Religion-state separation is about to take center stage in the US culture wars

The Texas Tribune reports that the state’s board of education is likely going to vote to support a “Bible infused” curriculum for its public schools later this week. The newspaper states that eight of the 15 board members gave their preliminary approval to Bluebonnet Learning, the elementary school curriculum proposed by the Texas Education Agency earlier this year. The Tribune adds:

Critics, which included religious studies experts, argue the curriculum’s lessons allude to Christianity more than any other religion, which they say could lead to the bullying and isolation of non-Christian students, undermine church-state separation and grant the state far-reaching control over how children learn about religion. They also questioned the accuracy of some lessons.

That precious wall of separation between religion and state, arguably the crown jewel of the founders’ vision of American democracy, is crumbling before our eyes.

American Jews have often been troubled by these trends, but many Jewish communities have felt intimidated both by external and internal forces. Along with conservative voices in the media, the increasing clout of Orthodox groups, in particular Chabad, has silenced leaders who long ago gave in to the marketing sugar-high of those menorah lightings on government property. They see little harm in putting some of that old time religion back in the schools, given that the alternative is, to some conservative eyes, excessive “wokeness.” God forbid we should learn about slavery, unless it’s Egyptian.

It’s the perfect move for a new Trump administration that would like to shove abortion to the side for now, and LGBTQ rights might just be too risky to attack head on – yet. But more Christ in the curriculum pleases the base no end.

Let’s be clear about what this is all about: the establishment of Christianity as the state religion of the USA. This is not about pumping “Judeo-Christian” values into our educational system. If they are serious about the “Judeo” part, then, okay, you can start by enforcing Sabbath rules and banning football on Friday nights.

I thought not.

How about removing ham sandwiches from the cafeteria? So it’s time to get rid of that “Judeo” facade.

In Israel there are actually legal and political fights over whether hospitals can offer bread on Passover. But Israel is officially a Jewish democratic state, where you might expect such questions to arise. America is not a Christian country, and recent demographic trends, in fact, are pointing in the other direction. To quote a recent Pew survey:

In all the scenarios, Christianity’s share of the US population declines. “Depending on whether religious switching continues at recent rates, speeds up, or stops entirely,” the report says, the Center’s projections show Christians shrinking from 64% of Americans of all ages in 2020 to between 54% and 35% by 2070.

So that’s what the Texans are afraid of and part of why they want to pump their kids up with good ol’ biblical values. The Tribune article quotes Houston Republican Will Hickman, who said:

In my view, these stories are on the education side and are establishing cultural literacy. And there’s religious concepts like the Good Samaritan and the Golden Rule and Moses that all students should be exposed to.

Yeah, sure. The proposed curriculum prompts teachers to relay the story of The Good Samaritan – a parable about loving everyone, including your enemies – to kindergarteners as an example of what it means to follow the Golden Rule.

In my Hebrew School, Samaritans were not always so good. In ancient sources, they are often depicted as idolators, and their disloyalty to the central temple in Jerusalem led to a schism. Their holy place – to this day (there are still Samaritans in existence) is not Jerusalem but in the mountains of – wait for it – Samaria. So in Jewish education, Samaritans have not been depicted so glowingly.

For that matter, neither has Jesus.

The Tribune indicates that this new Christian-based curriculum explains that the Golden Rule “was told by a man named Jesus” as part of his Sermon on the Mount, which included the phrase, “Do unto others as you would have done unto you.”

Of course, many other religions have their own version of the Golden Rule, which gives the Texans cover for including it without seeming to buck the Establishment Clause, which Constitutionally prohibits this kind of proselytizing in a public school.

But to be consistent with the Constitution, I would expect the unit on the Golden Rule to include discussions of the Jewish sage Hillel’s version, which differs from the one found in Leviticus, along with Rabbi Akiba’s, and for that matter, Confucius’ version, the Quran’s and the Mahabharata’s. I would be thrilled to see that.

But I suspect we’ll see that kind of balanced presentation in a Texas classroom on the day that a kindergarten teacher in Louisiana gives a straight answer to the child who points to that thing on the wall with the two tablets and asks what adultery is.

I’ll happily make some other suggestions as to what biblical accounts should be included in the Texas curriculum, if they really want to assure that the “Judeo” part of Judeo-Christian is included.

First of all, Jews don’t call it the Old Testament, which implies that there is a New one, which runs counter to our faith. So if you want to avoid offending Jews, avoid that terminology – ideally, avoid the “New” one entirely.

If you’re going to include the New Testament, Jews do have a version of a “New Testament.” Our “completion” of the Hebrew Bible is the corpus of rabbinic sources anchored by the Talmud. So if you can match every Gospel citation with a Talmudic reference, that’s a start.

Oh, and don’t forget to include Esther, with its strong feminist message and description of diaspora Jews who stand up for their identity and fight back against their oppressors (rather brutally at times). And how about the Song of Songs, the soft-porn love poem whose graphic imagery might make a few teachers blush. Or Ecclesiastes and Job, whose sharp cynicism toward religion might make a progressive blush.

Let’s not forget that much of the New Testament is intended as an anti-Jewish polemic; hence the vilification of “Scribes and Pharisees,” as well as so many details in the passion narrative that have promoted antisemitism over the centuries.

But just to give equal time, Rabbi Eliezer Diamond of the Jewish Theological Seminary researched a number of anti-Christian polemics found in the Talmud and later Jewish sources. They are pretty blunt, crude and – I must confess – insulting to my Christian neighbors. Here’s something from the great medieval philosopher Maimonides, who had the luxury of living mostly in the Muslim world, so he could tell us what he really thought about Christianity:

Jesus of Nazareth who aspired to be the Messiah and was executed by the court was also alluded to in Daniel’s prophecies, as ibid. 11:14 states: “The vulgar among your people shall exalt themselves in an attempt to fulfill the vision, but they shall stumble.”

Can there be a greater stumbling block than Christianity? All the prophets spoke of Messiah as the redeemer of Israel and their savior who would gather their dispersed and strengthen their observance of the mitzvot. In contrast, Christianity caused the Jews to be slain by the sword, their remnants to be scattered and humbled, the Torah to be altered, and the majority of the world to err and serve a god other than the Lord.

• Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings and their Wars, 11.7-9

Shall we include that in the Bluebonnet curriculum? I didn’t think so. So, Houston Republican Will Hickman, how does it feel to have your faith insulted?

You want to know what else is insulting? Putting the Ten Commandments on the classroom wall. For Jews, the Big Ten are only the beginning. We count 613 commandments in the Torah alone. Will they fit on Mrs. Smith’s kindergarten wall, right next to the kids’ cute sketches of robins and pussywillows?

“Mrs. Smith, what’s cir-cum-cision?”

I would love to see religious / moral values taught in the schools in a manner that is neither insulting nor coercive. I’d love to see all religions included, comparatively but not competitively. Jefferson and the founders understood that it would be nearly impossible to pull that off; hence the need for an Establishment Clause.

My argument isn’t against religion. I’ve spent my life studying and teaching it. And we have places where it can be taught beautifully. They are called churches, synagogues, temples and mosques. The Hartford Institute estimates there are roughly 350,000 religious congregations in the United States.

I’ll bet there are a whole lot of them in Texas.