Bible study in schools

Another had once said in a post:
>:|The Bible was the primary book used in schools.

In some, maybe, not in all by any stretch of the imagination.

> Thomas Jefferson supported Bible reading in school; this is proven
>:|by his service as the first president of the >:|Washington, D.C.
>:|public schools, which used the Bible and Watt's Hymns as textbooks for reading.


The above is a myth by DAVID BARTON, but when corrected does give some
information about a early public school system.
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http://members.tripod.com/~candst/tnppage/arg6.htm

Thomas Jefferson supported Bible reading in school; this is proven by his
service as the first president of the Washington D. C. public schools,
which used the Bible and Watt's Hymns as textbooks for reading.

Research by Jim Allison

On page 130 in his The Myth of Separation, David Barton makes the following
claim:

Thomas Jefferson, while President of the United States, became the
first president of the Washington D. C. public school
board, which used the Bible and Watt's Hymnal as reading texts in the
classroom. Notice why Jefferson felt the Bible to
be essential in any successful plan of education:

I have always said, always will say, that the studious perusal of
the sacred volume will make us better citizens.

Barton's reference for Jefferson's service on the Washington D. C. school
board is J. O. Wilson, "Eighty Years of Public
Schools of Washington," in the Records of the Columbia Historical Society,
vol. 1, 1897, pp. 122-127. Barton's quotation
from Jefferson is taken from Herbert Lockyear, The Last Words of Saints and
Sinners, 1969.

Apparently, Barton wants us to conclude that, since Jefferson was president
of the board for a school system that used the Bible
for reading instruction, he must have approved of using the Bible in this
manner. In fact, some readers of this web site have
claimed in their e-mail correspondence with us that Jefferson requested the
Bible to be used for reading instruction. But nothing
in Barton's source supports either of these claims. In fact, Barton's
source suggests that someone other than Jefferson was
responsible for introducing the Bible into the schools, and that this
policy was adopted after Jefferson had left Washington for
retirement in Virginia. Here are the facts:

On September 19, 1805, toward the end of Jefferson's first term as
President of the United States, the board of trustees of the
Washington D. C. public schools adopted its first plan for public education
for the city. Given its resemblance to a similar plan
proposed several years earlier by Jefferson for the state of Virginia,
Wilson (Barton's source) suggests that it is likely that "he
[Jefferson] himself was the chief author of the...plan." The plan called
for the establishment of two public schools in which:

...poor children shall be taught reading, writing, grammar,
arithmetic, and such branches of the mathematics as may qualify
them for the professions they are intended to follow, and they shall
receive such other instruction as is given to pay pupils,
as the board my from time to time direct, and pay pupils shall,
besides be instructed in geography and in the Latin
language.

As you can see, there is nothing in this plan that mentions religious
education or the use of the Bible in reading instruction. Nor,
we might add, was the Bible mentioned in any of Jefferson's plans for
public education in the state of Virginia, either before or
after his presidency (check out an extract from Leonard Levy's book
Jefferson and Civil Liberties: The Darker Side for
documentation on this point). There is nothing, absolutely nothing, in
Barton's source that connects Jefferson to the practice of
Bible reading. So how did the Bible come to be used in the Washington
public schools? Remarkably, Barton's own source
provides an answer to that question.

In 1812 the board of trustees established a school that used a curriculum
developed by the British educator Joseph Landcaster,
who's system of education was becoming increasingly popular in the United
States. Wilson describes Landcaster as an
"enthusiastic but somewhat visionary schoolmaster, who adopted an
inexpensive method of educating, especially the masses of
the poor. The curriculum of his schools included reading, writing,
arithmetic, and the Bible." In an 1813 report to the board of
trustees, Henry Ould, the principle of the Landcasterian school, related
the progress his students had made in reading and
spelling:

55 have learned to read in the Old and New Testaments, and are all
able to spell words of three, four, and five syllables;
26 are now learning to read Dr. Watts' Hymns and spell words of two
syllables; 10 are learning words of four and five
letters. Of 509 out of the whole number admitted that did not know a
single letter, 20 can now read the Bible and spell
words of three, four, and five syllables, 29 read Dr. Watts' Hymns and
spell words of two syllables, and 10 words of four
and five letters.

In other words, the first mention of the use of the Bible and a Christian
hymnal in the Washington public schools is in connection
with a curriculum adopted in 1812, three years after Jefferson has left
Washington and the school board for retirement in
Virginia. Contrary to Barton's implied claim, Jefferson was not president
of the school board when the Bible was being used
for instruction. Barton simply omits information he doesn't want his
readers to know, and so allows them to draw an conclusion
that his own source refutes. Barton, we conclude, is either sloppy or
dishonest in his use of evidence. Either alternative should
cause the reader to question the soundness of Barton's scholarship.

So what about Barton's quote from Herbert Lockyear's The Last Words of
Saints and Sinners? We tracked down the book
and discovered that it had no footnotes that direct the reader back to
either Jefferson's own writings, or to secondary accounts
of Jefferson's life; the quote, in other words, is untraceable. Moreover,
we've never seen this quote referenced in any scholarly
work on Jefferson's attitude toward religion, or in any account of
Jefferson's death (the context of Lockyear's book). If Jefferson
uttered these words, it has apparently escaped the notice of most
historians.

We have simply never encountered a legitimate scholar that reports an
unfootnoted quotation from a secondary source writing
some 140 years after the fact as the truth, especially when that quotation
seems not to be known to other scholars. If Barton
wants us to accept this quote as authentic, he should be able to indicate
to where it can be found in Jefferson's works, or else
point us to a secondary source that provides the relevant documentation.
Barton does neither. It's hard to resist the conclusion
that this quote was fabricated by Lockyear, and that Barton reports it
knowing full well that there are questions as to its
authenticity. [Newsflash: Barton now admits this quotation is fabricated!
Check here for details.]

Finally, we draw your attention to a last, nagging inaccuracy in Barton's
passage. While it's true that Jefferson was elected
president of the Washington public school board in 1805, Wilson (Barton's
source) goes on to note that Jefferson was
"prevented from ever discharging its duties by others of paramount
concern." Once again, Barton misreports his source; he
leaves out information that indicates that Jefferson was not as involved in
the work of the school board as the title "president"
suggests. There is no good reason for Barton to omit this information
unless, of course, he wants to mislead his readers.


More info about jefferson and the Bible, religion in schools

Jefferson, Religion, and the Public Schools.
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/tnppage/jeffschl.htm

FISHER AMES

Fisher Ames was lamenting the decline of the use of the
Bible in schools and this was 1801. When he wrote this:
"Should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a schoolbook?
Its morals are pure, its examples are captivating and noble .... "

Think about that, the Bible was being phased out as a school book in
Mass. a state with an established religion as early as 1801.

Jefferson designed a educational system for the lower grades that did
not include religion being taught in any form or fashion.

Fisher Ames wrote
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SCHOOL BOOKS

The Palladium, JANUARY, 27, 1801

IT HAS BEEN THE CUSTOM, of late years, to put a number of little books
into the hands of children, containing fables and moral lessons. This
is very well, because it is right first to raise curiosity, and then
to guide it. Many books for children are, however, judiciously
compiled; the language is too much raised above the ideas of that
tender age; the moral is drawn from the fable, they know not why; and
when they gain wisdom from experience, they will see the restrictions
and exceptions which are necessary to the rules of conduct laid down
in their books, but which such books do not give. Some of the most
admired works of this kind abound with a frothy sort of sentiment, as
the readers of novels are pleased to call it, the chief merit of which
consists in shedding tears, and giving away money. Is it right, or
agreeable to good sense, to try to make the tender age more
tender'' Pity and generosity, though amiable impulses, are blind ones,
and as we grow older are to be managed by rules, and restrained by wisdom.

It is not clear that the heart, at thirty, is any the softer for
weeping, at ten, over one of Berquin's fables, the point of which
turns on a beggar boy's being ragged, and a rich man's son being well
clad. Some persons, indeed, appear to have shed all their tears of
sympathy before they reach the period of mature age. Most young hearts
are tender, and tender enough; the object of education is rather to
direct these emotions, however amiable, than to augment them.(2)

Why then, if these books for children must be retained, as they will
be, should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a school
book? Its morals are pure, its examples captivating and noble. The
reverence for the sacred book that is thus early impressed lasts long;
and probably, if not impressed in infancy, never takes firm hold of
the mind. One consideration more is important. In no book is there so
good English, so pure and so elegant; and by teaching all the same
book, they will speak alike, and the Bible will justly remain the
standard of language as well as of faith. A barbarous provincial
jargon will be banished, and taste, corrupted by pompous Johnsonian
affectation, will be restored.
FOOTNOTE
(2) Probably Amaud Berquin, (ca.) 1749-1791 . The Looking Glass for
the Mind ... Stories and Tales Chiefly translated from L'Ami des
Enfants.
SOURCE OF INFORMATION: Works of Fisher Ames, by Seth Ames. Volume 1,
Edited and enlarged by W.B. Allen, Liberty Classics, (1983) pp 11-12
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The above shows an apparent decline of the use of the Bible in schools
in even in Mass.

Jefferson created the first secular University on the soil of this
nation and after his death Madison kept it that way.



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You are invited to check out the following:

The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm

American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm

The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html

[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]

HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/

[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the US and a couple from overseas as well]

***************************************************************
.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"

That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.

It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.

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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

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