'Christian Nation' Mythos Enters America's Public Schools, As 'Bible Curriculum' Reportedly in 382 School Districts [ note: see full story for Norris video ]

Martial arts maven Chuck Norris, legend has it, can defeat packs of savage wild animals, hordes of vicious, armed goons, and even onrushing Mack trucks with nothing more than his hands and feet. Now, Norris wants to kick secularism's ass - he wants the Bible back in public schools. But roundhouse kicks or even the "claw of death" are not especially useful for slipping a sectarian Bible course curriculum touting fake history into public schools. Stealthy, social tactics are needed. Will Chuck Norris become a Liar For Jesus ? We don't yet know but Norris has touted the work of the National Council On Bible Curriculum In Public Schools as it sneaks, in a slick wrapper of dubious and flat-out fraudulent takes on American history, its Christian nationalist Bible course curriculum into public schools, cities, and towns across America. Meet the The National Council On Bible Curriculum In Public Schools (NCBCPS), a stealth effort associated with the far right Council On National Policy and led by a woman who has said God has commanded her to bring the Bible back into public education.

read more of "Chuck Norris Wants To Kick Secularism's Ass, Pummel Bible Into Public Schools ?"

Whereas I've milked the Norris cow for its sheer silliness, Chris Rodda, being the historian, has done the heavy lifting in terms of  identifying the many types of history falsification to be found in The National Council On Bible Curriculum In Public Schools' Bible Class Curriculum. More Chuck Norris-ism can be found in the interstices of Chuck Norris Helps the NCBCPS Spread David Barton's Lies, and Even More Historical Revisionism in the NCBCPS Curriculum

In my slightly tongue-in-cheek Chuck Norris Fights For Bible Classes With "Mind Karate", I utilize a combination of techniques to ridicule Chuck Norris's citation of fake history and his haphazard proximity to various ridiculous forms of ideological extremism (such as "Geocentrism") and note that although Norris may be an excellent martial arts fighter, in a battle of "mind karate" I'd likely kick his ass.

People on all parts of the political spectrum abuse the Treaty Of Tripoli - some supporters of church/state separation brandish the Treaty as if it's a clove of garlic that can fend off vampires intent on sucking dry the true intent of America's founders, that the United States was to be a secular nation. On the other end, would-be theocrats try to twist the rather unambiguous nature of the treaty's rhetoric into pretzel shaped obfustication, and that's the subject of Don Byrd's Church-State Cage Match: Chuck Norris v. The Treaty of Tripoli in which Byrd, possibly riffing off my Chuck Norris can't fight "mind karate for sh_t" theme, wryly mocks Norris's clumsy efforts to explain away the Treaty of Tripoli.

Chuck Norris's latest hamfisted bout, in his serial abuse of American history, in which he mangles the context and historical significance of the Treaty Of Tripoli, has apparently provoked Liars For Jesus: The Religious Right's Alternate Version Of American History (volume 1) author Chris Rodda, probably out of sheer exasperation, to serialize an entire chapter of her book, to be published in consecutive posts here on Talk To Action, to clear things up.

United States Treaties with the Barbary States should help immensely in terms of flushing the muck out of the swamp that current, common understanding of the Treaty Of Tripoli has become. Perhaps Chuck Norris should tone up his cranial folds by giving it a read.

On another serious note, in The Plot To Destroy Public Schools In Your State I note that, while the nonprofit Chuck Norris stumps (or stomps, perhaps more accurately), for The National Council On Bible Curriculum In Public Schools is trying to "theocratize" public schools, another related ideological and political wing of the Christian right is simply trying to destroy public schools or phase them out altogether, by promoting the "voucher" movement.

As a footnote, Chuck Norris makes a cameo appearance in one of a series of warhorse pieces I did last spring, excoriating Time Magazine's Dave Van Biema for a piece he did on the push for Bible curricula in public schools.

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If you are interested, Talk To Action features a considerable collection of posts on the ongoing effort to falsify American history. You can access these posts here and here

Why should you care about the falsification of US History ? Well, one place to start is the fact that leading US Senators and Congress members, in both political parties, apparently cannot identify fake US history when it is declaimed on the Senate and Congress floors. Was the US founded as a "Christian Nation" ? When leading US politicians appear to be muddy on the point we've got problems.

Talk To Action co-founder Frederick Clarkson has written perhaps the definitive summation of why fake history matters, in History is Powerful: Why the Christian Right Distorts History and Why it Matters

The notion that America was founded as a Christian nation is a central animating element of the ideology of the Christian Right. It touches every aspect of life and culture in this, one of the most successful and powerful political movements in American history. The idea that America's supposed Christian identity has somehow been wrongly taken, and must somehow be restored, permeates the psychology and vision of the entire movement. No understanding of the Christian Right is remotely adequate without this foundational concept.

But the Christian nationalist narrative has a fatal flaw: it is based on revisionist history that does not stand up under scrutiny. The bad news is that to true believers, it does not have to stand up to the facts of history to be a powerful and animating part of the once and future Christian nation. Indeed, through a growing cottage industry of Christian revisionist books and lectures now dominating the curricula of home schools and many private Christian academies, Christian nationalism becomes a central feature of the political identity of children growing up in the movement. The contest for control of the narrative of American history is well underway.

History is powerful.