Reformation Day - October 31

Teach a Civics Lesson about Martin Luther - Teaching without Fear

Students know all about Halloween but they should learn about something else that is celebrated on October 31 that has had a MUCH bigger impact on the world.

October 31 is also Reformation Day. On that day in 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 objections to the Roman Catholic Church on a church door in Germany. As a civics lesson, students of all faiths and no faith should understand the freedom of religion they enjoy because of what Luther started.

CIVICS CONNECTION

Understanding the benefits of America's religious heritage to our civic life is important. Part of the American value system, rooted in Christian thinking, is that people not only have the freedom to hold to their religious beliefs, but can live by them and publicly express them as well.

In 1517, Luther had no intention of leaving the Catholic Church. But holding fast to his conviction against certain church practices and doctrines got him expelled.

At the time, governments in Europe enforced religious conformity for the Church. Luther wrote about why government authority should not be used to coerce belief. He argued, from Scripture, that people are responsible only to God for their religious beliefs.

To make his case, he quoted Jesus' statement in Matthew 10:28, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

He then wrote:

"Surely that [Matt. 10:28] is clear enough: the soul is taken out of the hands of any human being whatsoever, and is placed exclusively under the power of God. Now tell me this: would anyone in his right mind give orders where he has no authority?...It is impossible and futile to command or coerce someone to believe this or that."

Luther's revolutionary thinking about religious freedom spread throughout Europe and came to America with the Pilgrims, the Puritans, and eventually, America's Founders.

THOMAS JEFFERSON AGREED

Thomas Jefferson echoed Luther's thinking when he wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. With the help of James Madison, it became law in 1786. Before this, Virginia taxed people to support churches.

Jefferson began the legislation with this theological assertion:

"Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens [burdens], or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy author of our religion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as it was in his Almighty power to do."

After making his argument for freedom of religion, Jefferson's legislation stated:

"Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever...nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities." (Emphasis added)

CONNECTION TO THE BILL OF RIGHTS

The Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom was an important influence on the drafters of the First Amendment three years later:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

As an example of how relevant Luther's and Jefferson's words are for today, we should all be concerned about religious tests expressed in Senate hearings (no matter what our political leanings are). (Here, and Here)

Every student in America needs to understand the Christian roots of the freedom of religious expression they might take for granted. Students will not seek to preserve what they do not cherish, and they will not cherish what they do not understand. October 31 - Reformation Day - is an excellent opportunity to teach a civics lesson about the connection between Martin Luther, religious freedom, the Bill of Rights, and their everyday lives.

Resources:

Video - A Fun, Animated History of the Reformation (National Geographic)

Parents - FREE Reformation Coloring Book for Children (PDF)

Book - Never Before In History: America's Inspired Birth

Library of Congress - Religion and the Founding of the American Republic

Videos - Provided by the Orange County Dept. of Education explaining Students’ Religious Freedom

Teaching without Fear, Part 1: The Supreme Court Supports Bible Reading

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Many people think that the Supreme Court has thrown the Bible out of public schools. They are surprised when they actually look at what the Supreme Court has said. 

The 1963 case that dealt with Bible reading in school is called Abington School District vs. Schempp. The Abington School District is north of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. At the time, Pennsylvania had a law requiring Bible reading at the beginning of each day. A man named Edward Schempp challenged the law and the Court agreed that the state cannot require somebody to read the Bible even if they are Christians - the state should not be in the business of requiring students to be devoted to a particular religious faith.

Since the Pennsylvania Bible reading law wasn't connected to academics but merely an exercise done every morning, the Court decided in an 8-1 decision in favor of respondent, Edward Schempp. It declared this type of Bible reading in the public schools to be unconstitutional. However, it didn't declare all Bible reading unconstitutional.

To clarify that it wasn't ruling out all Bible reading, the Court went on to write:

"...the State may not establish a 'religion of secularism' in the sense of affirmatively opposing or showing hostility to religion, thus 'preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do believe."

Fast forward to today, all these years later, and many teachers and administrators are acting exactly as the court warned against. They are, in a sense, establishing a religion of secularism.

The Supreme Court went on to say:

"[I]t might well be said that one's education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization. It certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities."

Now, that's not just allowing it, that's encouraging it! That's saying it's worthy of study.

Practical Application

Teachers should not fear using the Bible as an academic reference in the classroom. When relevant to the academic topic I recommend educators cut and paste the appropriate Biblical passage from an online Bible. Put it into a Word document and include two other items: (1) a brief explanation tying the Scripture to the academic topic being addressed, and (2) a quote from their state's academic standard or law that supports the use of the Bible. If the educators' state has no specific reference, I recommend they quote the Supreme Court's supportive statement in Abington School District vs. Schempp.

The World Series and Thanksgiving

Imagine students asking their teacher what the baseball World Series is about. What would you think if, instead of explaining that it is the annual championship series between the top team in the American League and the top team in National League, the teacher taught the students that the World Series is a nostalgic remembrance of the first World Series in 1903.

The teacher tells the students that we celebrate the World Series every year by talking about what happened in that first World Series in 1903 between the Boston Americans and the Pittsburgh Pirates. The teacher explains that we gather with family, eat the hot dogs the baseball players ate, and sometimes even dress up like the old teams.

Sound ridiculous? Too often, unfortunately, that’s what educators do when they teach about Thanksgiving. They teach it as a nostalgic remembrance of what happened 400 years ago.

When I am lecturing at universities in their Schools of Education, I’ll ask the students how many of them were taught, when they were in public schools, that Thanksgiving is a time to remember how the Pilgrims invited the Indians to a dinner to thank them. And, of course, all the hands go up.

The fact of the matter is, we celebrate Thanksgiving every year because the President of the United States asks the nation to thank God for the blessings we’ve received during the previous year. That’s why it’s an annual event.

George Washington started things off by calling on the nation to “acknowledge the providence [provision] of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor.” He never mentioned the Pilgrims.

Until President Lincoln, it was celebrated on different days around the country. He wanted to promote national unity and established the day in November for the entire country to celebrate together. No mention of the Pilgrims.

While modern presidents have gotten into the politically correct habit of mentioning the Pilgrims and Native Americans, they also call on the nation to thank God.

In case of Lynch v. Donnelly, the Supreme Court ruled:

“Our history is replete with official references to the value and invocation of Divine guidance in deliberations and pronouncements of the Founding Fathers and contemporary leaders. Beginning in the early colonial period long before Independence, a day of Thanksgiving was celebrated as a religious holiday to give thanks for the bounties of Nature as gifts from God. President Washington and his successors proclaimed Thanksgiving, with all its religious overtones, a day of national celebration and Congress made it a National Holiday more than a century ago. Ch. 167, 16 Stat. 168. That holiday has not lost its theme of expressing thanks for Divine aid any more than has Christmas lost its religious significance. [465 U.S. 668, 676]”

It is perfectly acceptable, in fact it is academically imperative, for public school educators to teach that Thanksgiving is a time when the entire nation gathers, at the request of the President, to thank God for the blessings we have received as a nation and individually. We do it every year because we are to reflect on how God has blessed us in the past twelve months.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

Lesson Plan: Teaching Students about the Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamation

Use the President’s annual Thanksgiving Proclamation to teach about the holiday. Here is website where you can find all the Presidential Proclamation.

Gateways THANKSGIVING CARD for teachers

Understanding the Pursuit of Happiness this Independence Day

By Eric Buehrer

With Independence Day coming, it would be good to discuss with your family and students an often-misunderstood term in the Declaration of Independence.

The “pursuit of happiness” today in popular culture is not the kind of happiness America’s founders declared as an inalienable right. If we are to have a flourishing society in the twenty-first century, we must raise a generation that knows what it truly means to pursue happiness.

When the Founders referred to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence, they were not advocating a license to simply pursue pleasure. It was understood to be the pursuit of a virtuous (morally upright) life under the authority of God. In that context, Liberty means the right to do as you ought, instead of the right to do whatever you feel like doing.

Imagine what America would be like if everyone was motivated by “love thy neighbor.” Love is not a feeling. It is a willing. It is a willingness to act for the good of someone. In today’s culture we have reduced love to mere passion, desire, feeling. However, true love, agape love, is an act of the will to do what is right for the good of another. That is a virtuous life.

The Pursuit of Virtue

The Founders understood true happiness was the result of living a virtuous life. Therefore, in order to pursue happiness one must pursue virtue. Thomas Jefferson, who penned the Declaration of Independence, later wrote, “Virtue [is] the foundation of happiness.”

Benjamin Franklin, who assisted Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence wrote:

“I believe [God] is pleased and delights in the Happiness of those he created; and since without Virtue Man can have no Happiness in this World, I firmly believe he delights to see me Virtuous, because he is pleas’d when he sees me Happy.”

The Founders were also greatly influenced by Christian philosopher John Locke. He wrote of “the necessity of pursing happiness [as] the foundation of liberty” and explained that God “joined virtue and public happiness together, and made the practice thereof necessary to the preservation of society.”

To act on the Founders wisdom, we must return to the formula they outlined in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787:

“Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”

While public schools cannot establish any particular religion, they need to educate students in the important principles that religion brings to society in helping its citizens live virtuous and fulfilling lives.

When the Founders wrote about “religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind,” they were referring to the three key elements for a virtuous and flourishing society — thus, a happy society. To be a self-governing people, each one of us must govern ourselves to love our neighbor as ourselves. This Independence Day is a great opportunity to remind ourselves that to pursue happiness we must pursue virtue.

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Eric Buehrer is the president of Gateways to Better Education and author of the professional development seminar, Faith, Freedom & Public Schools: Addressing the Bible and Christianity without Mixing Church and State. To bring the seminar to your community, call (800) 929-1163 or email kim@gtbe.org

Teaching without Fear, Part 7: Easter in Your Classroom

How can public school educators teach about Easter's religious aspects? Well, as I've written about Christmas, you can teach all about the religious nature of a holiday as long as it's done academically and objectively-not devotionally. Besides its religious value for Christians, the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus has historical and cultural relevance for non-Christians. Teaching students the New Testament story has academic value.

Academically Expected

Some states provide educators with detailed standards for what students should learn about the Bible and Christianity. For example, in California, sixth-grade students are expected to:

"Note the origins of Christianity in the Jewish Messianic prophecies, the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as described in the New Testament, and the contribution of St. Paul the Apostle to the definition and spread of Christian beliefs (e.g., belief in the Trinity, resurrection, salvation)."

The new California History-Social Science framework (adopted in July 2016) also adds that students should learn that "Jesus shared the Jewish belief in one God, but he added the promise of eternal salvation to those who believe in him as their savior." (See 189)

In Massachusetts, seventh-grade students are expected to:

"Describe the origins of Christianity and its central features. A. Monotheism; B. the belief in Jesus as the Messiah and God's son who redeemed humans from sin; C. the concept of salvation; D. belief in the Old and New Testament; E. the lives and teachings of Jesus and Saint Paul."

As part of World History, states across the country expect students to learn about the teachings and beliefs of Christianity. Of course, the death and resurrection of Jesus is the central teaching of Christianity.

The Easter Story and Commonly Used Terms

Several terms we use in literature and conversation come from the Easter story. We talk about somebody being a Judas - that is, a traitor. To suffer under something is referred to as "your cross to bear." To be criticized unfairly and persistently is sometimes referred to as being "crucified." An action or relationship that ruins someone is referred to as "the kiss of death." To disassociate from someone or something can be referred to as "washing my hands of this." A person who refuses to believe something until shown proof can be referred to as "a doubting Thomas."

Cultural & Historical Connections

Teachers can help students make cultural connections, whether it's history, literature, art, or social movements.

Leonardo da Vinci painted his idea of The Last Supper. The legends of King Arthur refer to the quest for the "Holy Grail" -- the cup or plate used by Jesus during the Last Supper which supposedly holds magical powers.

William Shakespeare assumed that those who attended his plays knew the stories in the Bible. He made hundreds of references to the Bible. For example, in his play King Richard the Second, the king says: "So Judas did to Christ: but he, in twelve, found truth in all but one; I, in twelve thousand, none. God save the king! Will no man say, amen?"

During the Civil War, a popular song was entitled "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." It is still well known across the country today. You may recognize its stirring chorus, "Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on." It reflects a spiritually-motivated desire to end slavery and references the sacrifice of Jesus as an example to live by. For example, one verse reads: "In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me: As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, While God is marching on." A later version changed the words to "let us live to make men free."

In 1963, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was jailed for his civil rights actions. Some people called him an extremist-being too bold and going too far in his activities. He wrote a response, entitled "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." He used the Bible to explain the importance of being extreme for goodness. He used the death of Jesus as an example:

"In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime-the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists."

J.R.R. Tolkien was an English author who wrote The Lord of the Rings. He was a Christian and used biblical allusions in his writing. For example, Gandolf's dramatic fight against the giant demonic figure Balrog of Moria illustrates the battle between good and evil. Gandolf sacrifices himself to save his friends, but later is "resurrected" in robes of white and appears to Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas in a forest.

Ben Myers lists twenty-five of his favorite pieces of literature that use Christ imagery. These include Don Quixote, Jim in Huckleberry Finn, Billy Bud, Jim Casey in The Grapes of Wrath, Aslan in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea, and Simon in Lord of the Flies.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

Terminology It may be helpful to use the term "recognizing Easter" rather than "celebrating Easter." Using the word "celebrate" may cause some people to feel that you are promoting religious participation in the holiday. There is a difference between "participating" in the holiday in a devotional manner and "recognizing" the holiday in an engaging academic manner.

It is also best to teach about Easter using words of attribution such as: "Christians believe...;" "The Bible says...;" "Martin Luther King, Jr., referenced the crucifixion when he wrote...;" and so forth.

Reading the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus to students is permissible to help students gain a basic academic familiarity with a person who has influenced so many people throughout history in government, art, literature, music, and social movements.

Presented with an eye toward education, not endorsement or devotion, recognizing the religious aspects of Easter is a legitimate academic activity.

CLICK HERE to download the textbook-style Easter lesson.

RESOURCES:

Click here to order our Easter Card for teachers.

Alliance Defending Freedom - What Can Be Done in Public Schools Regarding Religious Holidays

Literary Christ Figures (Power Point used in South Plantation High School - Plantation, FL)

How to Identify a Christ Figure in Literature (from Mill Valley School District - Mill Valley, CA)