This feudal revisionist would-be King could be your president

A new civics training program for public school teachers in Florida says it is a “[b]misconception[/b]” that “the founders desired strict separation of church and state,” the Washington Post reports.

The Constitution explicitly bars the government from “respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Scholars interpret the passage to require a separation of church and state.

In another example, the training states that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were against slavery, while [i]omitting the fact that each owned enslaved people.[/i]

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has decried what he has branded "indoctrination” in public education.

DeSantis has instituted new civics curriculum since taking office, and this summer is offering optional “civics bootcamps” on how teachers can implement it. Teachers who participate get paid.

What he's saying: “[b]We’re unabashedly promoting civics and history that is accurate and that is not trying to push an ideological agenda,[/b]” DeSantis said at an event earlier this week.

Students in Florida are “learning the real history, you’re learning the real facts,” he added.

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dancingtongue · 80-89, M

The biggest "misconception" is DeSantis' mindset ascribing some mythological unanimity of opinion among the Founders. Or for that matter, simplistic either/or positions by any given Founder.

He is right that Washington and Jefferson had philosophical and religious objections to slavery, and that should be taught. But to do it with the omission that both were Plantation slave owners (albeit by inheritance) is equally wrong. The fact that neither men -- both great leaders and thoughtful men -- could not come up with a strategy for transitioning out of slavery without destroying the economies of the Southern states and/or seeing them bolt to form their own nation (as eventually occurred with the Confederacy) should be the tragic primary lesson. Not denial of one or the other.

Religion was the other third-rail issue at the Constitutional Convention. As with the "slaves count as 3/5ths of a person" compromise, the somewhat ambiguity of the First Amendment on religion shouldn't be seen or taught as the Founders being uniform of one mind as to what Christianity was, let alone that they saw the nation as a Christian one. Rather it is a compromise on maintaining a neutral ground in hopes. Take a gander at the "Jeffersonian Bible" which he limited solely to direct teachings attributable to Christ without any later hearsay embroidery by disciples or references to Old Testament. It is very thin. Or read of Franklin's interests in Rosicrucianism.

The more you delve into the complexities of such men rather than looking at them as zealots pushing one agenda, the more fascinating they become. DeSantis is trying to reduce them to extremists and ideologues, whereas the Constitutional Convention was one massive effort at searching for common ground and mutual compromise. A forerunner of Rodney King's plea 2 centuries later: "Can't we all just get along?"