lost soul who has rejected God? Am I funding a cause that forbids someone’s lifestyle instead of spending my money getting to be that person’s friend and showing them the love of Christ and praying that they come to know Jesus?

Whether we care of not, on November 4th we the people will make a bunch of decisions for which we are accountable to God.

• We will direct our foreign policy, guide our financial futures, set out guidelines for health care, impact the environment and determine issues of freedom of speech and freedom of religion for ourselves, our children and the world all depending on which button we select on the touch screen or which bubble we fill in on the bubble ballot or if we simply decide we are too busy or too disinterested or too tired to care about the whole mess.
• Those of us in Colorado get to chose how to define “person” and if that should be an issue; how to fund education and if our local school districts are spending our money the way they should and whether they should be rewarded with more of our hard earned money. In El Paso County and Colorado Springs we’ll decide if we should fund or hobble our justice system and city government.

As we cast our ballots—whether on a touch screen or a bubble form or in the mail, we will make decision that will affect quality of education, the safety of our streets, the care of our environment, whether people are hired or fired, how criminals are prosecuted, whether we go to war or not and so on. Or we will stick our heads in the sand and stay home. We’ll choose something and God will judge us for it. After all, we the people will speak and things will happen. It’s the American way and God has honored and condemned us accordingly for how we’ve delegated our authority for 232 years now.

As for me, I have examined the issues and have considered the proponents of the various issues, I have listened to the candidates and I’ve prayed about my responsibilities as an American citizen. On November 4th, I will go to Bates Elementary school and stand in line and will vote for the people and for the issues and for the taxes that I have concluded are the best for America and fit the standards set up in Scripture. I will vote “no” on candidates and against issues and taxes that I believe will harm our country, state and local community. It’s my duty as one of the millions of power holders who are the citizens and ultimate government of the United States of America and the State of Colorado. I hope and pray that you will do the same.