Teaching Choral Concepts

Review

     Most Americans believe their public schools are religion free. It will surprise them to learn that this is untrue. For over forty years, the United States Supreme Court, state legislatures, local school authorities, and groups of concerned citizens have been promoting an invisible religion in the public sector and in the public schools. That religion is not Catholicism, Protestantism, or any form of Christianity. It is not Judaism, or Buddism, or Mohammedanism. The invisible religion of the public schools is secularism. 

This book is about secularism. But more importantly, it is about freedom--the freedom to believe, think, explore, and create ideas of all kinds. It is about the freedom of conscience and of religion. This book is neither a conservative tract nor a liberal one. It is not anti-secular or pro-secular, anti-theistic or pro-theistic. 

The purpose of this book is to show that secularism has become the invisible religion of America. It suggests how secularism may continue to be respected as this country's dominant ideology, but purposes eliminating the abridgment of our individual liberty created by this monopoly in our public schools. Its central messages are that the American government does not have the constitutional authority to impose any religious view on any person or group, and that it is not the business of a free government to aid, support, or advance any religion, be it secular or non-secular. The choice of which belief structures Americans adopt and which they reject must be left to them. 

This is a carefully documented, thought-provoking book with a message of profound significance for the people of America. It has the potential to influence and shape future action in both educational and legal forums for years to come. 

Table of Contents

Foreword, 7

Explanation of Citation Format, 8

1. Secularism: A Dubious Neutrality, 13
Religion Exorcised, 13
The Mandate for Neutrality, 15
The Illusion of Neutral Education, 16
The Premise of this Book, 17

2. Secularism: A Definition, 18
The American World View, 18
Humanism Defined, 18
Secularism Versus Humanism, 19
Secularism Defined, 19

3. Secularism: A Historical Perspective, 21
The Rational and the Intuitive, 21
The Four Ages of Civilization, 22
The Age of Gods, 22
The Age of Heroes, 22
The Age of Men, 23
The Age of Chaos, 25
Secular Humanism in America, 27
The Default of the Secular Dream, 27
The Present State of Affairs, 29
4. Religion: A Definition, 31
Religion as the Transcendent, 31
Religion as the Immanent, 32
Religion as Philosophy, 32
Religion: An Expanded View, 35
The Function of Religion, 37
Religion Defined, 39

5. Secularism: A Religion, 41
The Miracles of Secularism, 41
The Ethic of Secularism, 42
The Rituals of Secularism, 42
The Priesthood of Secularism, 42
The Doctrines of Secularism, 43
The Assumptions of Secularism, 44
The Advantage of Secularism, 46

6. Secularism: The Bias for Objectivity, 47
The Bias Toward Objectivity, 47
The Importance of Subjectivity, 48
The Subjective Basis of Objectivism, 50
The Subjective Assumptions of Objectivism, 51
The Subjectivity of Secularism, 51

7. Secularism: A Transparent Monopoly, 54
The Invisibility of Secularism, 54
The Vitality of Secularism, 55
The Decline of Secularism, 56
The Need for Alternatives to Secularism, 57
The Strengths of Secularism, 59
Confronting the Secular Monopoly, 60

8. Establishment and Free-Exercise: A Shift in Views, 62
Interpreting the Religion Clauses, 62
No Definition of "Religion", 63
The Changing Face of Religious Freedom, 63

9. The Meaning of Religion: The Double Standard of the Supreme Court, 66
"Religion" in the Establishment Clause Cases, 66
"Religion" in the Free-exercise Clause Cases, 68

10. Everson: Its Historical Problems, 71
The Everson Case, 71
Religious Establishments and the Federal Government, 72
Religious Establishments and the States, 74

11. Everson: Its Intellectual Problems, 76
Neutrality of Treatment, 76
The Illusion of Ideological Neutrality, 77
The Commitment of the Court to a False Neutrality, 79
Some Troublesome Questions, 82

12. Everson: Its Progeny, 84
Board of Education v. Allen, 84
McCollum v. Board of Education, 85
Zorach v. Clauson, 85
Engle v. Vitale, 86
Abington v. Schempp, 87
Epperson v. Arkansas, 89
Lemon v. Kurtzman, 89
Stone v. Graham, 91
Larson v. Valente, 91
Lynch v. Donnelly, 92
Wallace v. Jaffree, 93
Aguilar v. Felton, 93
Bowen v. Kendrick, 94
Edwards v. Aguillard, 94
Justice Scalia's Dissent, 96
The Equal Access Act, 100
The Court's Crusade, 101

13. Religion-clause Jurisprudence: Rationalizations for a Secular Bias, 103
A "Wall of Separation, 103
The Religious "Threat" to Democracy, 103
The "Divisiveness" Doctrine, 105
"Insignificant Effects on Religion", 107
The "Social Chaos" Theory, 109
Summary of the Court's Rationalizations, 112

14. Secularism: The Promulgation of a World View, 114
Promulgation by Benign Neglect, 114
The Promulgation of Secular Ethics, 115
The Promulgation of Secular Faith, 118
The Promulgation of Secular Dogmas, 119
15. The Maintenance of Pluralism: Religious Accommodation in a Pluralistic Society, 122
Religious Balance, 122
Religious Balance and the Survival of Public Schools, 123
Religious Accommodation, 125
Alternative Nonsecular Education, 127
No Religious Compulsion, 128

16. Religious Balance and Religious Freedom: A Proposal for Public Education, 130
Disestablishing Secularism, 130
An Agenda for the Court, 131
Public Schools as Microcosms of Pluralism, 132

Notes, 135
Appendix, 163
Bibliography, 200
Index, 214

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