10 for 10: Voting Vision not Division | On Education

In this episode of "10 for 10: Voting Vision Not Division," Rabbi Nancy Kasten, Rev. Dr. George Mason, and Mara Richards Bim examine the vital role education plays in shaping our values and beliefs, both as individuals and as a society. They reflect on the importance of public education, the separation of church and state, and the influence of faith on education policy. As the election approaches, this episode encourages voters to consider how their religious convictions can inform their decisions about educational equity, government oversight, and the protection of diverse perspectives in our schools.

What is 10 for 10: Voting Vision not Division? Starting on September 2, 2024 and continuing every Monday for ten weeks through November 4, Faith Commons is offering ten 10-minute reflections on topics related to the upcoming election through the lens of religion. Our premise is that religion should be used to unite people and groups of people rather than to divide them, and that the founders of our country shared our view.

Watch the video, here.

Nancy Kasten (00:24):

Welcome to 10 for 10 Voting Vision, not division. We at Faith Commons see this upcoming election as an opportunity to bring our country together, to bring our communities together, and to enable us to work for a vision of a society that works for everyone. I'm Rabbi Nancy Kasten of Faith Commons, and I'm joined today by Reverend Dr. George Mason and Mara Richards Bim. Faith Commons works to lift up faith voices in the public square for the common good. And our topic today, which definitely impacts on our ability as a nation to foster vision for ourselves, is education. Education plays a crucial role in shaping beliefs and values, influencing how we see the world, how we interact with others, and how we make decisions. Our faith traditions also do all of this, but we see public education and secular education as playing a related role, one that interacts with our religious education and our faith education. So today, Mara's gonna start us off talking about some of the things we can keep in mind as we look at the different education policies that are being promoted by our different candidates.

Mara Richards Bim (01:52):

Yeah. So I'm excited to do this. Um, in the United Methodist tradition, education has been important. From the beginning, John Wesley set up schools for specifically the children of low wage workers. Um, the first one, uh, Kingswood was for the children of coal miners. And it was important to him. This was outside of Bristol, England. It was important to him that the quality of the education be such that those children could then go on and study at places like Cambridge and Oxford like he had done. Um, so education was very important from the very beginning. And, um, he pointed to, um, the many references to gaining in wisdom in the Hebrew scripture, um, as well as, um, the gospel of Luke Jesus growing in wisdom over years. So that's been a key piece of the United Methodist Church, um, throughout our history. And today, um, our social principles, our, um, discipline, our book of res resolutions all speak to the importance of education.

Mara Richards Bim (02:55):

We actually go along with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and say that high quality education is a human right. Um, also in this country as United Methodists, we believe in the separation of church and state, and we, um, uphold the dignity and worth and rights of religious minorities, whatever they may be. So, um, when we think about public education, we think about things like what's happening right now, um, where in some places, including here in Texas, there is a push to emphasize, uh, Christianity in the school system. And we don't think that that's an appropriate, um, that is actually the Methodist. We have three rules, right? Do no harm, do good, and attend to the ordinances of God. And so to impose Christianity, um, even as a Christian, right, my daughter's form of Christianity might be different than the person teaching her to impose one's version of Christianity on students is doing harm in our mind.

Mara Richards Bim (04:01):

Um, our book of resolutions also speaks to the fact that as parents, if we want, um, to put our children in private schools, parochial schools, things like that, certainly entitled to do that, but that we are obligated to, again, provide free education for all children in this country. And so even if we make that choice to pull our children from the public schools, we are obligated to continue to support public schools and the quality education of all students. And then the last thing I would say is, um, our reso our resolutions also point to, um, what happens in the school setting. Um, we believe all children are entitled to accurate, um, education for their sexual health, right? And we also, um, believe in an environment free from bullying and emotional intimidation. And so when you look at some of these, um, proposals, whether it is, um, biblical lessons in the school, or the 10 commandments on the on the wall, when we think about bullying and emotional intimidation, again, we would see that as, as being intimidating to some students and, and again, doing harm. So when I go to the ballot box, I think about these things and the, and the support for public education regardless of what I do with my own child who does go to public school.

George Mason (05:35):

Wonderful. Thank you, Mara. So, as a Baptist,

George Mason (05:39):

I want to say that education is really important in our faith tradition, because I come from the line of Christianity that is really non-conformist and dissenters. That is to say we rejected the idea that someone who knows more than we do, as the people of God should dictate to us what it is we're supposed to believe. But if we're going to take responsibility for that, then we have to be able to read. We have to be able to think critically. And so much of the dissent is not just a rejection of authorities over us. It is how do we become responsible authorities ourselves in our communities? And so when we came to these shores, we came to kind of, in a way, incubate this way of being, this democratic understanding of religious life in our congregations, which then became a model actually for the, the, the country that would come to be.

George Mason (06:43):

And so what, what we had was, uh, yes, it was a, a kind of religious education to begin with, but we also came to believe that that should be universally applied. And so we became advocates for public education because Baptists really believe in the separation of church and state too. We, we had confidence that we could educate our children in the faith, that we didn't need the government to do that. And so what we wanted the government to do was to educate people in all the other disciplines of, of life while we took care of this one in our families and in our faith communities. In fact, when the Mayflower finally launched and sent these pilgrims to these shores, the minister John Robinson sent something very important. He said, and if God should reveal anything to us by any other instrument of his to be as ready to receive it, as ever we were to receive any truth by Christ's ministry, for he was very confident. Uh, Robinson said that the Lord had more truth and light yet to break forth out of his holy word. What that means is we're not finished learning. We have to continue to learn. And so we believe that public school classrooms are a wonderful place to do that. Uh, privately we will educate our children in our faith tradition, but we all also believe that all truth is God's truth. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And so public school classrooms should continue that work and broaden it to learn about all of God's creation.

Nancy Kasten (08:34):

There's another aspect of education policy that'll be on the ballot in November, and that is the question of, uh, who should be responsible for determining, um, the public education? Should we have by a federal system? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, a department of education, or should this be given to states? And if, and we know certainly in Texas, there is a lot of diversity in Texas and there is a lot of diversity through the United States. The question is if we do hold onto the idea that we are one nation under God, if we want to, um, unite rather than to divide if we want to understand one another, and to be in conversation with one another, to learn from one another. What does it mean to absolve or to dissolve the federal ideals of public education, the federal guidance for public education, um, oversight of public education. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and, um, and divide that into, uh, all of the states of, of our union. So that's something else to keep in mind when we go to the ballot box, and we will look forward to seeing you next week to discuss another topic that will be top of mind as we head toward November. Thank you. <silence>.