Is This A Debate For Sixth Graders?

Does the state of Florida intend for sixth-graders to learn and analyze the influence of religious dogma on the Founding Fathers?

At Florida Freedom to Read Project, we consider our calls to action part of a broader discussion and encourage topical, spirited discourse regarding the articles we post and the stories we cover. 

Recently, we posted about the state of Florida’s apparent efforts to thrust religion into the classroom by way of instructing teachers to include the influences of “ancient Jewish civilizations” on our rule of law (mainly, the Constitution).  New information on the state’s intention with this change has come to light, and we feel additional context is needed as part of this discussion, as well as a more pointed call to action. 

First, it should be remembered that this rule change would apply to sixth graders.  Now, the state of Florida has passed a number of laws and rules limiting classroom instruction on topics deemed generally age-inappropriate for K-8 due to the perceived inability to comprehend the concepts and the possible violation of a parent’s right to direct such discussions.  Why, then, do they see the need for middle school students to learn about the influences of “Judeo-Christian” beliefs on the United States Constitution?

This is a slide from the FLDOE Summer Civics Series. It was delivered to Civics educators to equip them with the knowledge needed to instruct on the new standards.

More precisely: what are students expected to take away from these learnings?

Introducing the influence of Greek and Roman society on the formation of the Constitution is fairly banal.  The lesson could even be as simple as how the word ‘democracy,’ what the constitution is founded on, is based on two Greek words: ‘demos,’ meaning people, and ‘kratos,’ meaning power. 

People power.  Where democratic governments derive their right to govern.

This is a simple lesson that any sixth grader in a civics class can grasp as they learn about the basics of our foundational documents.

The question of “ancient Jewish civilizations” and their influence on the Constitution’s writings is far more winding.  It would require a discussion on each of the Founding Fathers’ individual religious philosophies, from Quakerism to Deism to Presbyterianism and beyond, and how they used those values to steer some of their decisions regarding how the Constitution should be written. 

This might seem like a worthwhile debate– but for sixth graders?  Further, the Constitution itself makes no direct reference to any religion, faith, or creator except in the First Amendment to specifically protect the free practice of religion.  

Again, a discussion on the Roman Senate makes sense in the context of basic civics because the American Senate is based on its principles.  

But where are the Presbyterian principles, specifically, in the Constitution?

All of this is made more complicated by the fact that certain PragerU courses, a free curriculum already approved for use in Florida classrooms, absolutely do conflate religious doctrine with the Constitution. 

In fact, in one of them, titled “Is America’s Government Secular?”, PragerU puts up exceedingly misleading information to make it seem like a creator is invoked in the Constitution.  They display a picture of the document on screen, and make the argument that it calls for religious founding for a just system and note that the word ‘creator’ appears in our founding documents.

Except that ‘creator’ does not appear anywhere in the Constitution.

A common misconception is that a “creator” imbued us with the “right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is Constitutional language.  It is not.  PragerU reinforces this misconception and feeds students deliberately misleading information. 

The “creator” language and “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” appear in the Declaration of Independence.  While this is an important document in our founding and is the basis on which the colonies rebelled against the British monarch,  it is not a code of law! 

So this, again, begs the question.  Why does the state feel teaching the influences of ancient Jewish civilizations, the root from which Christianity grew, is important to teach American civics?    

We searched high and low to find references to ancient Jewish civilizations or religious dogma in the Constitution and Federalist Papers.  At most, we were able to come up with a reference to the danger religion poses to State unity in Hamilton’s Federalist Paper 19 (a debate that is better reserved for a high school classroom) and a reference to “ancient law” in the Declaration of Independence in Paper 84 (which affirms the use of “inalienable rights” and  “creator” in that document).  

We cannot stress this enough: the Founding Fathers, though many were indeed religious, went out of their way to separate religion from the rule of law of the United States. We know most of our educators understand this and have threaded this needle for many years for our students.  

Why, then, does the state feel the need to be more explicit in its expectations that “Judeo-Christian” influences are recognizable to all students? And what will students be expected to take away from these teachings?

These are the questions they should need to clarify before the Board votes to approve this standard.  And these are the questions you should be asking your state government.