San Luis Coastal Unified School District
ADMINISTRATIVE COMPLAINT
Filed August 28, 2004
Pluralist Belief #4. Pluralism is not a ‘given’ but an achievement."
In 1992, the National Middle School Association Regional Conference presented M. Hayes Mizell as a speaker on pluralism. He quoted the President of Czechoslovakia and said,
"The way forward...promotes an atmosphere of tolerant solidarity and unity in diversity based on mutual respect, genuine pluralism and parallelism. In a word, human uniqueness, human action and the human spirit must be rehabilitated...
It is not that we should simply seek new and better ways of managing schools. The point is that we should fundamentally change how we behave. And who but teachers and administrators should lead the way?"
"Pluralism" is being treated by academic keynote speakers as a goal or belief in "genuine pluralism" reshaping the human spirit and behavior. "Unity in diversity" describes a replacement of genuine religious belief with genuine pluralism, "fundamentally changing how we behave" led by the priests of pluralism: teachers and administrators.
Diane L. Eck of the Pluralism Project defines pluralism as not a ‘given’ but an ‘achievement.’ Her book, "A New Religious America" contains reviews by academia that betray the religious establishment of pluralism, describing America as a nation "born again" and "radically reincarnated" even as:
"our historically Protestant and Enlightenment institutions refocus their profound power to shape selves and social relations through a tightening monoculture driven by middle class work and schooling. What will become of this moral drama all of us inhabit? Greater cultural conflict or liberal tolerance? A pluralist democratic miracle in the gospel of American exceptionalism..." –Steven M. Tipton, Emory University, Author
Clearly, pluralism is being purposely used to reshape America, attack religious beliefs and undermine freedom. Esteemed educators admit Pluralism is more than a method. Cloaked with noble words like "tolerance" that are difficult to argue whether genuine or not, they cannot usurp the Constitution. This definition of religious pluralism offered by The Pluralism Project from Harvard University proves the goal of indoctrination, of shaping and changing the religious beliefs of Americans to pluralist, a very distinct religion in itself:
"What Is Religious Pluralism?
"Though a standard definition of religious pluralism seems somewhat elusive, probably owing to misuse of the term, a compact description of the concept can be gleaned from the several meanings given to the term. Many people define religious pluralism as religious diversity. Following this definition, any locale with religious institutions devoted to different faiths would be considered pluralistic. The article...produced by Diana L. Eck and the Pluralism Project at Harvard University, rejects this definition on the grounds that diversity alone does not equal pluralism; instead, "[p]luralism is the engagement that creates a common society from . . .(sic) diversity. . . .(sic) Pluralism is not a ‘given,’ but an achievement." – Newsletter of the Pluralism Project, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Youngstown State University
Recreating society by imposing distinct morals, ethics and beliefs is an establishment of religion which it endeavors to replace with the "monoculture" "achievement."
On the same newsletter: "In his book The Culture of Religious Pluralism (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1998), Richard E. Wentz writes,
"Pluralism denotes the acceptance of diversity; and this acceptance, we have observed, always works within some perception of ultimate order and meaning not confined to traditional religions" (2). This description of religious pluralism hints at the existence of something that adherents of many different religions attempt to reach and over which no religion has exclusive, proprietary rights. "This stance is echoed by William L. Rowe in his article "Religious Pluralism," in which he says: [E]ach of these religious traditions is a valid encounter with a reality that transcends every religious tradition because it transcends all human efforts to conceptualize it or to experience it directly. On this view the different religious traditions include experiences of one and the same transcendent reality. . . . The profound differences among the religious traditions are due to the different ways in which the transcendent reality is experienced and conceived in human life. It is this last view that we have come to know as religious pluralism. (Religious Studies 35, no. 2 [June 1999]:141)
"The understanding of religious pluralism advanced by Wentz and Rowe implies the existence of a divine being that is not exclusive to any one religion, thus furnishing a denominator that is common to all religions. In a word, religious pluralism is the recognition and acceptance of religious diversity in an atmosphere that encourages individuals to share their common theological bonds and to understand and appreciate their differences.
Newsletter of the Pluralism Project, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Youngstown State University
There is no greater threat to freedom than today's academic elite, blatantly demanding to replace all religions with their own brand of beliefs, pluralism, which has all the elements necessary to be considered a religion of itself.
Again, "Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another." Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing TP., 330 U.S. 1 (1947)
These descriptions of pluralism by the academic elite are a fulfillment of what the court warned against, that "powerful sects or groups might bring about a fusion of governmental and religious functions or a concert or dependency of one upon the other to the end that official support of the State or Federal Government would be placed behind the tenets of one or of all orthodoxies. This the Establishment Clause prohibits. Abington School Dist. v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963)
LEGAL DEFINITION OF RELIGION:
"Pluralism" constitutes religion under recent legal definitions by the analysis of "religion" and "pluralism":
The EEOC defines religious practices as including "moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong which are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views." 29, C.F.R. § 1605.1; 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-(j). Religion under Title VII is broadly defined as including "all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief…."
Public education's pluralist beliefs definitely includes their own "moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong" and they are "sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views."
"Religious beliefs need not be universally held within religion in order to qualify as religious or in order to be entitled to protection;" 29 CFR § 1605.1. Thomas v. Review Board of Indiana Employment Security Division, 450 U.S. 707, 715-16, 25 EPD 31.622 (1981) EEOC Notice N-915.022
Congress of the United States of America March 27, 1854, received the report of Mr. Meacham of the House Committee on the Judiciary:
"What is an establishment of religion? It must have a creed, defining what a man must believe; it must have rites and ordinances, which believers must observe; it must have ministers of defined qualifications, to teach the doctrines and administer the rites; it must have tests for the submissive and penalties for the non-conformist. There never was as established religion without all these..."
Pluralism is being forcefully established through the educational structure of public education with "ministers of defined qualifications" consisting of a teaching credential, with "tests for the submissive and penalties for the non-conformist." Pluralism meets the criteria as outlined in all of these definitions.
(See Exhibit E, an extensive list of legal definitions of religion).
Religion and Philosophy’s Illegitimate Fusion
It could be argued that the phrase "religious training and belief" does not include philosophical, social or political policy, and the exception is given under the circumstance that a "Supreme Being" be named. Yet the court accepted a defendant’s description of his "Supreme Being" as "the supreme expression of human nature; it is man thinking his highest, feeling his deepest, and living his best." United States v. Seeger, 380 U.S. 163 (1965)
An amendment to the Act in 1967, subsequent to the Court's decision in the Seeger case, deleted the reference to a "Supreme Being" but continued to provide that "religious training and belief" does not include "essentially political, sociological, or philosophical views, or a merely personal moral code." 81 Stat. 104, 50 U. S. C. App. § 456 (j) (1964 ed., Supp. IV).
But in the effort to infuse pluralism and validate humanist philosophy, academia has already fused together philosophical views and religion:
Princeton University defines philosophy:
n 1: a belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or school [syn:
doctrine, philosophical system, school of thought, ism] 2: the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and ethics Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton UniversityExcessive Entanglement: Pluralism Unleashed in Public Education
Philosophy and religion have further been joined with "religious philosophers" from which pluralism was born. In California’s "Social Science Teacher Preparation in California: Standards of Quality and Effectiveness for Subject Matter Programs", "A Handbook for Teacher Educators & Program Reviewers, 2003, Standard" required for a teaching credential include ethics and philosophies contrived by professors espousing pluralist beliefs as shown in Defining Pluralism the Religion and Exhibit A:
Standard 18: Ethical Perspective: The program develops each prospective teacher’s knowledge and understanding of ethics, philosophy and the role of religion in human experiences"
19.3 Each prospective teacher participates in discussions, debates, demonstrations, individual and group projects, cooperative learning activities, lectures, and other effective and appropriate approaches to learning history and the social sciences.
19.4 Each prospective teacher explores and uses various kinds of technology that are appropriate to the study of history and the social sciences.
19.5 Faculty development programs enable subject matter faculty to explore and use exemplary and innovative curriculum practices related to this standard.
These tactics are exemplified in the textbook series by Houghton Mifflin. California’s approved textbook "MODERN WORLD HISTORY" adheres to the pluralist doctrines and displays humanistic beliefs as fact while applauding Karen Armstrong in this excerpt from the textbook:
"ANALYZING PRIMARY SOURCES"
"In her book, A History of God, Karen Armstrong explains why religion is such a powerful force in people's lives:
A VOICE FROM THE PAST
Human beings are spiritual animals. Indeed, there is a case for arguing that Homosapiens is also Homoreligiousus. Men and women started to worship gods as soon as they became recognizably human; they created religions at the same time they created works of art... These early faiths expressed the wonder and mystery that seem always to have been an essential component of the human experience of this beautiful yet terrifying world. Like art, religion has been an attempt to find meaning and value in life, despite the suffering that flesh is heir to."
Karen Armstrong's atheist beliefs that man created religion and reducing religion to an attempt to find meaning is written without refute, without explanation as one person's beliefs, she is introduced as a "primary source" displaying the underlying attack on religious beliefs.
For Karen Armstrong to be presented as an authority figure on religion in the textbook is revealing of intent. Armstrong has openly expressed her hostility toward religious belief, has denounced God, has claimed that "Religion is not about believing" (something our forefathers
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