No Neutrality: Education

Daniel 1:3-4 3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal family and of the nobles, 4 youths in whom was no defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for serving in the king’s court; and he ordered him to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.

Look at how kind Ol' King Neb is being here. Out of the goodness of his heart he has taken these young men from Judah and given them a full ride scholarship into the schools of the Chaldeans. They are being given the best government run education in the realm. Listen, Tyrants like Nebuchadnezzar don’t believe that education is neutral and you shouldn’t either. He didn’t have the young men brought to Babylon and have his servants work to educate these young men out of a sense of duty to the conquered people He knew that education was not neutral. His purpose is in indoctrinating these sons of Judah in the culture and language and wisdom of his kingdom. It was to capture the hearts and minds of these young men so that they would be willing slaves.

There is no neutrality in education. Now wait a second you might say: Isn’t education just the teaching of facts and information. Someone might say "the schools should should just give the facts from a “neutral” point-of-view. One must adhere only to the projection of objectively verifiable data whereby personal opinions, insights, or conjecture are left out of the discussion."  I read a comment online on an article saying that Secular humanism is a religion and is the foundation of public schools:
"Insofar as the Humanist Manifesto declares there is no God, public schools must not be humanist. But neither may they endorse any particular creed they must be deity neuter. Public schools, since they are supported by mandatory taxation, must not teach any religious viewpoint (including atheism) would you like it if your children were taught to reverence Vishnu?"

No, I don't want my children being taught to reverence Vishnu and nor do I want them be taught to worship the civil government either. Now, you wait a second! What you said has all kinds of presuppositions. You are assuming that there is such a thing as a neutral fact. You are assuming that there is such a thing as neutrality towards God. But Listen! Jesus Christ said that "whoever is not with him is against him." To not honor God or give thanks to God is to take a position and that position is idolatry. The Bible says plainly about Jesus Christ that all things were made by Him and without him was not anything made that was made. There is not an atom that exists that was not made and sustained by God. Therefore there is not one atom in all the universe that can be neutral. There is not one neutral fact in all of creation.

God created the universe and he sustains it by his law and his purposes. We cannot be neutral, nor can education. The universe is not self-created nor is it self-sustaining. It also does not dictate its own purpose. It is created and therefore it has a given purpose not ordained by man but by the maker of all things. The God who has made all things has ordained their purpose, their meaning, and their boundaries.
To posit that you can be neutral towards God is to presuppose something other than the truth of creation. You are presupposing either a either a finite god or no God at all. Education must start with one of these foundations. Therefore it will either be based in the truth and reality of God or it will be by definition godless.
In so called neutral education the most central and important truth in the universe is left out entirely. It leaves out of teaching the central aspect of all wisdom and all learning for we are told in Psalm 111:10: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever." And in Proverbs 1:7: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” RJ Rushdoony rightfully said: "To try to educate without reference to God is worse than teaching about the ocean while denying that it is made up of water."

The key to understanding is denied when we deny the God of the universe. To leave God out of the process of education is to deny that we are created responsible to God in all areas of life. If we are not responsible to God even in our work at school than we are denying there is a law of God and that man can transgress that law. And If man cannot transgress, then he is not a sinner, and so does not need Christ or the gospel.

The idea of a neutral-facts-only-value-free education is a myth. And it is not believed by the enemies of Christianity. King Nebuchadnezzar was not educating the young men of Judah because he thought education was neutral. He was doing it to indoctrinate these young men into the Chaldean culture and way of life. He wanted them to turn their allegiance from the kingdom of Judah to the kingdom of Babylon. Statists have always seen education as a tool to build allegiance to the state over against allegiance to church and family.  Woodrow Wilson before he was president was a teacher of teachers. He once said “Our problem is not merely to help the students to adjust themselves to world life…[but] to make them as unlike their fathers as we can.”

Secular humanists and unitarians with their utopian view of history, have longed seen education as the key to moving the population beyond its belief in Christianity and therefore into a view where they can finally lead humanity into a great era of peace and equality. John Dewey is considered one of the fathers of modern American education. He was a committed secular humanist and an original signer of the Secular Humanist Manifesto. He praised the communist Soviet system of schooling this way: “The traditional customs and institutions of the peasant, his small tracts, his three-system farming, the influence of home and Church, all work automatically to create in him an individualistic ideology. In spite of the greater inclination of the city worker towards collectivism, even his social environment works adversely in many respects. Hence the great task of the school is to counteract and transform those domestic and neighborhood tendencies that are still so strong, even in a nominally collectivist régime.” He is saying that the family works against the loyalty to the state. Therefore, it is the work of the school to undermine that loyalty from family to the state. Dewey praised this system of education and worked to establish it in our nation. Dewey went on to say “It is obvious to any observer that in every western country the increase of importance of public schools has been at least coincident with a relaxation of older family ties.”

To drive this point all the way home, let me quote from CF Potter a close associate to Dewey and another signer of the humanist manifesto. He said “Humanism is not the abolition of religion but the beginning of real religion. By freeing religion of supernaturalism, it will release tremendous reserves of hitherto thwarted power. Man has waited too long for God to do what man ought to do himself and is fully capable of doing." Now here is the chilling part: “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, teaching only a fraction of the children, do to stem the tide of a five-day program of humanistic teaching?”
Education is not neutral. The secular humanists who despise God and want to usurp his throne know it and admit it. It is time that the church do the same.