Biblical Christianity vs. Secular Humanism

The Secular Humanist Concept of Moral Education

We believe that moral development should be cultivated in children and young adults.  We do not believe that any particular sect can claim important values as their exclusive property; hence it is the duty of public education to deal with these values.  Accordingly, we support moral education in the schools that is designed to develop an appreciation for moral virtues, intelligence, and the building of character.  We wish to encourage wherever possible the growth of moral awareness and the capacity for free choice and an understanding of the consequences thereof.  We do not think it is moral to baptize infants, to confirm adolescents, or to impose a religious creed on young people before they are able to consent.  Although children should learn about the history of religious moral practices, these young minds should not be indoctrinated in a faith before they are mature enough to evaluate the merits for themselves.  It should be noted that secular humanism is not so much a specific morality as it is a method for the explanation and discovery of rational moral principles.[1]

A journal article on secular humanism in public education stated, “Contemporary language arts, social studies and health education often stress the use of human reasoning in the study of values.  Students are encouraged to create, clarify and support their own values.”[2]  Kurtz has written

Ethical education should be taught in the public schools as well; but often this kind of education is threatened by sectarian religionists, particularly in pluralistic societies where what is to be taught is open to incessant controversy.  Conservatives maintain that we should teach our children reading, writing, and arithmetic.  But why not the moral decencies as well?  Surely, no matter what our religious affiliations, we share a common core of moral principles. . . . Some parents fear autonomy of choice or independent thinking in their children.  They wish their children to follow their guidelines and not stray from the faith of their fathers.  They fear that their children may reject their views on sexual morality, abortion, or euthanasia. . . . The humanist replies that children have a right to know and a right to develop their own conceptions of a good life, even if their parents might disagree.[3]

The student began his refutation of this tenet by showing that no group can claim values as their exclusive property, for truth belongs to God, not man.  “Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long” (Ps. 25:5).[4]  The psalmist referred to God as the God of truth – “Redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth” (Ps. 31:5).  “Your righteousness is everlasting and your law is true” (Ps. 119:142).

Because truth comes from God, the Son of God possesses great truth.  “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:14).  Jesus told Thomas, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (Jn. 14:6).  Paul told the Ephesians, “Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus” (Eph. 4:21).

God has, however, placed that truth into men’s hands.  Speaking about his apostleship, Paul wrote, “We have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God.  On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the light of God” (2 Cor. 4:2).  Christians are to be speaking the truth – “Speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the head, that is, Christ” (Eph. 4:15).

Christians have an obligation to speak the truth of God in sharing their faith with others.  Jesus told the disciples, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Mt. 28:18-19).  In another account of the so-called Great Commission, Jesus said to the apostles, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).  Jesus intended the apostles to be eye-witnesses and to offer personal testimony of what he taught and did.  While modern Christians cannot witness in the same sense as the apostles, they can proclaim the truthfulness of the apostles’ testimony.

Some individuals will not like truth’s proclamation.  “The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.  Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Tim. 4:3-4).  The old cliché states, “The truth hurts,” and biblical truth greatly undermines secular humanist tenets.  Biblical truth says that individuals are free to believe whatever they choose, but that not everything they choose to believe is true.  Biblical truth says ethics are based upon God’s standards, not critical intelligence.

Saints of old spoke truth in spite of opposition.  When the Sanhedrin told Peter and John not to proclaim the name of Jesus, the apostles replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.  For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20).  The Apostle John was exiled on Patmos for his testimony to truth – “I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 1:9).

 The student then explored whether or not public education was the proper medium to teach values.  One way or another, values will be taught in school.

Participants on all sides of the debate, as well as courts and legal scholars, agree that a “valueless” education is not possible.  In fact, the very nature of the public school environment makes it impossible not to convey values, whether consciously or unconsciously.  Purpel and Ryan, authors of several books on the subject of moral education, note that the sheer number of hours a child spends in the classroom is a significant argument: “It is inconceivable for the schools to take [a] child for six or seven hours a day, for 180 days a year, from the time he is six to the time he is eighteen, and not affect the way he thinks about moral issues.”[5]

Although public education will deal with values, the public schools are not the proper medium for teaching appropriate values.  As demonstrated above, proper ethics come from God’s character; however, God has been removed from public education.  In 1962, the United States Supreme Court in Engel v. Vitale ruled school prayer to be unconstitutional.[6]  The following year, the Supreme Court ruled in Abington School District v. Schempp that Bible reading and recitation of the Lord’s Prayer were unconstitutional.[7]  In 1980, the court ruled in Stone v. Graham that the Ten Commandments could not be posted in public schools.[8]

Do Christian parents really want values education in the public schools?  Do Christian parents want their children taught, as secular humanists teach, that individuals must use their own reasoning to decide what makes sense to them?  Do Christian parents want their children to learn that homosexuality is the same morally as heterosexuality and that whether or not to engage in pre-marital sex is a decision that they themselves should make?  Do Christian parents really want their children to learn that one should tell the truth, but he may lie under certain circumstances?

The student turned attention to the claim of the immorality of teaching children religion.  Humanists really talk out of both sides of their mouths when they claim parents should not train their children in religion.  On the one hand, they claim that parents need to send their children to school and allow the schools to teach the children values.  On the other hand, humanists claim that parents have a moral obligation not to teach their children religious ideas.  What the humanists really are saying is: “Don’t you teach your children values.  You send them to the public schools and allow the public schools to teach them our values.”  What blatant hypocrisy!

In concluding the lesson, the student turned to look at one commendable statement from the humanists in regard to moral education.  There is great good in the ideal of values “clarification.”  Values need to be clarified and supported.  If Christians do not know what they believe nor why they believe such, they will find great difficulty in attempting to do the right thing.  Scripture teaches Christians to understand why they believe what they believe.  “In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness, and respect” (1 Pet. 3:15).  Unless Christians know what they believe and why they believe as they do, they cannot hope to give reason for the hope within them.
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[1] Kurtz, Humanist Declaration, 16-17.

[2] Rodney B. Farmer, “Secular Humanism: The Newest Controversy in Education,” College Student Journal 16 (1982): 160.

[3] Kurtz, Eupraxophy, 141.

[4] Emphasis added.

[5] Barbara B. Gaddy, T. William Hall, and Robert J. Marzano, School Wars: Resolving Our Conflicts over Religion and Values (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996), 207-208.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Robert L. Waggoner, “The Humanization of America in Culture, Education, and Law.”  http://www.biblicaltheism.com/humanameri.htm (accessed on October 28, 2005).