Christianity, like all other religions taught in school, always tends to give off the impression that all religion is false and only science is fact. this has been a huge struggle w/ me as i push my way through honors and AP global and world history. i find it really frustrating how teachers show students what "religion" is. especially when more than half of my social studies teachers are athiest, or rather go 2 church, but have more religion in them then God.

Is anyone else out there w/ me on this??

some feedback and encouragment wood b awesome!!

What? This made no sense. ;-; -lost-

I know what you mean,but I don't have the problem.I'm homeschooled.

I dont have that problem, it has happened before but not often. I live in the south so im sure that hs something to do with it. Even when i dual enrolled biology at the community college, shes an atheist but when she went over darwin she said she wasnt forcing this belief on anyone and that it was by no means pefect and had many flaws.

This post has been edited by St.Augustus: Aug 12 2009, 07:26 PM

I know exactly what you mean! In 7th and 8th grade we had to work out of this textbook that was basically a vehicle for Muslim proselytizing. We learned about every single point of Muslim doctrine and the book heavily condemned the Catholic church as the ONLY aggressor in the Crusades and the committor of the most heinous acts in history. Many parents complained because the book really went overboard and one of the editors was a prominent Muslim theologian. They were told that Islam was taught in middle school and that Christianity and Judaism were taught in high school. Upon reaching AP World History however, I discovered that "Christianity" is code for only Catholicism and THAT is painted in an extremely negative light. All of its problems and corruption during the middle ages are highlighted and none of the Christian doctrine is taught - the opposite of the middle school textbook which taught both Muslim doctrine and history. Nothing about Jesus or where Christianity even came from. Just all of the sudden there's this Catholic church in Europe and they're extremely corrupt and this guy named Luther didn't like that so he made a new church. And yes we're taught about the many "religions" and educated in the beliefs and practices of all EXCEPT Christianity. In Biology they absolutely refuse to give any credence to Creationism and they try to completely avoid controversy by specifically saying "Evolution is a theory" but then teaching it as fact. And teaching that the Earth is billions of years old when in fact there is scientific basis that suggests otherwise (my sister wrote a wonderful paper in 8th grade about scientific evidence and research on the Young Earth theory - you've never heard of that, have you?). I have had the opportunity to have one science teacher that realizes that science is about investigation and discovery, not about cold hard fact. That science is in fact based on a certain amount of creativity and not all calculation. But yes, my school and district tend to take a very PC, anti-Christian standpoint and it bothers me. You aren't allowed to say or do anything that would potentially offend someone of any other religion or culture but white Christians automatically have no culture (I'll save that for another topic) and you can insult Christianity all you want. I know pretty much who every Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Jew and atheist/agnostic is in my school but I don't know who the Christians are. It's very sad.

DUDE YOU ARE SO RIGHT

I've actually never noticed that. I haven't taken world cultures since 7th grade but if I remember correctly my teacher would present every religion equally. Just giving the facts about what they believe and not making it sound like any of them were incorrect, even though he was a devout Christian. I'm going to be taking it again this year with a different teacher so we'll see how that goes.

Hooray for the normal teachers!

I've never had any problems with it.

Well let me tell you this. I have not heard about Christianity once in school. I did not hear anything even in history class about how religions shaped the US or the present day, all I learned about was Islam. I'm not sure where the teacher was going with this, he taught us about the two types and how they're different, but he didn't tell us anything about what they believe, just how they dress and that the two types don't get along.

I think it's terrible that schools in general, not just textbooks, don't often touch on the subject of religion. I remember in 7th grade, the science teacher said that talking about religion was actually not disallowed in schools, just proselytizing. He never actually talked about creationism or other views on the creation of the planet though. It's rather sad that many schools only teach religious tolerance, if that, but nothing about the religions themselves. Religion has shaped society, history, and even science -- though you hardly ever hear about it in the classroom. I speak only from my experience in schools, but maybe others' experiences were different. We hear about the War in Iraq, but do not learn about the religious warfare. We hear about the pilgrims and the indians, but do not hear about what the pilgrims stood for. We know the bible is the world's best-selling book, but many children don't know the basic stories in it. We know Jesus died on a cross, but do not learn about how this event impacted the world. All of these matters can be approached in a secular fashion, but schools don't even try. The sad part is that religion is, in my opinion, an important part to learning about our world, because it is so influencial. Children should know about the religions that shape our world, and what they are about, even if they do not believe in those religions themselves.


I agree. When I took biology at school it was very interesting because the teacher took FOREVER on the whole evolution unit, she drew it out soooo long, made us watch videos on it and multiple tests, etc. It also bothers me that science teachers tell you what a scientific theory is and then proceed to teach scientific theories like they are ultimate fact. Hyprocrisy. LOL

Textbooks need to remain objective. Therefore, they must portray ALL religions as false/unproven, or portray the ALL as being true. You can't just portray Christianity as the One True Religion.

He did'nt really say that.

I never really had a problem with my teachers in middle school trying to push one religion over another. As far as Christianity goes, we mainly covered Catholicism (at the time that's all "the Church" was) up to the beginning of Protestantism (with the Church of England in there somewhere). It was actually kinda nice to get a bit of the back story, as we never really heard any of that historical stuff at my old church.

The rest of the religion stuff seemed interesting but still pretty foreign to me. I imagine that's a result of not really having any context to put them in, whereas with Christianity I somewhat familiar.

I've never learned anything about Christianity in school.
This is very sad because the US has strong Christian roots.
The Bible was used as a textbook in the time of Thomas Jefferson.

We can't learn about Christianity, but we can learn about Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam?
Yes, those three faiths were in my history textbook last year but nothing about Christianity.

So sad.

It has always confused me when people say this. That would mean that Christianity was/is in support of stealing other peoples` land and buying/selling other human beings as slaves.



Most likely because Christianity is the religion with the highest level of adherents in the country. Most children do not know much about the faiths you mentioned. And in many schools, Christianity is taught (in a "religions of the world" course), along with the other religions, but from a purely objective point of view.

This post has been edited by Rave87: Oct 1 2009, 06:18 PM

I, personally, am struggling with this ALOT ALOT ALOT. I go to college, and this place has never been filled with more people that need God in their life. The professors say things that take away the power of the cross and deem all of it as fact simply because of their doctorates. Truly, God, (as usual) was completely right, that the wisdom of this world is really all foolishness. Not that I am implying people should never educate themselves, but the school system today, no matter how Christian (my school calls themselves a christian school) they deem themselves to be, is usually highly secularized and can be a stumbling block for some people. One professor said, "Its okay if you curse in class, I "checked" with Jesus" *points to cross*.

Strange, I was only taught in middle school social studies about how different religions were founded, including Christianity, we never got an in depth look, but it never seemed like they were trying to tell us that religion was "wrong," it always seemed they they were trying to give us a positive or neutral view of each, which is how I think it should be if you go to a public school like I do where everyone comes from different beliefs, I mean we even have a Wiccan teacher at our school .

Although I don't like to think of Christianity as a religion. I like to think of it as simply a relationship with Christ and accepting him as your Lord and Savior, repenting of sin, and following the law.

I'm currently studying this in my American Lit class. They believed it was God's will, for the glory of God to do what they did. That in no way justifies the means, but I thought I should touch on this. Also, I would say it's slightly unfair to make this accusation...can you explain a little bit more what you mean?

I am not sure how you interpreted it, but what I wrote was not intended to be accusatory.

If indeed the United States was built on Christianity, then that means Christianity is in support of stealing other people`s land and buying/selling other humans as slaves. I know Christianity does not support that, therefore, I am confused as to why the US is said to have been built on Christian values.

This post has been edited by Rave87: Oct 3 2009, 01:11 PM

HOMESCHOOLED YEAHHH!!

I just finished reading Dan Brown's 'The Lost Symbol' and I've done research on this topic in the past, also.
The founders of the U.S. were not all explicitly Christian. Most were, in fact, prominent Masons. Did you know that Jefferson actually cut up his Bible and rearranged it, taking out the virgin birth and resurrection of Christ? The United States when it was still pre-Revolutionary War was full of all different religions, for it was a promise of religious freedom. Most of the founders were Deists of some form, they believed in a God, but not a specifically Christian one. The early Americans were very wrong in their actions of slavery and wiping out the Native Americans, those are definitely not something Christianity supports.
The allusion that the United States was founded a Christian nation, I believe, comes from the way our laws are now and the way the ones of the past are interpreted. Our freedoms of religion, speech, press, and thought as well as laws against stealing, murder, multiple spouses, etc. are all supported by Christianity, but they are also supported by many other religions. Although the majority of Americans are Christian, calling the United States a Christian nation is purely opinion because there is the law of separation of church and state so that the laws cannot force one religion on its people. You can call Americans Christian, but not the country as a whole.

In response to the teacher/school topic, the only issue I've had is keeping my tongue in check while my biology teacher (an evolutionist) teaches that evolution is real and that the earth is billions of years old. I would answer all questions concerning evolution, etc. on worksheets and tests beginning with "The book states..." or "According to the book...".

The explanation of "founding" the united states, for me, is different. The main reason people came to the US was for freedom to practice Christian religions ie Quakers and puritans. Hence many of the rules in the beginning of the states were religious convictions, such as those limiting divorce and a woman's submission in the household ETC.

When I think of founding of the US I think of the people who first inhabited it, not the presidents or writers of the constitution or anything. So I guess it just depends on your perspective of who were the "founders"....

talking of textbooks lol can you help:
Help me with my homework please:
Outline the biblical teachings of the roles of men and women.
All answers are welcome, needed asap lol

Please help any anwers giving are going to be useful
Thanks x

"Christians believe the earth was formed in 7 days. The scientific view states that..."
If I didn't believe in evolution id call my history book a little biased by calling Christianity unscientific

One of a very few teachers that I was particularly fond of after 1st grade was my 7th grade science teacher. He was a middle-aged African American who had served in the military. He was excellent in teaching us the material, and although the textbooks never mentioned any religion that I can recall, he spoke numerous times of his belief in God and his amazement that there could be any person who didn't believe in God. I remember most specifically his comment, "If you don't believe in God, just go look outisde. If you still don't believe in God, go look in a mirror. If you still don't believe in God, you have a problem."

He never really waxed theologically, of course, as it was a science class and his duty was to be sure we learned the material needed to pass our tests, but I'm glad he was brave enough to take a positive stance for God and Christianity in a school system where even taking your Bible to class is banned.

just remembered why my books are sort of biased. theyre college books >_<