Published: February 12, 2006 03:24 am      

Don't dictate schools' teachings

The letters on the subject of intelligent design seem to have run their course a bit. The majority of them cited opinions, without offering a solution.

The only value a letter might have is to tug some sleeves, pointing out that Washington is dictating what is taught in perhaps most schools that have any concern about national accreditation.

One very informed writer said that the government had banned certain information from the schools a long time ago. How long has the government been dictating what was taught in schools?

That does not seem to bother people, or they even think that's good. For a long time, in my young age, four men had or used the power to dictate any or all "facts" taught or not taught, in the educational structure of an enslaved continent: Hitler, Goebbels, Goering and Himmler. Their problem was that people living outside their information dictatorship did not believe their dictations — and were willing to destroy that continent just to get them out of power.

There is a problem in any government-dictated propaganda system. Nobody knows which "facts" to proffer, or deny. A local citizen dares to deny that red is green, offending the local commissar, and goes to the salt mines. The local official has a similar problem, in that he did not notice that the general secretary states that red is blue, and both of them get a free trip to the salt mines.

It is really surprising that a supposedly wise group of judges could be painted into such a historical corner in the case of intelligent design. How will history judge them?

Some possibilities could be:

1. They declared themselves and the government to be the highest power in the universe. There is no god but the government.

2. They declared that nothing with a religious connection can be taught in the schools (obviously a high percentage of all educational material).

3. All pertinent information cannot be found in the school system. Anyone wanting the whole story must go elsewhere to learn it.

4. Any information being taught in the school system is suspect. Any or all of it could have been composed and created in Washington.

5. Non-government schools must be under pressure to comply with Washington informational guidelines, fearing loss of national accreditation.

6. Nothing or nobody is safe. With the government's claiming the only moral power in the universe, "right" and "wrong" depends on what a very small group of people vote on and decide, themselves being bombarded with profit-motivated lobbying. (There are no "absolutes." All "right" and "wrong" is elective, by majority vote.)

7. They could have created a historical monster. With no moral education, higher than the government, lobbyists could entice Congress to make murder much more legal than at present, pass an amendment to shoot the Supreme Court at sunrise, and by then, nobody would have been taught there was anything wrong with that action. (If anybody thinks this is preposterous, they should look at how many governments apply this "self-cleaning" policy.)

8. With this decision, they put themselves out of business! The government began with, and is based on, the Declaration of Independence. The court has decreed that it no longer can be taught in the schools, because it contains: " ... 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." You will no longer find this religiously originated document in school. It can be found at http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/declaration_transcript.html (on that "ungodly" Internet).

9. The court has declared the entire U.S. government cannot be mentioned in the schools, since authority for its existence is based on a higher power than itself!

10. Somebody could have finally topped Hitler, Goebbels, Goering and Himmler in expounding a propaganda blooper greater than theirs! This Web site is in the National Archives! The Supreme Court apparently does not even know what material it is keeping in its own files! The implications of the judgment are endless. That has to mean that the National Archives are banned as a school reference.

It is surprising that the judges either did not recuse themselves, or throw out the case as irrelevant, saying "we are not God; we were not around to see who did or did not create the universe."

Bob Van Devender

Union