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| The Christian fundamentalism behind Ron Paul's home-schooling curriculum | The Christian fundamentalism behind Ron Paul's home-schooling curriculum |
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| Former Representative Ron Paul's announcement this week of the upcoming launch of his eponymous home-schooling curriculum makes clear that the end of his career as a gadfly Republican presidential candidate does not spell the end of his role at the helm of a movement aimed at transforming the way Americans think about government – and God. | Former Representative Ron Paul's announcement this week of the upcoming launch of his eponymous home-schooling curriculum makes clear that the end of his career as a gadfly Republican presidential candidate does not spell the end of his role at the helm of a movement aimed at transforming the way Americans think about government – and God. |
| The Tea Party godfather has always enjoyed a devoted following of home-schoolers, a relatively quiet segment of the Paul coalition that frequently has flown under the media's radar. After all, one-time Republican candidates better known for their hyper-competitive citation of the Bible, like Mike Huckabee, Michele Bachmann, or Rick Santorum, make a much bigger spectacle of their support from advocates of shielding your kids from the evils of secular public school education. | The Tea Party godfather has always enjoyed a devoted following of home-schoolers, a relatively quiet segment of the Paul coalition that frequently has flown under the media's radar. After all, one-time Republican candidates better known for their hyper-competitive citation of the Bible, like Mike Huckabee, Michele Bachmann, or Rick Santorum, make a much bigger spectacle of their support from advocates of shielding your kids from the evils of secular public school education. |
| While Paul's dedication to the home-schooling cause is emblematic of his widely known views of limited government, the "Ron Paul Curriculum" reveals the far-reaching nature of his religious beliefs. | While Paul's dedication to the home-schooling cause is emblematic of his widely known views of limited government, the "Ron Paul Curriculum" reveals the far-reaching nature of his religious beliefs. |
| Paul's advocacy of home-schooling is not just about getting kids out of what home-schoolers disparagingly call "government schools". It's not just about teaching them that government should be small and largely inconsequential. It's based on the idea that the government is largely illegitimate, and that one must create a society in which the populace will follow "moral" (that is, biblical) laws, rather than the laws created by an overzealous, tyrannical government. | Paul's advocacy of home-schooling is not just about getting kids out of what home-schoolers disparagingly call "government schools". It's not just about teaching them that government should be small and largely inconsequential. It's based on the idea that the government is largely illegitimate, and that one must create a society in which the populace will follow "moral" (that is, biblical) laws, rather than the laws created by an overzealous, tyrannical government. |
| When they talk about government tyranny, they're not just talking about statutes and regulations: they're talking about supreme court case law, too. Paul, for example, believes that Roe v Wade is illegitimate, and that states should be able to criminalize abortion, regardless of what the supreme court has to say. | When they talk about government tyranny, they're not just talking about statutes and regulations: they're talking about supreme court case law, too. Paul, for example, believes that Roe v Wade is illegitimate, and that states should be able to criminalize abortion, regardless of what the supreme court has to say. |
| Paul's new director of curriculum development is Gary North, the son-in-law of Christian Reconstructionism founder RJ Rushdoony. Reconstructionism is a movement based on the claim that God granted only limited "jurisdiction" to government, and that biblical law should supplant civil law in all but a handful of circumstances. | Paul's new director of curriculum development is Gary North, the son-in-law of Christian Reconstructionism founder RJ Rushdoony. Reconstructionism is a movement based on the claim that God granted only limited "jurisdiction" to government, and that biblical law should supplant civil law in all but a handful of circumstances. |
| Rushdoony was one of the first advocates of Christian home-schooling and a developer of its early curriculums, according to Julie Ingersoll, associate professor of religious studies at the University of North Florida, who is writing a book on Christian Reconstructionism. He later acted as an expert witness in court cases, laying the groundwork for claims that government refusal to allow parents to home-school their children was a violation of the free exercise clause of the first amendment, by arguing that public school infringed on their religious beliefs. Says Ingersoll: | Rushdoony was one of the first advocates of Christian home-schooling and a developer of its early curriculums, according to Julie Ingersoll, associate professor of religious studies at the University of North Florida, who is writing a book on Christian Reconstructionism. He later acted as an expert witness in court cases, laying the groundwork for claims that government refusal to allow parents to home-school their children was a violation of the free exercise clause of the first amendment, by arguing that public school infringed on their religious beliefs. Says Ingersoll: |
| "He laid the intellectual foundation, he popularized it by traveling around and talking to Christian organizations, Christian schools, and churches, and then by testifying in court cases." | "He laid the intellectual foundation, he popularized it by traveling around and talking to Christian organizations, Christian schools, and churches, and then by testifying in court cases." |
| North has described his late father-in-law's 1963 book, The Messianic Character of American Education, as "a highly condensed, thoroughly documented, and theologically astute critique of the educational philosophies of over two dozen of the major founders and philosophers of American progressive education, from Horace Mann to John Dewey. Nothing like it had ever been published before, and nothing equal to it has been published since." A leading architect of a Reconstructionist view of economics – and a former congressional staffer to Paul – North says in an introductory video on the Ron Paul curriculum website that it will "teach the biblical principle of self-government and personal responsibility". | North has described his late father-in-law's 1963 book, The Messianic Character of American Education, as "a highly condensed, thoroughly documented, and theologically astute critique of the educational philosophies of over two dozen of the major founders and philosophers of American progressive education, from Horace Mann to John Dewey. Nothing like it had ever been published before, and nothing equal to it has been published since." A leading architect of a Reconstructionist view of economics – and a former congressional staffer to Paul – North says in an introductory video on the Ron Paul curriculum website that it will "teach the biblical principle of self-government and personal responsibility". |
| That sounds like standard religious right fare, and to some extent it is – except that Ron Paul's religious followers believe the religious right known within the beltway power structure has betrayed fundamental beliefs and allowed itself to be co-opted by Washington politics. That's why you'll hear Ron Paul's religious followers say that groups like the American Family Association and Focus on the Family are "not my type of Christian", or complain that the religious right is "a hollow creature" that has "lost its moorings". | That sounds like standard religious right fare, and to some extent it is – except that Ron Paul's religious followers believe the religious right known within the beltway power structure has betrayed fundamental beliefs and allowed itself to be co-opted by Washington politics. That's why you'll hear Ron Paul's religious followers say that groups like the American Family Association and Focus on the Family are "not my type of Christian", or complain that the religious right is "a hollow creature" that has "lost its moorings". |
| They might explain to you how they believe that slavery can be biblical. Instead of debating cuts to the federal budget, they'll talk to you about creating an alternative currency, based on the Book of Deuteronomy. | They might explain to you how they believe that slavery can be biblical. Instead of debating cuts to the federal budget, they'll talk to you about creating an alternative currency, based on the Book of Deuteronomy. |
| Ron Paul has never identified as a Reconstructionist, but he has been friendly with the Constitution party, founded (as the US Taxpayer party) on Reconstructionist ideology, by former Reagan administration official Howard Phillips, a follower of Rushdoony. Paul has, however, stated his adherence to Reconstructionism's bedrock idea. | Ron Paul has never identified as a Reconstructionist, but he has been friendly with the Constitution party, founded (as the US Taxpayer party) on Reconstructionist ideology, by former Reagan administration official Howard Phillips, a follower of Rushdoony. Paul has, however, stated his adherence to Reconstructionism's bedrock idea. |
| Asked in 2007 by radio host John Lofton, "would you agree that biblically speaking it is not the role of the civil government at any level, federal, state or local, to house or feed or clothe or educate anybody?" Paul replied, "That would be my personal belief." He went on to criticize the left, with whom "I work at times … on some issues of civil liberties and foreign policy", who "don't see for a minute what they do with economic policy and welfare policy is the false use of force, at a government level, to try to achieve certain goals". The notion that government is inherently coercive – including through public education – lies at the heart of Paul's views on issues ranging from civil rights to gun control. | Asked in 2007 by radio host John Lofton, "would you agree that biblically speaking it is not the role of the civil government at any level, federal, state or local, to house or feed or clothe or educate anybody?" Paul replied, "That would be my personal belief." He went on to criticize the left, with whom "I work at times … on some issues of civil liberties and foreign policy", who "don't see for a minute what they do with economic policy and welfare policy is the false use of force, at a government level, to try to achieve certain goals". The notion that government is inherently coercive – including through public education – lies at the heart of Paul's views on issues ranging from civil rights to gun control. |
| Among those slated to be instructors for Paul's new curriculum is Paul favorite Thomas Woods, a Harvard-educated historian long criticized for his ties to neo-Confederate groups, a charge he has frequently tries to deflect. Cathy Young, writing in 2005 in the libertarian magazine Reason, excoriated Woods for being a neo-Confederate rather than a libertarian: | Among those slated to be instructors for Paul's new curriculum is Paul favorite Thomas Woods, a Harvard-educated historian long criticized for his ties to neo-Confederate groups, a charge he has frequently tries to deflect. Cathy Young, writing in 2005 in the libertarian magazine Reason, excoriated Woods for being a neo-Confederate rather than a libertarian: |
| "He favorably quotes a 19th-century southern theologian who described the defenders of slavery as 'friends of order and regulated freedom, and portrays the civil war as 'a struggle against an atheistic individualism and an unrelenting rationalism in politics and religion, in favor of a Christian understanding of authority, social order and theology itself.' The southern cause, he concludes, is 'the cause of us all'." | "He favorably quotes a 19th-century southern theologian who described the defenders of slavery as 'friends of order and regulated freedom, and portrays the civil war as 'a struggle against an atheistic individualism and an unrelenting rationalism in politics and religion, in favor of a Christian understanding of authority, social order and theology itself.' The southern cause, he concludes, is 'the cause of us all'." |
| When I was in Iowa in 2012, just before the caucuses, Woods' books were all the rage among Paul's religious followers. Pastor Brian Nolder of Pella, Iowa, who endorsed Paul in the caucuses, told me that Woods' book, Who Killed the Constitution? (answer: the government), "started me on the path" of supporting Paul. I asked Nolder if he thought we'd see start to see more religious supporters of Paul like himself. | When I was in Iowa in 2012, just before the caucuses, Woods' books were all the rage among Paul's religious followers. Pastor Brian Nolder of Pella, Iowa, who endorsed Paul in the caucuses, told me that Woods' book, Who Killed the Constitution? (answer: the government), "started me on the path" of supporting Paul. I asked Nolder if he thought we'd see start to see more religious supporters of Paul like himself. |
| "You have a Rand Paul coming up in the wings, and, I would suspect that just like the fruit of the Reagan Revolution was people getting involved in the grassroots leading to the Christian Coalition and the success in the 90s," he said, there would be more of what he described as "conservative libertarians" running for local office. With the Ron Paul-branded home-school curriculum starting in kindergarten, some future candidates are getting an early start. | "You have a Rand Paul coming up in the wings, and, I would suspect that just like the fruit of the Reagan Revolution was people getting involved in the grassroots leading to the Christian Coalition and the success in the 90s," he said, there would be more of what he described as "conservative libertarians" running for local office. With the Ron Paul-branded home-school curriculum starting in kindergarten, some future candidates are getting an early start. |
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