Yeah, put the Bible in school but...

Christ, Domitila Rome Catacombs (Second Century AD)

 

     In Austin, Texas this past November, the Texas State Board of Education approved a new K-5 Bible-infused Christian curriculum across the state. Although it is not mandatory for Texas School Districts to use it, there is a financial incentive; they receive $60.00 per student if they do. The Houston Independent School District (HISD) alone has more than 189,000 students and this translates into more than 11.3 million dollars. The second largest state in the U.S., Texas is the most populous in its region and is home of the often-untold history of the Texas Rangers. According to NPR, "Eight of the 15 board members voted to approve Bluebonnet Learning, the elementary school curriculum proposed by the Texas Education Agency earlier this year. The curriculum will become available in the spring, with schools that choose to adopt the materials expected to begin using them at the start of the 2025-26 school year." The NPR article goes on to state, "The curriculum was designed with a cross-disciplinary approach that uses reading and language arts lessons to advance or cement concepts in other disciplines, such as history and social studies. Critics, which included religious studies scholars, say the curriculum's lessons allude to Christianity more than any other religion, which they say could lead to the bullying and isolation of non-Christian students, undermine church-state separation and grant the state far-reaching control over how children learn about religion. They also questioned the accuracy of some lessons. The curriculum’s defenders say that references to Christianity will provide students with a better understanding of the country’s history." While many Christian Nationalists see no problem with this, there are others criticizing this move as, "using Texas schoolchildren as 'experiments'." 

     Let me start by saying that I am a scientist of life. As a scientist of life, I study everything, including religions. While I do think that religion has served a great purpose for some people in the past, present, and will in the future, I do not personally subscribe to any one organized religion. This does not mean that I am an atheist, I simply do not advocate religious hierarchies, prejudice, indoctrination, and the historical tyranny and fanaticism that often comes along with belief systems. When you look at the history of humanity you will find that the most heinous acts and destructive events are rooted in religiosity. On the flip side, and from my studies, I have also found many great principles and values that people can learn from religion. Principles and values that fosters a greater sense of self, a better relationship with our human family, and cultivates respect for our planet Earth. Unfortunately, many overlook this. So, I say yeah, put the Bible in school but only under these conditions.

Whenever the mainstream society make decisions in the so-called best interest of children (or women, and others), those decisions are primarily for white men and everyone else is expected to go along with it. That is the way that this country was founded, and this is the White Androcentric status quo that many expect to maintain, even to their own detriment. Just look at how BiPOC people and women have historically been outliers on this country's legal landscape since its 1776 inception. This means that HOW rollouts are historically done, in every industry, is questionable, inequitable, and non-inclusive. Let's start there. Next, the rhetorical questions we need to ask are things like, how are BiPOC people and women going to be framed in this religious curriculum? Will they be centered and under what circumstances? Will there be mandatory cultural competence and anti-bias education training by experts for district administrators and teachers who choose to use this curriculum? From seeing the talking points of public officials like Houston Republican Will Hickman saying, "In my view, these [bible] stories are on the education side and are establishing cultural literacy" I know what kind of culture he is talking about, and it is not Eastern, African, or Indigenous. I think children should learn about the Bible, in order to better understand the origin of their own beliefs if they are Christian or the Christian beliefs of others if they are not. Many biblical stories are powerful learning tools, yet it should not be taught as a history book because it is not. There are many people, places, and things in the bible where there is no evidence that they ever existed. People simply believe that they did, which is fine, it just needs to be communicated that it is a belief and not actual facts. Along with these stories, children also need to learn about historical atrocities committed in the name of Christianity, such as Indigenous Genocide, the Spanish Inquisition, Slavery, Witch Hunts, the birth of the KKK and Christian Nationalism, and etc. Children also need to learn about Arius, the African (Libyan) Priest who was kicked out of the Council of Nicaea and excommunicated for disagreeing with the council changing the Biblical narrative. What about teaching how even though the Bible is an African text, and its stories took place in Africa (pre-invention of the Middle East), Europeans co-opted it, and made God, Jesus, the angels, and all of its characters white? It's a lot. Yet the value in learning this actual history is to show children that they have a great opportunity to be better than many of their Christian predecessors who failed, and are currently failing, to live up to Christian values and being Christ-like, in America.    

Next, we need to ask, what other religious texts are going to be equally included and represented in school districts? They need to be! It is unfair for people in a municipality to pay school taxes to support a religious curriculum that they 1.) may not believe in, 2.) they may be opposed to, or 3.) that excludes/underrepresents their own religious beliefs as other Christian denominations and non-Christians. If school children are expected to learn biblical stories like The Good Samaritan as a parable about loving everyone, including your enemies, as an example of what it means to follow the Golden Rule, they also need to learn the Golden Rule from an Islamic perspective when the Prophet Muhammad said, "None of you has faith until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself." There are powerful stories in religious texts like the Quran, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Tao Te Ching, Apocrypha, and others just like the Bible. I would also include the Satanic Bible, metaphysical and gnostic texts because they should be studied also. I was happy to see that in response to Christian Evangelical lobbyists pushing public officials to legislate biblical curriculums, groups such as the Satanists, Hebrew Israelites, Muslims and others are pushing back by developing their own religious text-based curriculum to introduce it into school districts. The same thing applies to prayer in school. If you are going to do that, have a different prayer every day in its original language, led by a member of that religion, that reflects their belief in a Deity or Deities. Also, have a day with no prayer to accommodate non-religious folks also.  

"God Bless America" by Lee Greenwood

     What I've shared is just the start of a long windy road that I know these folks who are pushing this biblical agenda don't want to go down. They believe that America is a White Christian nation that we all need to be proud of and thankful for being here. I will tell you, I never felt patriotic about this country my entire life. I never looked at the American flag with tears welling up in my eyes with my hand over my heart while someone sang the national anthem. I never felt included, even as a kindergartener. I have never had an experience that has made me feel beyond a shadow of a doubt that when I hear the word "American" that this includes me. I am sure some of you, perhaps many of you, felt the same as I. This does not mean that I am anti-American or that I hate America. There are many great things about America like Black creations such as bean pies, Jazz music, Hip Hop, Maya Angelou, and countless inventions that I love. It just means that when I see political rallies and holiday celebrations and people put on Lee Greenwood's God Bless America, nothing about that song or the video (see above), moves me, at all. My parents, grandparents, and great grandparents felt the same way. Once you consider my ancestors who were enslaved and/or resisting and escaping America via the Underground Railroad, I would bet that they felt the same way also.

     In closing, I think at the heart of this campaign to put biblical curriculum in schools is the realization that there are many folks just like me who are not Christian Patriots. And some folks want to make sure that children are indoctrinated into a Christian Patriot belief system in our public schools as early as possible. A belief system that we will be paying for, in more ways than one. Have you ever seen a Bentley car commercial? I am sure you rarely have seen one, if ever. That is because Bentleys sell themselves and don't need to be advertised or rolled-out with some elaborate marketing agenda. Although some folks are trying to convince people otherwise, state sanctioned Bible-infused Christian curriculum is not a Bentley. Schools should only expose, reinforce, or redirect children to positive principles and values that they are, or may not be, learning at home and in their communities. State and Local governments undermine the First Amendment of the United States Constitution when they don't equally protect religious freedom in public schools and balance the rights of students with the principle of separation of church and state. What we are seeing and have been seeing since the founding of America is people in power doing whatever they want, when they want to, until they are stopped. Laws are only as strong as the science, sensibility, and fairness of those who have the backbone to uphold them. The way that this biblical curriculum agenda is being presented, minus all of my considerations, is leading this country down a familiar path of White Christian Fascism (Christofascism). It is what some people believe they want. With the support of uninformed Americans, this cabal has elected a commander-in-chief, a cabinet, supreme court justices, congressmembers, senators, and state legislators to do their bidding. What is my solution? Keep teaching our children, regardless to whom or what. Give them the resources and help them develop the critical thinking skills to figure things out for themselves, and support those of us who do. See: Atlantis School For Gifted Youngsters

Peace,

Saladin

WHAT ARE THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF THE HIDDEN MASTERS?

   

An excerpt from my Introduction: 

"...what lies within these pages are frequencies of enlightenment within the range of human hearing that the masses have been socialized to not perceive. The word Hermetic comes from the Latin hermeticus, meaning “sealed or airtight.” Hermetic also goes back to Mercury of Rome, the Greeks Hermes and Tehuti in Kamit [Thoth in Egypt]. While we have seen segments of the human family veil paths of enlightenment in secrecy, the process of enlightenment is naturally hermetic and does not require a veil. In other words, when a person does not have the proper attitude, aptitude and altitude, there are certain frequencies or principles of life that will not be within their range of perception. This is what is meant by a person being blind, deaf and dumb or mentally dead. Not physically, only mentally. This is the purpose of the Kamitic Per t E m Hru, the Book of Coming Forth By Day [Egyptian Book of the Dead] and Tibetan Book of the Dead; to resurrect a person from that state.

   Along the chronology of humanity, starting with the original man, there have always existed those among us who have served as sound-like engineers among their people; teaching and training others not only how to perceive those frequencies or principles in life within their perceptible range, but other frequencies beyond the range of human perception to elevate their consciousness. These people had many names but their role and responsibility has remained the same. 

   All quests for knowledge are rooted in the questions that we ask and our willingness and ability to get an answer. The root word of a quest-ion is quest. This is the cognitive point of origin of a never-ending inner journey. Although our form has a said birth date, time and geographic location when and where we came into this physical plane, we are endogenous; incarnated consciousness dwelling within a form."

PURCHASE HERE

SECRET TEACHINGS OF THE HIDDEN MASTERS

Peace,

Saladin

The Black Church

When it comes to GOD, my Cultural Worldview is what I choose to subscribe to. As a Person who is a part of a Group of People who subscribe to this Perspective, we are not in the business of converting, convincing, or coercing People to cee things our way. We are not Religious nor are we Missionaries. We are Civilized People who encourage eachother and others to be studious, discover answers for themselves and take nothing on face value -including what we share and know to be an actual fact. We respect and teach tolerance for other People’s Religious/Cultural Worldviews and we won’t allow/accept other People using their Religious/Cultural Worldviews to disrespect or be intolerant of us. This, of course, is the more “mature” way in which our Culture is expressed when we’re dealing with People who have different Religious/Cultural Worldviews. Keep in Mind that this “mature” expression of our Culture IS NOT a reflection of everyone who considers themselves a part of our Group (The NGE). While some People are growing/developing at their own rate there are others who aren’t and have no intention to grow or develop. I’m sure anyone can understand and appreciate this; ceeing that these same immature elements also exist in their own Religious/Cultural Community.

When I was young, unsure, and still striving to solidify my Cultural Worldview, I did quite a bit of debating and challenging others Religious/Cultural Worldviews. It was an exercise of Egocentricity and not much came out of those encounters. These weren’t “dialogues” or “intellectual discourses” between People sharing Perspectives to learn from one another. These were battles to prove who’s right, who’s wrong and to show who had superior Knowledge; immature behavior you expect to cee from children, NOT Adults… -smh- Even to this day, People still strive to bait me into one these “Us vs Them”, “Me vs You” Jousting Matches, b.u.t. I’m much wiser about involving myself in these Games nowaday. While speaking on the subject of Jousting, one of the biggest targets I’m ceeing within the so-called Conscious Community continues to be The Black Church and Christianity as a whole. I definitely understand and can appreciate the "Theological" concerns many People -particulary Black/Non-White People- have about Christianity, b.u.t. the outright disrespect for The Black Church itself, and someone's Belief System, I do not support or agree with. This is why…


Historically speaking, The Black Church has been and continues to be “The First”, “The Oldest” and one of the only Black Institutions Black People still have here in America. During the Reconstruction Period in this Country AFTER Black People were legally freed from Slavery, The Black Church served as a Socioeconomic ‘Sawmill’ that helped us establish, build, and rebuild our Communities. One such example of this rebuilding process was the central role the Mt. Zion Baptist Church played after the May 31st, 1921 Tulsa Race Riot burnt our Historic Black Wallstreet down to the ground. Even though this newly erected Institution was completed only a year earlier, after being destroyed by Whites during the Riot, the Congregation came together to rebuild it from the smoldering ashes it was left in. The Black Church was central to all of our people activities and reinforced our Ethics, Principles/Values, Social Norms/Mores, and Codes of Conduct. When Segregation was imposed upon us as a People, it was through The Black Church that we established a Support System/Network to produce Cultural Think Tanks, Educational Institutions, Businesses, Sports/Entertainment, Social Organizations, Social Clubs, Civil Rights Groups, and etc.. These Socioeconomic Entities did more than help us survive, they helped us THRIVE as a Group of People! When it comes to Social Norms/Mores, many of us wouldn’t even know what ‘Courting’ is/was if it wasn’t for our Church-going Elders down South! It was through the Black Church that we first learned forms of social responsibility/etiquette: like tending to the needs of the most vulnerable among us (our children, the mentally/physically disabled and our elders). In the Black Church we learned the importance of fairness, collective work and responsibility, respect for Family, chastity, and simply looking out for one another as a People. During these perilous times when America legally relegated our People to Second Class Citizenship and the Klu Klux Klan's Membership hovered around 3 million, it was The Black Church that became the Proverbial “Village” it took to protect and raise (grow & develop) the children who birthed the future generations of our People who are here today! It’s a huge oversight for any of our People to minimize, criticize, or satirize this long-standing Legacy of our People and the undeniable contributions The Black Church has made to produce many of the privileges we enjoy today. ANY PROGRESS (Morally/Ethically, Entrepreneurism, Community Activism and etc..) that we’ve ever made as a Group of People in America either directly involves or has some indirect association with The Black Church. There is no way to get around this fact.

The biggest issue we cee with The Black Church today is, generally speaking and with some exceptions, it no longer functions as the Socioeconomic nucleus of the Black Community. When "legal" Segregation ended in the 1965, many Black People started to “believe” we had all of these options and began to Integrate into a Society that never wanted us to be a part of it, by Law, for the last 189 years. Integration meant the Disintegration of many of our Black Think Tanks, Educational Institutions, Businesses, Sports/Entertainment, Social Organizations, Social Clubs, Civil Rights Groups and ultimately the Socioeconomic Influence/Integrity of The Black Church. Today, in 2011, when we’re looking at the variety of Black Churches around this Country, whether storefronts or mega churches, we’re looking at shadows of it’s former self... In my estimation, the dissatisfaction that alot of my People have with The Black Church today is a form of ‘Transference’ that’s often expressed as a Theological issue. The true source of much of our dissatisfaction is the lack of love, respect, comradery, and support we have for eachother today. So beneath the dissatisfaction, there's a general sense of disappointment, sadness, and even depression because we’re missing eachother and the sense of Community we once shared as a Group of People; a sense of Community that once revolved around The Black Church. Is this entirely the fault of The Black Church? I hardly believe that! As a matter of fact, there’s a reason many People in Church, especially our Elders who remember the times when we depended on eachother, say, “Sweety when you coming back to Church?” If you take the opportunity to actually listen to them, and their experiences, I’m sure you’ll find out that it's not a "Theological" request… It’s much more than that.

In conclusion, THIS IS NOT an Article about encouraging our People who no longer go to Church to go back to Church. This is an Article to address the ignorance and oftentimes blatant disrespect I cee that many of my People have for our own Legacy! Recognizing the Legacy and Socioeconomic Function of The Black Church in America is a very important part of our past, present and future. Because many of The Black Churches today, no longer function as the nucleus of our Community, many People have lost their faith and support in this Institution. Many Black Churches often reinforce these sentiments because instead of functioning as the great luminary that was once central to our Community, they promote elitism, materialism, individuality, and separatism from anyone who doesn’t believe as they do. Since my Ole Dad is friends with many Pastors/Deacons from different Churches within my City, at one point he approached them with the idea of them all utilizing the same Banking Institution to centralize/maximize our Economic strength as a People. Through this simple move, he said we could demand better Mortgage Rates, Business Loans, and etc… to help support our Interests and Building of our own Communities. This was many years ago and still hasn’t happened.

This Article is about the importance of building bridges, working together as a People, and advocating for the same common cause; Socioeconomic Empowerment. Although we all may not share the same Theological Views, one thing we have in common is our Legacy as a People. Just because I'm not at a Church, Mosque, Synagogue, or etc… every Week DOES NOT MEAN that I’m totally against the Religious/Cultural Worldview some of my People subscribe to. I’m actually for the best of whatever these Religious/Cultural Worldviews have to offer in regards to empowering us as a People. When it comes to the Religion of Christianity, some not all, of it’s core Teachings/Customs are derived from our Classical Civilizations -particularly Hebrew Culture. Many of our People have a misconception that Christianity was beat into "ALL" of our People as slaves and that's historically untrue! While some were definitely coerced/forced to accept a Christian Theology, many of our People were wise enough to recognize that many of Christianity’s core Teachings/Customs derived from our Classical Civilizations, and they openly embraced it. One such Man was Henry Highland Garnet; a 27 year old Presbyterian Pastor who delivered a fiery 1843 Speech Calling for a Slave Rebellion. Another such Christian Man was my Great-Great-Great Grandfather, a Minister, Josiah Henson; who escaped Slavery by taking his Family along the Underground Railroad up into Dresden Ontario Canada. In Dresden, Rev. Josiah Henson went on to survey and negotiate for the land to help found an entire Community, teach Financial Literacy, the Bible and establish a Educational/Vocational School called The British-American Institute. Here’s his Self Written Biography. Another unsung Hero amongst the many Men and Women who came out of the Church to fight for the rights of our People was Dr. Vernon Johns; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's Predecessor, Civil Right Leader and Brainchild of the Bus Boycott.

I, like any Civilized Person, am against the slandering, petty debating, and mud slinging antics I cee many of my People engaging in because of our various Perspectives of GOD -especially Adults who consider themselves Conscious who should know a lot better than that! Instead of actually Building (relationships) many of us are more interested in and even take pride in Destroying (relationships) by making mockery of someone else’s Religious/Cultural Worldviews. There is nothing Righteous, Glorious, or Supreme about that; it’s actually uncivil and oftentimes barbaric! The bottom line to all of this is that we need eachother, always have and always will. We need eachother today, just like we needed eachother yesterday, and WE CANNOT ALLOW petty differences to keep getting in the way and stopping us from serving eachother’s needs; our survival and prosperity depends upon it. Regardless what Perspective we have of GOD (Divinity), it means nothing if we lack the will/ability to share that Perspective of GOD (Divinity) through how we treat one another. So I encourage all of us to refrain from all of this American Gladiator Mentality and begin thinking about ways we can work together to help bring an end to the crime, alcohol/drug addiction, amorality, homelessness, hunger, mis-education, poverty, family dysfunction, juvenile delinquency, and etc.. that continues to plague our Communities REGARDLESS what Perspective of GOD we have! It wasn’t The Black Church that put us in this condition, b.u.t. it’s the sense of Unity/Community, which The Black Church successfully demonstrated, that kept many of us out of that condition.

Peace,
Saladin