Sandy Salmon, Republican State Representative from Blackhawk County, just filed a peculiar bill at the Statehouse. HF 2072 would prohibit the adoption of statewide core Social Studies standards by the Board of Education.
This bill prohibits the state board of education from adopting, and the department of education from authorizing or requiring, statewide core social studies standards for kindergarten through grade 12.
Not science, math, literature, or anything else. Just Social Studies. I find that more than a little odd.
The core standards at every grade level have a few threads in common. They concentrate heavily on teaching how to use reason, standards of evidence, and accurate facts from primary sources to analyze social and historical claims.
Sandy Salmon is a hard right conservative, creationist, and Christian Nationalist. She believes that the Founding Fathers were all evangelical Christians, just like her. She believes that America was founded as a Christian nation based on Christian principles, requiring Christian solutions to governmental problems.
I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that Salmon’s religious beliefs color her perspectives on American political institutions, society, economics, and history. Her Christian nationalism is impervious to reason, standards of evidence, and accurate facts. She doesn’t understand that America was never a Christian nation — except in the trivial sense that a majority of citizens are Christian. She doesn’t understand that our Constitution explicitly conflicts with Christian principles. She doesn’t understand that true freedom of religion means that no religious beliefs deserve special privileges or government support.
Sandy Salmon doesn’t understand any of it and doesn’t want anyone else to understand it either. HF 2072 if passed would effectively gut history and civics education classes in our public schools.
I give it 50/50 odds of passing this legislative session.
(Shameless plug: Go buy “The Founding Myth”, by Andrew Seidel. It explains the history of Christian Nationalism and its current threat to our government and Constitution in clear, compelling, thorough detail. Read it, then come hear Andrew speak about it this upcoming Monday, January 29, 6-8 PM at the Ohmstead Center Sussman Theater at Drake University.)
By Robert Cook
Activism Chair