Perhaps what is most troubling about Betsy DeVos becoming Secretary of Education is her “Kingdom calling” which is that belief that the public schools ought best to be used to help usher in the Kingdom of God. And I’m not at all alone in being concerned about using the Bible to “prove and promote social mores and establish the law of the land.
“When I grew up in the South, I was taught that segregation was the will of God, and the Bible was quoted to prove it.
I was taught that women were by nature inferior to men, and the Bible was quoted to prove it.
I was taught that it was okay to hate other religions, and especially the Jews, and the Bible was quoted to prove it.”
– Rev. John Shelby “Jack” Spong retired American bishop of the Episcopal Church. From 1979 to 2000 he was Bishop of Newark. He is a liberal Christian theologian, religion commentator and author.
It seems unlikely that last week’s action by the Trump Justice Department—to rescind rules on affirmative action implemented by the Obama administration—will materially affect local school districts’ capacity to integrate K-12 schools by race. Although in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court declared, “We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” a 2007 decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts had already caused school districts to step significantly back from a commitment to racial integration in elementary and secondary schools.
Roberts’ decision in the 2007 case, Parents Involved, banned the use of race as a factor to be explicitly considered in school assignment plans unless, of course, the school district remained under court order to remedy government-imposed de jure segregation (purposely maintaining separate schools for black and white children). Now, 60 years after Brown…
View original post 1,063 more words
Mister Journalism: "Reading, Sharing, Discussing, Learning" 