One of those oddities of American life is that a reasonable proposal can be based on unreasonable premises. The case at hand comes from Moffat County, where the school board last week received a petition to add an elective course called The Bible in History and Literature.
As a writer, I’m all for more widespread biblical knowledge, for my work is simpler if I can refer to “the patience of Job” or “the wisdom of Solomon” when appropriate.
In that respect, I also support more widespread knowledge of all prominent ancient literature, such as the Iliad and the Odyssey, because there are times when “the wrath of Achilles” or “the virtue of Penelope” can be useful. The same holds for classical mythology, as with “the Midas touch” or “Echo and Narcissus.”
When these tales are not common knowledge, as is the case after decades of enhanced spending on American education, then those references don’t work, and my job gets harder. And without some biblical background, it’s just about impossible to appreciate Abraham Lincoln’s famous “House Divided” speech or the lyrics to Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited.”
So there are good reasons that the Bible ought to be part of a good American education.
However, those are not the reasons presented to the school board in Craig, where local resident Deborah Powell explained that “The Bible was the foundation and blueprint for the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, educational system and our entire history until the last 20 to 30 years.”
Let’s start with the Declaration of Independence, which states that “All Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
Search as I might with Cruden’s Concordance and the King James translation, I can find no mention of divinely endowed rights to life, liberty or anything else. The Bible could not have been the basis for the Declaration. The Declaration was a statement that Americans no longer desired to live under a king, as compared to, say, the demand of the elders of Israel to “Give us a king” so “that we also may be like all the nations.”
Proceed to the federal constitution, which provides for a national government which is elected, either directly or indirectly. The word “vote” does not appear in the Bible, and “elect” appears only in the sense of “the chosen.” The Bible mentions kingdoms and empires but is silent about the virtues or defects of the Athenian democracy or the Roman republic. Biblical decisions about public matters and public offices were often made by “casting lots” – that is, rolling dice or the like – rather than an election or referendum.
Put simply, our federal government does not have a biblical foundation, for it is nothing like any government mentioned in the Bible. Further, it has acted against practices sanctioned by the Bible, like slavery, polygamy and the subjugation of women.
This American departure from biblical ways is no recent development of the “last 20 to 30 years.” The Emancipation Proclamation appeared in 1863. In the 1880s, federal soldiers were sent to Utah Territory to root out polygamists. Women got to vote in Wyoming Territory in 1869.
An understanding of the Bible greatly helps in understanding many elements of American history and literature, and that, along with some knowledge of other ancient classics, is something every American should have.
But Deborah Powell’s claim that the Bible provided “a foundation and blueprint” for a constitutional republic means that someone could use some more education.
Ed Quillen of Salida (ed@cozine.com) is a former newspaper editor whose column appears Tuesday and Sunday.
