Are Secular History Text Books Trustworthy? Part 4
Part 4—Faithless: Attacks on Religion
Another danger in a secular textbook is how it views Christianity and religions of the world. Some textbooks, such as Patterns of Interaction, do not favor a specific religion but rank all religions as equal, including Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. While this approach is preferable to a direct attack on Christianity, it still does not demonstrate God’s historical providence, emphasize the centrality of the gospel in history, or point out the shortcomings of other religions. All of this should be concerning to the Christian parent.
Of course, Patterns of Interaction does use Galileo to demonstrate how religion and science are in conflict, stating that “Galileo’s findings frightened both Catholic and Protestant leaders because they went against church teaching and authority.”16 This is a common incorrect interpretation of history, as is explained in “The Galileo Affair: History or Heroic Hagiography?”
Some textbooks go even further to declare that Christianity stands in opposition to science. In American Pageant, the term fundamentalism is defined as “a Protestant Christian movement emphasizing the literal truth of the Bible and opposing religious modernism, which sought to reconcile religion and science.”17 This definition implies that fundamentalism opposes science and that modernism is a valid methodology, though it attempts to combine what is diametrically opposed (i.e., evolutionary ideas and biblical inerrancy). In reality, though Christian fundamentalists are opposed to Darwinian evolution, they are certainly not opposed to science as a whole, as can be demonstrated by the proper definition of science.
Yet American Pageant ironically describes conservatives as the radicals who want to restructure American society. For example, the text states that “many New Right activists were far less agitated about economic questions than about cultural concerns—the so-called social issues. They denounced abortion, pornography, homosexuality, feminism, and affirmative action. They championed prayer in the schools and tougher penalties for criminals. Together the Old and New Right added up to a powerful political combination, devoted to changing the very character of American society.”18 The last statement is shocking because this would not be radically rewriting America; instead, it would be a return to its original religious moorings.
Furthermore, the text takes care to state that one of the religious leaders “tearfully admitted to repeated trysts with prostitutes” while “another went to prison following revelations of his own financial and sexual misconduct. But such scandals would not shake the faith of America’s conservative Christians or diminish the new political clout of activist, evangelical religionists.”19 These statements attempt to undermine the convictions of conservatives, suggesting the movement—and to a point, every conservative—was hypocritical. More importantly, that Christianity stands or falls on its professed adherents rather than the source: Christ (whom they dare not attempt to denigrate).
These examples should give Christian parents cause for alarm as they think about other ways their children’s faith, and truth itself, is being undermined in the classroom.
by Cory Von Eiff on January 28, 2026
Featured in Answers in Depth
We are lost without the Spirit of God.
Another danger in a secular textbook is how it views Christianity and religions of the world. Some textbooks, such as Patterns of Interaction, do not favor a specific religion but rank all religions as equal, including Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. While this approach is preferable to a direct attack on Christianity, it still does not demonstrate God’s historical providence, emphasize the centrality of the gospel in history, or point out the shortcomings of other religions. All of this should be concerning to the Christian parent.
Of course, Patterns of Interaction does use Galileo to demonstrate how religion and science are in conflict, stating that “Galileo’s findings frightened both Catholic and Protestant leaders because they went against church teaching and authority.”16 This is a common incorrect interpretation of history, as is explained in “The Galileo Affair: History or Heroic Hagiography?”
Some textbooks go even further to declare that Christianity stands in opposition to science. In American Pageant, the term fundamentalism is defined as “a Protestant Christian movement emphasizing the literal truth of the Bible and opposing religious modernism, which sought to reconcile religion and science.”17 This definition implies that fundamentalism opposes science and that modernism is a valid methodology, though it attempts to combine what is diametrically opposed (i.e., evolutionary ideas and biblical inerrancy). In reality, though Christian fundamentalists are opposed to Darwinian evolution, they are certainly not opposed to science as a whole, as can be demonstrated by the proper definition of science.
Yet American Pageant ironically describes conservatives as the radicals who want to restructure American society. For example, the text states that “many New Right activists were far less agitated about economic questions than about cultural concerns—the so-called social issues. They denounced abortion, pornography, homosexuality, feminism, and affirmative action. They championed prayer in the schools and tougher penalties for criminals. Together the Old and New Right added up to a powerful political combination, devoted to changing the very character of American society.”18 The last statement is shocking because this would not be radically rewriting America; instead, it would be a return to its original religious moorings.
Furthermore, the text takes care to state that one of the religious leaders “tearfully admitted to repeated trysts with prostitutes” while “another went to prison following revelations of his own financial and sexual misconduct. But such scandals would not shake the faith of America’s conservative Christians or diminish the new political clout of activist, evangelical religionists.”19 These statements attempt to undermine the convictions of conservatives, suggesting the movement—and to a point, every conservative—was hypocritical. More importantly, that Christianity stands or falls on its professed adherents rather than the source: Christ (whom they dare not attempt to denigrate).
These examples should give Christian parents cause for alarm as they think about other ways their children’s faith, and truth itself, is being undermined in the classroom.
by Cory Von Eiff on January 28, 2026
Featured in Answers in Depth
We are lost without the Spirit of God.
70-79, M
