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Date:         Sat, 12 Dec 1992 20:41:49 -0500
              <EDPOLYAN@ASUACAD.BITNET>
From:         ADM_FDOHERTY@JMUVAX.BITNET
Subject:      Re: Secretary of Education

John,

I just had a great reply, but I lost it in this machine!!!  Anyway, I will
try it again.  You asked if I believe that a nonreligious point of view is
equal to an antireligious point of view.  Yes, after thinking about this
for a while, I think you are right.  However, I believe that it is logically
impossible to have a nonreligius point of view.  Everyone has a religious
point of view.  Everyone has metaphsical, epistemological, and axiological
views.  Everyone has views about how the world came to be in its present
form, whether there is a supreme being, how one gains knowledge, whether
truth is relative or absolute, etc.  Many people believe that the primary
belief system promoted in today's schools, pragmatism (utilitarianism), is
neutral with respect to religion.  In fact, pragmatism is at it heart
religious because the pragmatist has views about metaphysics, etc.  These
beliefs are very strongly held.

The consistent pragmatist (and I don't believe this is logically possible)
would have to say that there is not supreme being (as did John Dewey).  The
pragmatist, however, does have a god--him or herself.  The pragmatist
insists that he or she must be the final judge about what is true for him
or herself.  This person says that he or she must deliberately choose the
values he or she will follow.  If you think about it, the pragmatist has
decided to be god!

As I have said before, I am not optimistic that that the present educational
and legal establishment will acknowledge that the prevailing world view
in public education is not neutral.  What frustrates me is that the vast
majority of students in public schools come from homes that have a theistic
world view.  I know people say that these children can get what theistic
training they need from their parents/care givers and/or their church.  While
I agree that the educational training of children is the responsibility
of parents/care givers and the church, it is really hard for parents to
send their children to schools where their world view is either directly
attacked or is not mentioned.  If a child spends more than 14,000 hours (K-
12) in an environment where the world view of his or her parents is not
even mentioned, it is very likely that the child will grow to believe that
a theistic world view is not important in the meaty issues of life.  It is
a proven fact (see the work of Paul Vitz, professor of psychology at New
York University) that there is a "liberal and anti-religious bias in
public school textbooks."  See Vitz's chapter in the book edited by John
Neuhaus, "Democracy and the Renewal of Public Education."

I am very much in favor of a democractic public school system where everyone
has a right to be heard.  The current public schools are not democractic if
they deny the right of individuals with a theistic world view to honestly
state their views without fear of ridicule or lawsuit.  It is intellectually
dishonest for the public schools to censor the incredible impact of the
theistic community on our nation's history (again see Vitz's work that
demonstrates what I say).  One does not see in public school textbooks the
incredibly religious statements made by Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison,
John Marshall, Benjamin Franklin, and Abraham Lincoln.  One hears little of
the tremendous impact of the Great Awakening and how it influenced the writers
of our nation's most important documents.

If our schools cannot really be pluralistic, then I think it is time to
allow parents to use the tax monies that support their children to send them
to a school that reinforces their world view.

Frank Doherty
James Madison University
Internet: ADM_FDOH@VAX1.ACS.JMU.EDU
BITNET: ADM_FDOH@JMUVAX1
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