The Secular Humanist Concept of Education

The student presented a lesson on “The Secular Humanist Concept of Education.”  Humanists greatly value public education.
In our view, education should be the essential method of building humane, free, and democratic societies.  The aims of education are many: the transmission of knowledge; training for occupations, careers, and democratic citizenship and the encouragements of moral growth.  Among its vital purposes should also be an attempt to develop the capacity for critical intelligence in both the individual and the community.  Unfortunately, the schools are today being increasingly replaced by the mass media as the primary institutions of public information and education.  Although the electronic media provide unparalleled opportunities for extending cultural enrichment and enjoyment, and powerful learning opportunities, there has been a serious misdirection of their purposes. . . . Of special concern to secularists is the fact that the media (particularly in the United States) are inordinately dominated by a pro-religious bias.  The views of preachers, faith healers, and religious hucksters go largely unchallenged, and the secular outlook is not given an opportunity for a fair hearing.  We believe that television directors and producers have an obligation to redress the balance and revise their programming.  Indeed, there is a broader task that all those who believe in democratic secular humanist values will recognize, namely, the need to embark upon a long-term program of public education and enlightenment concerning the relevance of the secular outlook to the human condition.[1]

A Declaration of Interdependence: A New Global Ethics states that individuals should have “the right to intellectual and cultural freedom, including (a) the freedom to inquire and to engage in research, (b) the right to adequate education, (c) the right to cultural enrichment, and (d) the right to public and express one’s views.”[2]  Rob Boston, writing in Free Inquiry, said
Parents who really care about children want them to grow up well educated and ready for the challenges of an increasingly technological society speeding toward the next century.  Yet the Religious Right, through its constant advocacy of creationism, would have children learn Bible stories in place of real science.  Thanks to their meddling, many public schools are afraid to teach evolution, and biology textbooks give the subject scant attention.  As a result, an entire generation of public schoolchildren may grow up lacking an understanding of the principles underpinning modern biological sciences.  Such ignorance cannot fail to have widespread and dangerous repercussions in the fields of medicine and research.

Furthermore, Religious Right activists bash public education incessantly, yet they have constantly stood in the way of efforts at innovative school reform.  Instead, they champion outdated techniques such as rote drilling and mindless memorization.[3]

In 1930, Charles F. Potter, founder of the First Humanist Society of New York, wrote, “Education is thus a most powerful ally of Humanism, and every American public school is a school of Humanism.  What can the theistic Sunday-schools, meeting for an hour once a week, and teaching only a fraction of the children, do to stem the tide of a five-day program of humanistic teaching?”[4]

In critiquing such views, the student began by showing that education is absolutely vital in today’s world.  Scripture stresses education, for Jesus was a teacher.  “After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee” (Mt. 11:1).  “Again Jesus began to teach by the lake” (Mk. 4:1).  Because Jesus himself was a teacher, he told the apostles, “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Mt. 28:19).  The Greek word “make disciples” refers to teaching and learning.  The term basically means something like “learner” or “pupil”; the term was used in classical Greek to refer to the students of philosophers.[5]  In the New Testament, the term was used in a heightened sense to refer to “an adherent who accepts the instruction given to him and makes it his rule of conduct.”[6]  Thus, Jesus instructed the apostles, “Go, teach people about me and encourage them to accept my instruction.”  Although the term refers to far more than a simple “learner” or “pupil” in the New Testament, the idea of learning and being taught is not at all absent.

Some might be tempted to say, “Wait a minute.  The Bible stresses religious education, but Scripture says nothing about learning about science, history, mathematics, and the like.”  God created this world and all the laws of science which govern this world; learning about science is learning about God’s governance of the world.  History has great usefulness, for history is largely the story of God’s intervention in this world – of his bringing down kingdoms, of his protecting his people, of his will’s being fulfilled.  History also informs the learner of evil, for he learns of Hitler, Stalin, and the like.  Learning about Hitler, Stalin, and their ilk destroys any illusion that humans are totally good.  Mathematics provides the foundation to understanding how the physical world God created operates.  Reading is absolutely essential to learning anything else.

Although Scripture stresses education, the Bible recognizes that parents have the primary responsibility for education.  “Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live.  Teach them to your children and to their children after them” (Deut. 4:9).  “Their children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess” (Deut. 31:13).

Why should parents not want to turn over the education of their children to the public schools?[7]  Secular humanists want teachers to promote secular humanism in the public schools; “The battle for mankind’s future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizer of a new faith; a religion of humanity . . . utilizing a classroom instead of a pulpit to convey humanist values in whatever subject they teach.”[8]

The student then turned his attention to the West Virginia educational standards.  Tenth graders, according to the West Virginia Science Content Standards and Objectives for West Virginia Schools are to do the following in regard to evolution: “compare the embryonic development of invertebrate and vertebrate animals (e.g., ontogeny and phylogeny, diversity, taxonomy)”; “construct and manipulate models which show variations in living things”; “recognize that fossil records provide a scientific explanation for variation in the species and common ancestors”; and “relate the role of natural selection to the development, diversity and or extinction of a species.”[9]  In regard to social studies, third graders are to “define majority rule and give examples of that concept in a democracy.”[10]  The problem is that, as described above, the United States is not a democracy based on majority rule; the United States is a republic where citizens elect leaders who make decisions, and not all those leaders are elected by majority rule (e.g., Supreme Court Justices and the President).  Fifth graders are to “explain the consent of the governed as the source of authority of government.”[11]  God, as described above, not “the consent of the governed” is the course of government’s authority.

Persecution also takes place in numerous schools.  Raymond Raines, a fourth grader at Waring Elementary School in St. Louis, Missouri was repeatedly sent to the principal’s office, segregated from his classmates, subjected to ridicule, and given a weeklong detention.  His crime?  He bowed his head and prayed silently before he ate in the cafeteria.[12]  At Lynn Lucas Middle School in the Houston, Texas, area a teacher noticed two girls carrying Bibles into her classroom.  She met the students at the door, yelled “This is garbage,” threw the Bibles in the trash, and escorted the girls to the office.  The teacher then contacted the girls’ mother and threatened to call child protective services, because Bibles were not permitted on school property.[13]  Students at a McArthur, Ohio high school were told to remove “What Would Jesus Do” bracelets, because the bracelets might be offense to some students.[14]

What can parents do?  The student cannot overemphasize the need for parents to be highly involved in their children’s education.  The church cannot be expected to turn the tide with children when they are in services 4 hours or less a week.  God has given parents the responsibility for the religious education of their children, and they dare not abdicate that responsibility!

The condition may deteriorate to the point where Christian parents need to obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29).  They may need strongly to object to the science, health, and social studies curricula.  The parents would need to do so with kindness and love in the spirit of Jesus, not ever in an egotistical, “holier-than-thou” spirit.  The parents would also need to be well-informed of the subjects they will discuss lest they look like a bunch of uneducated fools (as Christians are often depicted as being).

On a positive note, parents need to fulfill their God-given role to be involved in their children’s education.  They need to help children with their homework.  They need to read to their children and make sure they know how to read.  They need to train their children to be good citizens – to obey the laws, to pay their taxes, and to vote.

Boston worries that
the Religious Right, through its constant advocacy of creationism, would have children learn Bible stories in place of real science.  Thanks to their meddling, many public schools are afraid to teach evolution, and biology textbooks give the subject scant attention.  As a result, an entire generation of public schoolchildren may grow up lacking an understanding of the principles underpinning modern biological sciences.  Such ignorance cannot fail to have widespread and dangerous repercussions in the fields of medicine and research.[15]

The student would greatly challenge the notion that creation is not true science but that evolution is.  The student sees a Christian physician, and he would by far rather see a physician who believes in Creation than one who is an evolutionists.  The believer will treat the student with respect and dignity, not because he or she has taken the Hippocratic Oath, but because he or she will understand that the student bears God’s image.  The believing physician will understand that he or she can only do so much, and will pray to God to do the rest.  The believing physician will understand that he or she cannot fathom the depths of the human body because humans are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps. 139:14), not because human reasoning has not grasped all the depths of biology.

Kurtz properly understands that education is two-fold: there is public education and there is public relations.  Thus, he wrote, “Indeed, there is a broader task that all those who believe in democratic secular humanist values will recognize, namely, the need to embark upon a long-term program of public education and enlightenment concerning the relevance of the secular outlook to the human condition.”[16]  Partially, the student is grateful to find that statement.  In essence, Kurtz is saying, “We’re not going to promote our doctrine secretly, but we’re going to be public about it.”  With the publicity of secular humanism, society will come to know exactly what the humanists desire to do in this world.

Since the humanists are willing to embark “upon a long-term program of public education and enlightenment” should the church do anything less?  Jesus challenged his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Mt. 28:19-20).  Again, Jesus told the disciples, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Therefore, the apostles went throughout the world proclaiming the good news of Jesus.  They proclaimed that message to such an extent that Paul could refer to the gospel’s having been “proclaimed to every creature under heaven” (Col. 1:23).  Can Christians say anything comparable in the modern world?  Can Christians say that they have proclaimed the gospel to the whole creation?  Can Christians say that they have proclaimed the gospel to their neighbor?
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[1] Kurtz, Humanist Declaration, 22-23.

[2] A Declaration of Interdependence: A New Global Ethics.

[3] Rob Boston, “10 Reasons Why the Religious Right is Not Pro-Family,” Free Inquiry 19, available at http://www.aecularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=boston_19_1 (accessed November 2, 2005).

[4] Charles Francis Potter, Humanism: A New Religion (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1930), cited by David Limbaugh, Persecution: How Liberals are Waging War Against Christianity (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2003), 65.

[5] Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, Henry Stuart Jones, and Roderick McKenzie, A Greek-English Lexicon rev. and augm. ed.  (New York, Oxford University Press, 1996).

[6] Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1992), 936.

[7] Because the Alum Creek congregation has many public school teachers, the student paused at this point to stress that he did not mean to imply in the least that all public school teachers advocated secular humanism.  He said, “Your values are the right values, and you would not seek in any way to teach wrong values.”

[8] Quoted from The Humanist January/February 1983 by Gabler, “Humanism in Textbooks,”: 362.

[9] Science Content Standards and Objectives for West Virginia Schools, SC 10.4.8 – SC 10.4.11 (2003).

[10] Social Studies Content Standards and Objectives for West Virginia Schools, SS 3.2.4 (2003).

[11] Ibid., 35.

[12] Limbaugh, Persecution.

[13] Ibid.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Boston, “10 Reasons why the Religious Right is Not Pro-Family.”

[16] Kurtz,  Humanist Declaration, 23