An Education Without God Is Not a Complete Education

I’ve heard it said that a Christian would never send their child to a school where mathematics was not taught; if true, why do Christians send their children to schools where God is not taught?

I think it’s because they feel that an education without God is neutral. But this could not be farther from the truth.

A complete education examines all aspects of life: mathematics, astronomy, the animal kingdom, human anatomy, history, government, philosophy, and languages. But most of these have been disconnected from God (and each other), repackaged as separate “school subjects,”  and delivered in textbook form. For Christians, this means that everything in our created world is presented to their children without mention of the Creator.

Everything created is connected, for everything is produced by the same mind, the same love, and is dependent on the same Creator. He who masterminded the universe, the Lord God Omnipotent, is the One who called the stars into being, commanded the light, spoke the Word that brought about the existence of time and space and every form of matter: salt and stone, rose and redwood, feather and fur and fin and flesh. The titmouse and the turkey answer to him. The sheep, the pig, and the finch are His, at His disposal, possessed and known by Him. (Elisabeth Elliot, Discipline: The Glad Surrender)

No education is neutral. Everything that students are taught revolves around God or comes straight from the heart of God. I could delve into multiple “school subjects” on this matter, but for the sake of space, let’s look at history.

God in History

Over the course of the 20th century, education began to include less and less of God, or any relationship mankind has had with Him. No longer do children learn Old Testament history as part of ancient history. No longer do students read Isaac Newton’s thoughts on the majesty of the Creator as he explored the universe. No longer do school children read of the devout Christianity of Governor William Bradford and the entire Plymouth colony (unless it’s to mock it). No longer do public school students know about the Christian faith of our American founders. (They used to; pick up an old McGuffey reader and see for yourself.)

“No education is neutral. Everything that students are taught revolves around God or comes straight from the heart of God.”

The story of mankind is a long and exciting tale of God’s creation of man, and His relationship with us throughout the millennia. What a fascinating story it is when it is seen chronologically, including man’s relationship with or rejection of God!

A history lesson that leaves out any mention of God falls so far short of the full story. Take Alfred the Great, for instance:

In the year 878, King Alfred of Wessex defeated the Viking army of Guthrum so severely (at Ethandune) that Guthrum begged for mercy, promising to leave England if Alfred would just spare their lives. But Alfred gave more than that. He made peace with Guthrum, and spared the lives of the Danes [the Vikings], and allowed them to keep the kingdom of East Anglia. Guthrum was moved to convert to Christianity, and was baptized three weeks later. (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle)

“Seldom, indeed, has a victory had so great and decisive an effect upon the future of a nation as that of Ethandune. Had the Saxons been crushed, the domination of the Danes in England would have been finally settled. Christianity would have been stamped out, and with it civilization, and the island would have made a backward step into paganism and barbarism which might have delayed her progress for centuries.

The victory established the freedom of Wessex, converted East Anglia into a settled and Christian country, and enabled King Alfred to frame the wise laws and statutes and to establish on a firm basis the institutions which raised Saxon England vastly in the scale of civilization, and have in no small degree affected the whole course of life of the English people.” (The Dragon and the Raven, G. A. Henty) 

“He had an army in his power. He could have starved them (the Danes) into surrender and slaughtered them to a man. He wished instead to divide the land with them, and that the two races, in spite of fearful injuries given and received, should dwell together in amity. This sublime power to rise above the whole force of circumstances, to remain unbiased by the extremes of victory or defeat, to persevere in the teeth of disaster, to greet returning fortune with a cool eye, to have faith in men after repeated betrayals, raises Alfred far above the turmoil of barbaric wars to his pinnacle of deathless glory.” (History of the English Speaking Peoples, Winston Churchill) 

There’s a lot more to the story of the Vikings and their invasions than dragon ships and slaughter. Did you know that King Alfred baptized the Viking Guthrum himself? 

Consider America’s founding. It is distinctly Christian, and yet this fact has been scrubbed as clean as possible from public school texts. Is George Washington’s public declaration of Thanksgiving ever taught with more than a date and a fact? Can you find this in a public school textbook?    

“Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and—Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favor, able interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best." 

This tragedy of omission is seen up and down the world history timeline. Church history is separated from the rest of history, and the Bible is often relegated to a Sunday School lesson. In fact, how many children in Christian families even really consider the Bible as factual history?

Why does it matter?

It is a beautiful thing to see the hand of God woven throughout the school subjects when they are not “neutralized.” Students discover how many scientists believed in the God of Genesis 1, that some of the most famous composers wrote their music to praise God and gave Him the glory for their talents, that Christians throughout the ages were martyred because they would not deny their faith in God, and that the history of governments through the ages proves that “righteousness exalts a nation.” (Proverbs 14:34)

But even more than the beauty of the story of our world, there is a strength we derive from knowing that we are all a part of that story. Knowing the history of the Old Testament as factual history takes Sunday School lessons to a deeper level. We have the entire view of history that the Old Testament prophets did not. We can see that their prophecies of the Messiah came true! We have the gift of archaeology that confirms so much of scripture, turning “Bible stories” into history.

And after Jesus came, and died, and rose again? The early church took His words to heart by spreading the good news of Messiah and salvation. Christians were martyred for hundreds of years, yet Christianity only continued to spread. In fact, the growth of Christianity coincided with the spread of Western Civilization, and civilization in every sense of the word.

Do school children today read the heartbreaking and heroic stories from Foxes Book of Martyrs? Does Eusebius have a place in the curriculum of the ancients? Do they have a chance to understand the profound faith and courage of Christians who defied Roman emperors at the cost of their lives?

Do your children understand that defending the faith is a noble calling, and that they might be chosen to join a long line of Christian martyrs? It’s possible they will be chosen, and they will be much more likely to persevere knowing they stand on the shoulders of the bold Christians of history.

The dangerous atheism of Communism

Fast forward to our enlightened 20th century, where students are not educated on the reality that the rise of Communism is truly a battle of dark vs. light, of good vs. evil. Communism is inherently atheistic. Many wise men know this, and have said it, and have written it, but their words have been ignored.

It is the absolute duty of Social-Democrats to make a public statement of their attitude towards religion. Social-Democracy bases its whole world-outlook on scientific socialism, i.e., Marxism. The philosophical basis of Marxism, as Marx and Engels repeatedly declared, is dialectical materialism—a materialism which is absolutely atheistic and positively hostile to all religion… Marxism has always regarded all modern religions and churches, and each and every religious organization, as instruments of bourgeois reaction that serve to defend exploitation and to befuddle the working class…Marxism is materialism. As such, it is as relentlessly hostile to religion… We must combat religion—that is the ABC of all materialism, and consequently of Marxism. But Marxism is not a materialism which has stopped at the ABC. Marxism goes further. It says: We must know how to combat religion. (Vladimir Lenin, Proletary, No. 45, May 13, 1909)

“I expect that the battle of Britain is about to begin ... Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization.” (Winston Churchill, June 18, 1940)

“And if I were called upon to identify briefly the principal trait of the entire 20th century, here too, I would be unable to find anything more precise and pithy than to repeat once again: ‘Men have forgotten God.’ The failings of human consciousness, deprived of its divine dimension, have been a determining factor in all the major crimes of this century.” (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Soviet prisoner and dissident, 1983)

Communism is one of the biggest threats we face in America today, and it is also embraced by our current generation of public school and university graduates. Leaving out these very important parts of history is dishonest and criminal. Students are only getting a partial education when they are taught that any part of history can be separate from God.

Dear parents, don’t let your children miss out on the full story of our world. Understand that no education is neutral. Teaching children for 12 long years without God in any of the curriculum teaches them that God is not important, that nations and discoveries and music and architecture are all disconnected from Him. And in the end, our children will be disconnected from Him, as well.

It is imperative that Christians seek out a truly Christian education for their children in the 21st century, because an education without God is not a complete education.