Countering the Disease of Totalitarianism in Education

By the Rev. Joe Renfro, E.D.

There is a disease that has been sweeping over the Western world for the past sixty or so years, and it is much worse than Covid-19. It is what can be classified as totalitarianism, and  in and through education. Rousas John Rushdoony in his book, The Messianic Character of American Education, makes this case. On the cover of the book, it says: “What the educationists have forgotten is that sense of meaning and purpose of life which they take for granted was bought with the blood of saints from the time of the prophets and Jesus until this day. And the end is not yet in sight.  By taking for granted that which can only be acquired by faith, the rationalist tradition of American education has severed itself from its roots…” The totalitarianism to which American education is moving is seeking to replace God with the state through education.

We are observing a philosophic position the seeks to develop and promote a pluralistic and  godless type of learning.  It is the “in thing” of the leftist thinking. It has the goal of secularizing society and programming society not to think for themselves, but to be programed by the leftist elite in what they wish to call  the “post-Christian era”  It is interesting that the Bible speaks to this as it says in 2 Peter 2:19 that: “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of  whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.”

I see a comparison between this educational disease and the pandemic of covid-19.  With covid-19, some of the symptoms are fever or chills, coughing, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headaches, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, and nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea. The totalitarianism has certain symptoms that permeate the society, influenced in education from the left where we see certain ideologies such as socialism, communism, Islamism, progressivism, and humanism at work to undermine this nation from being one nation under God with a free people, “endowed by the Creator.”

It has been observed: “For a long time, beginning in the first half of the last century and accelerating in the aftermath of World War II, many thinkers simply decided to ignore ‘the religion factor’ in American life. The dogma was promulgated and reiterated in textbooks from grade school through graduate school, that religion was once important, but now America is a comprehensively and irreversibly secular society.” (“Dechristianizing America,” – by Richard John Neuhaus, First Things, June 2006) Much of focus in American education has become a political platform to get the populace involved in class struggles, punctuating great segments of contemporary schooling.” We have observed since the sixties education has emphasized rights issues, where it was once much more are righteousness issues,  as it sought to develop good character in individuals rather than impose a transformation on society as a whole.  

There is a parallel between this educational disease and the pandemic of covid-19.  With covid-19, which has symptoms such as fever or chills, coughing, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headaches, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, other symptoms, and totalitarianism has certain symptoms that permeate society, influenced by educational thinking from the left where we see certain ideologies such as socialism, communism, Islamism, progressivism, and humanism all at work together to undermine this nation from being one nation under God with a free people, “endowed by the Creator.”                                                                                                     

Looking back in the bible to directives God set for the whole human race in the temptation scene in Genesis 3:1-5 that can be interpreted as a not only a description of the then, but he now as well… seeing  how Adam and Eve and in turn all humanity did and do–to still eat of the knowledge of good and evil, wanting to be the lords of their own lives in the pursuit of knowledge as it says:  3:1-5–

Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:  But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

The Hartford Appeal caused quite a stir back in 1976.when a book was written and published.  Richard John Neuhaus who edited the book, Against the World for the World: The Hartford Appeal and the Future of American Religion along with Peter Berger. 30 or so years later in 2006 after seeing the errors of the leftist thinking published the article, I referred to earlier in this article and many more publications of the errors of the leftist thinking as well as speaking out about it.

The book contains the appeal of leftist thinking and eight explanatory essays by participants. “The renewal of Christian witness and mission,” began with the appeal that it, “requires constant examination of the assumptions shaping the Church’s life.”  This was a reference to where mainline denominations in America shifted from the gospel of righteousness to the leftist thinking of civil rights.   But Neuhaus later saw the errors of the leftist thinking and published the article I referred to earlier, “The Dechristianizing of America,” and many more publication of the errors of leftist thinking.

He observed that “Today an apparent loss of the sense of the transcendent is undermining the Church’s ability to address with clarity and courage the urgent tasks to which God calls it in the world,” and this relates very much to the educational domain.   This loss is manifest in a number of pervasive themes

debilitating to the Church’s life and work.” The signers then set out thirteen pervasive, false, and debilitating themes, following each with a statement of the truth that it undermines.

The thirteen leftist themes are as follows, except I have changed the order somewhat to focus on the fact that this thinking is very much evident in the totalitarian education of our day, which leftist educators are instilling in our youth. The errors of their positions are evident when one really examines them, and each of these can be understood in educational context. 

(1) The first leftist statement is: “Religious language refers to human experience and nothing else, God being humanity’s noblest creation.

The Bible says in Genesis 2:7: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, something that is not said about other creations of God.   It does not say that man imagined a Creator with all the good human qualities he could think of.”  If fact, the bible present humanity as not being of very high quality throughout the scripture.  But what else could people relate to except what they know in “human experience?”

Genesis 1;27 says: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”  This image of God is that human beings are spiritual/rational beings. As well, we can know God not by our own minds in themselves or even by our own reasoning.  He is known by revelation first, and then those who have come to know him can find the connection to him as one with reason, as the Lord Jesus is referred to as “word” in the gospel of John.

(2) The second leftist statement is: “Jesus can only be understood in terms of contemporary models of humanity.”                                                        

To understand Jesus Christ as just another man misses the message of the bible and does away with his vicarious atonement, where he suffered on Calvary and died for our sins. Many of the world religions accept Jesus as a great teacher, a great prophet, even a worker of miracles, but the bible message is that he became the payment for our transgressions. What was unique about Jesus was that his will was continually in accord with that of God, his Father, something no other human being has ever realized.

(3)  The third leftist position is, “All religions are equally valid; the choice among them is not a matter of conviction about truth but only of personal preference or lifestyle. But if  all religions are equally valid then none are really valid. except for subjective value.

(4)  The fourth leftist position is: “To realize one’s potential and to be true to oneself is the whole meaning of salvation. To know ourselves in and by ourselves has not redemptive value, where to know ourselves in Christ, changes the whole picture.

(5)  The fifth leftist position is: Since what is human is good, evil can adequately be understood as failure to realize human potential.

The bible teaches “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God,”  and the realization of our human potential is but to realize whatever we do is tarnished by sin.

(6) The sixth leftist position is:  “The sole purpose of worship is to promote individual self-realization and human community.  Worship is to glorify God, to cultivate our worth to God, not to affirm the human community.

(7)  The seventh leftist position is:  “Institutions and historical traditions are oppressive and inimical to our being truly human; liberation from them is required for authentic existence and authentic religion. Traditions can be good or bad, but the Church is presented as Christ’s body on earth, exemplifying him to the world.

(8) The eighth leftist position is: “An emphasis upon God’s transcendence is at least a hindrance to, and perhaps incompatible with, Christian social concern and action. “Transcendence” means theologically and philosophically climbing or going beyond, the state of excelling or surpassing or going beyond usual limits. We are God’s image and God is not in our image.

(9) The ninth leftist position is: “The struggle for a better humanity will bring about the Kingdom of God.  This is a goal that can never be reached, for this is what was very much part of the temptation scene in Genesis that they would be like God, if they took of tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

(10) The tenth leftist position is:  “The question of hope beyond death is irrelevant.  The Apostle Paul wrote that “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”

(11) The eleventh leftist statement is: “Religious statements are totally independent of reasonable discourse.”  This means that religious statements are purely subjective and are only opinions, maybe with emotional meaning, but no cognitive value.

The word “testimony” tells what one has experienced!  Those of who have experienced Jesus as the Christ find continual affirmation of this truth, as have millions upon millions since the time of the incarnation realized it.

II Timothy 2:15 says: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth,” and  3:16 &17  says: ” All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for instruction in righteousness, for correction, for in righteousness” That the man of God may be perfectly furnished unto all good works.”  The Christian educational message from the bible works as it speaks in historical facts, parables, metaphors, songs, drama, etc.  We don’t know God by empirical observation, for God is a Spirit, as affirmed by the Westminster Standards written in 1647 where it says:

There is but one only, living, and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions; immutable, immense, eternal,  incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will, for his own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving    iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him; and withal, most just, and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.

(12) The twelfth leftist statement is: “Religious language refers to human experience and nothing else, God being humanity’s noblest creation.

The Bible says in Genesis 2:7 that: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, something that is not said about other creations of God.   It does not say that man imagined a Creator with all the good human qualities he could think of.”  If fact, the bible present humanity as not being of very high quality throughout the scripture.  But what else could people relate to except what they know in “human experience?”

Genesis 1;27 it says that:  “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”  This image of God is that human beings are spiritual/rational beings. As well, we can know God not by our own minds in themselves or even by our own reasoning.  He is known by revelation first, and then those who have come to know him can find the connection to him as one with reason, as the Lord Jesus is referred to as “word” in the gospel of John.

(13) The thirteenth leftist position is: “The world must set the agenda for the Church. Social, political, and economic programs to improve the quality of life are ultimately normative for the Church’s mission in the world. The Church is a body connected to and through the Holy Spirit, and here is where the direction and power must come from, not our relationship to the world, but to Christ beyond the things of this world. 

The Bible says in Genesis 2:7:  “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, something that is not said about other creations of God.   It does not say that man imagined a Creator with all the good human qualities he could think of.”  If fact, the bible present humanity as not being of very high quality throughout the scripture.  But what else could people relate to except what they know in “human experience?”

Genesis 1:27 it says:  “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”  This image of God is that human beings are spiritual/rational beings. As well, we can know God not by our own minds in themselves or even by our own reasoning.  He is known by revelation first, and then those who have come to know him can find the connection to him as one with reason, as the Lord Jesus is referred to as “word” in the gospel of John.

According to Mayo Clinic: “An infectious diseases are disorders caused by organisms — such as bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites. Many organisms live in and on our bodies. They are normally harmless or even helpful. But under certain conditions, some organisms may cause disease. Some infectious diseases can be passed from person to person. Some are transmitted by insects or other animals. And you may get others by consuming contaminated food or water or being exposed to organisms in the environment.”  One of the organisms in our society is the creeping dominance of what can readily because  totalitarian is more education system, and it has become five different strains which are socialism, communism, Islamism, progressivism, and humanism.  It is a social disease like covid-19 is a medical disease, but it is even more deadly.  There is one vaccine for this, and it is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

People are wearing masks to help fight against the pandemic, but with the spiritual pandemic we need to have people faithfully put on those robes of righteousness which can only come from Jesus Christ!