Thursday, April 10, 2003

Church, State, Classroom

Remember William Bennett, Reagan's Secretary of Education? Here's what he has to say about recent comments by Rod Paige, current holder of the cabinet post and subject of this CNN feature:

"He'd prefer to have a child in a school that has a strong appreciation for the values of the Christian community. Who's opposed to that?" Bennett said.

Um...I dunno. Maybe people who aren't Christians?

I suspect there's an argument waiting to happen here, one which suggests that "Christian values" are actually human values. But the label is still inappropriate; if they're really human values, then why isn't that what's being said, and, more importantly, why does Paige's political record favor schools which are actually explicitly Christian? For Education Secretaries who happen to be Christian to claim these values as Christian diminishes the universality of the values themselves. It is smug at best, ominous at worst.

posted by boyhowdy | 11:16 PM |

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