Restoring Religious Values into Our Schools

Temple Beth-El Rabbi - Mara Nathan

I find it somewhat ironic that Mara Nathan, a Reform Rabbi in San Antonio, Texas is protesting a proposed public school curriculum that would supposedly be teaching Christian dogma. Ironic because her own Reform movement disavows much of the dogma of her own religion.

That being said, if she is accurate about what she is protesting, I agree with her. The idea of referring to the Christian god as the messiah is in direct contradiction to Jewish belief and a serious violation of Jewish law. Any public school that would teach that or any other doctrinal belief specific to only one religion would be in obvious direct violation of the First Amendment’s separation clause. I find it hard to believe that any public school curriculum would attempt to do that intentionally. Be that as it may - the JTA reports the following: 

“The first round of the curriculum that we saw honestly had a lot of offensive content in it, and was proselytizing, and did not represent Jewish people well,” said Lisa Epstein, the director of San Antonio’s Jewish Community Relations Council.

Now those critics say most of their specific suggestions have been accepted but they remain concerned. 

They need to be more than concerned, They need to stay vigilant in order to assure that the religious dogma of any particular faith not be taught as any part of a public school curriculum.

But does that mean that the values of the bible should not be taught either? 

This is where I part company with the First Amendment warriors. The separation clause is not meant to exclude the values of any religion from being taught. Especially when those values are shared by the many faith communities that constitute the vast majority of the American public. Values considered vital by the founding fathers. Like the belief in the Creator for example. Values ‘the moral majority’ teach their children and want them to absorb. And certainly not be contradicted by a culture of increasingly Godless values being reflected in many classrooms these days. 

What ‘the moral majority’ seeks is what is really meant by teaching Judeo-Christian values.  

I completely reject the notion by the left that the term Judeo-Christian is a new term used by the Christian right to cover up their agenda of turning the US into a Christian nation. While there are surely some Christian Nationalist groups - their agenda does not represent Judeo-Christian values.  

Judeo-Christian values are not about religious doctrine. They are about what God - through our shared bible - tells us what our attitude about various types of human behavior should be. What is considered good and what is considered evil. What is considered moral and what is considered immoral.  

Those who say that the two religions interpret our shared bible in dramatically different ways are correct. But that does not mean we don’t derive the same values from that bible. Which is why for example both religions honor the Ten Commandments.

Judeo-Christian values  ought to have just as much a place in public education as do the humanistic values that undermine them.

The claim by atheists that believing in God is a violation of the First Amendment is insulting. I can understand that some people would feel that way. But there are a lot of people that feel eliminating God from the classroom is immoral. 

Parents have a right to demand that their children not be disabused of what they are taught in the home. They have the right to demand that a public school not undermine their values. The right way to do that in order to satisfy both sides is to present mandatory classes where both values are objectively taught.  Or perhaps even better to have separate mandatory classes being taught by advocates of both cultural values and religious values. Teaching only one set of values that is in opposition to the values taught in the home is the vary antithesis of a democracy. 

Of course ideally the best way to instill in children the religious values taught in the home is to send them to a parochial school. But that doesn’t mean abandoning the public schools to the antireligious humanistic values of the current public school culture. 

Personally I would sooner see the Ten Commandments on display in public schools than condom dispensaries in their bathrooms any day of the week. Wouldn’t even mind if the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ were reintroduced. I believe that Jewish students (over the age of 12 for girls and 13 for boys) might even fulfill (minimally) their obligation for prayer by reciting it.

The President-elect has indicated he favors a return to those values. I hope he succeeds while making sure that a return to those values do  not include Christian doctrine. And as noted Jewish advocacy groups need to stay vigilant about that.