Education and Strange Bedfellows

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There are two movements that seem to be strange bedfellows. Each is seeking to take a dominant role in the world—Islam and Atheism, both utilizing education as a primary means.  They share little in their worldviews but they harmonize basically in what they oppose.  This is very much evident in their attack against Christianity in public education in various parts of the world and in particular here in America.

Bertrand Russell, an educational atheistic thinker of the past generation, in his attack on the Christian influences in education, said that, “An education designed to eliminate fear is by no means difficult to create.  It is only necessary to treat a child with kindness, to put him in an environment where initiative is possible without disastrous results…. In particular, there must be no taboo on sex knowledge or on conversation about matters which conventional people consider improper…. Religion prevents our children from having a rational education…religion prevents us from teaching the ethic of scientific co-operation in the place of the old fierce doctrines of sin and punishment.”  (Why I’m Not a Christian, Bertrand Russell, pp 46 & 47)  I am sure that Russell would have applauded the promotion of teaching homosexuality and free love as positive directives for sexuality, as it is now being taught in the curriculums of contemporary public schools.

In the context of freedom from religion The Freedom from Religion Foundation says that it works to educate the public on matters relating to non-theism, and to promote the constitutional principle of separation between church and state. And they purport to be the nation’s largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and skeptics) with over 20,000 members.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation has made a case against the Clemson University Football Program. They have sent a letter of complaint to the college urging the school to cease the athletics department’s emphasis on prayers, Bible studies and other religious activities, including busing players to local churches for Sunday services. “Of course these students are going to feel that they have to go to every Fellowship of Christian Athletes prayer breakfast,” said the representative of the Freedom from Religion Foundation that represents atheists and agnostics.

The leader of this organization stated that Clemson University head football coach Dabo Swinney and his staff have leavened their athletic program with so much Christian indoctrination that the administration needs to step in and say “hands off the consciences of these kids.”  Isn’t it a shame that an educational institution would see positive values in cultivating constructive lifestyles such as righteous living and discipline in its students?  Proverbs 2:3-5 says:  “If thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God”.

The attorney for the atheistic group said, “Christian worship seems interwoven into Clemson’s football program. We are concerned that this commingling of religion and athletics results, not from student initiative, but rather from the attitudes and unconstitutional behaviors of the coaching staff.” Students are in no way, however, compelled to go, but they who know Christ do go because of their Christian commitments.

Clemson University said in a written statement: “Participation in religious activities is purely voluntary, and there are no repercussions for students who decline to do so. We are not aware of any complaints from current or former student-athletes about feeling pressured or forced to participate in religious activities” (The State, by Carolyn Click, April 15, 2014).  However, the attack against Christianity in this educational context is in process, and it remains to be seen how it will terminate.

A national humanist group is suing a New Jersey school district on behalf of a family that believes the phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance is discriminatory toward atheist children.  The lawsuit against the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District was filed in state court in March of 2014 and was announced by the American Humanist Association, in Washington, D.C.  The group says the phrase, “under God” which was added in 1954, “marginalizes atheist and humanist kids as something less than ideal patriots.” The anonymous plaintiffs say those two words violate the state constitution’s right to equal protection (Fox News, April 22, 2014). But removing the “under God” although it might affirm the rights of a few destroys the rights of the overwhelming majority.

The Clemson situation and the New Jersey school are just two illustrations of the attacks in education against Christianity in America, but there are many, many others popping up all over our land.

In an article on Facebook, “Why do Atheists ‘pick on’ Christianity?”, one atheist  (http://atheism.about.com/od/religiousright/ig/Christian-Propaganda-Posters/Criticize-Religion-Free-Speech.htm) wrote:  “The other day I was asked, ‘Why do you atheists only attack Christianity?  Why don’t you attack Islam or other religions?’  I want to address this question today, as it is something that I see in different forms fairly often.

“As a starting point, I think that is the wrong question to ask.  Most of us who are vocal with our criticisms of religion do criticize religions other than Christianity… However, I do understand where the question originates.  It does seem like Christianity takes the majority of atheists’ criticism online.  Why is that?  The answer, at least to me, appears to be quite simple.

“It is Christianity that posits misogynistic (or at a minimum-sexist) views in the United States and Europe more than any other religion.  It is Christianity that is used to deny science in the United States and Europe more than any other religion.  It is Christianity that seeks to mandate that homosexuals not be seen as equal human beings under the law in the United States (and parts of Europe) more than any other religion.  It is Christianity that is seeking to have a privileged place in society in the United States and Europe more than any other religion.”

This atheist’s response gives a bird’s eye view of why groups like the Freedom from Religion Foundation and others are in a constant attack against Christianity and says very little against the Islamic onslaught against true freedom.

William Kilpatrick in his book Christianity, Islam and Atheism argues that Islam is a religion of conquest and subjugation and that in spite of 9/11 and thousands of other terrorist attacks throughout the world, many Western people still do not know or admit this truth, because it conflicts with their belief in multiculturalism.

In addition to challenging both the multicultural and common-ground approaches, William Kilpatrick also exposes the role played by atheists and secularists in advancing Islam’s totalitarian agenda.  Despite playing lip service to freedom, radical secularists willingly serve as enablers of radical Islam. The civil liberties that Americans and Europeans enjoy are the fruit of Christian civilization, Kilpatrick argues, and only a reawakened Christianity can defend against Islam’s advance.

The Islamic focus brings bondage in religion and society, while the various atheistic and agnostic groups such as The Freedom from Religion Foundation undermine the foundations for morality and the characteristics necessary for the American democracy to work.

In the Islamic world generally it is a crime to promote Christianity, but here in America, a nation in which Christianity is the most popular religion with around 73% of polled Americans identifying themselves as Christian in 2012, Islam is a minority religion, practiced by about 1% of the total population.  Yet, the Islamic faith is given all kinds of acclaim in much of our public schooling under the under the banner of multiculturalism.

The Islamic religion in America has better than doubled since 9/11 with the vast majority entering the U.S. since that time.  According to United Nations statistics, the Muslim population in the United States grew by twenty-five percent between 1989 and 1998.  In 1990 there were only about fifty Islamic schools in America. Today the number is over 200.  And since about 1990 the number of “registered Islamic centers and mosques” has tripled to “more than 2,500” in America.

According to Sharia law, the legal code of Islam, any criticism of Islam constitutes hate speech.  Hate crime bills in the Senate and House of the United States are seeking to criminalize anything that could be interpreted as “hate crimes”.  This could include slandering or criticizing the Islamic Prophet Mohammed or many of the barbarous practices such as beheading infidels, child marriage, jihad, stoning a woman for allegations of adultery, etc.

Nigeria, which is about equally divided between Christians and Muslims, has been greatly influenced by Western education, since it was a colony of Great Britain from the early 1800s until 1960, but chaos is spreading all over the land as radical Muslims who call Western education sinful are seeking to destroy all vestiges of Christianity.  Just this year under the leadership of Boko Haram there have been 3,982 deaths of mostly Christians–killing, burning homes and churches, and raping women.

Strict Islamic education is in opposition to Christianity and is against the education of girls. Just recently they attacked a girls’ school, taking 234 girls, seeking either to kill them or make them cooks or sex slaves. The supporters of Islam, however, either just ignore this or they blame this only on radical Muslims who just take their religion too far. (“More Than 200 Nigerians held by Islamic terrorists”, Greenville News, 2B, April 22, 2014). But it is a tragic picture regardless.  The seeds for this kind of behavior are innate in Islam.

However, two strange bedfellows, atheistic secular humanism and the Islamic faith. are seeking to change our culture often through education, one devoid of faith in God and the other, with a distorted view of God, all very much in contradiction to what our founding fathers set up and even more in contradiction to the teaching of God’s word, the Holy Bible.

by Joe Renfro, Ed.D., Educational Columnist, Radio Evangelist, Retired Teacher and Pastor, 5931 West Avenue, Lavonia, Georgia 30553,  706-356-4173, joerenfro@windstream.net

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