Is Your Church Teaching Pagan Earth Worship In Sunday School? More Articles
January 17, 2005
By Tom DeWeese
Many parents have sought to protect their children from the
behavior-modification programs that have taken the place of academic education
in public schools. To escape the assault of Outcome-Based Education (OBE),
multi-culturalism, and workforce training programs, parents in ever-increasing
numbers are placing their children in private schools or are home-schooling.
Public schools, and even some private schools, spend valuable classroom time
engaged in "cooperative" learning (group learning) encounter sessions and
discussion groups that employ pop psychology that teachers are simply not
qualified to apply. These programs are designed for a very specific
purpose—to change the attitudes, values and beliefs of your children in order
to prepare them to be proper environmental citizens in the "sustainable" global
village. Such behavior-modification programs are the very root of the
destruction of America's public education system.
In spite of the "school wars," parents have felt safe taking their children to
Sunday School to help build a solid moral foundation. But, have you looked at
your church's Sunday School curriculum lately? You may be shocked to find
tree-hugging, earth-worshipping paganism intermixed in the Christian lessons.
Many churches are now using a Sunday School curriculum created by an
organization in Colorado called "Group." There is nothing in Group's
publications that tells who they are, what they believe in, or anything about
the backgrounds of the creators of the materials. But Group curriculum is now
sold in most Christian bookstores. The Group material offers "Hands-on Bible
curriculum" and advocates a "new approach to learning."
However a close inspection of Group's materials and teaching methods shows it
bears a close resemblance to the behavior-modification techniques of OBE. For
example, under the sub-head "Successful Teaching: You can do it!" the teacher's
manual asks the question - "What does active learning mean to you as a teacher?
It takes a lot of pressure off because the spotlight shifts from you to the
students. Instead of being the principle player, you become a guide and
FACILITATOR." This is basic OBE classroom organization where students are not
taught by a teacher, but are guided to learn on their own, as the class
FACILITATOR simply suggests and gently directs toward a pre-programmed,
psychology-driven lesson plan.
Just as in OBE behavior-modification exercises, the Group curriculum provides
"Problem Cards" for student discussion of personal and family issues. Some
examples from the workbook for fifth and sixth grade Sunday School classes:
PROBLEM CARD: "It seems like my parents fight all the time. I don't know what's
going to happen. I'm afraid they're going to split up."
2. PROBLEM CARD: "The cool kids at school treat me like a total nothing. It's
like I don't even exist."
3. PROBLEM CARD: "My dad is afraid he's going to lose his job, so we don't get
to go anywhere on vacation this summer."
4. PROBLEM CARD: "I got in trouble for not cleaning up my room. Now I'm
grounded for the weekend and can't go to my friend's birthday party. Doesn't
that stink?"
Each of these examples are designed for group discussions in which the entire
class takes on one child's personal problem. Personal family business is
disclosed, parental authority is questioned and student "self-esteem" becomes
the central concern. This is Outcome-Based Education at work in the Sunday
School class—led by a volunteer teacher (facilitator) with no qualifications
to do so. Worse, all of it is done under the authority of the church.
And how about that pagan earth-worshipping? In a Group lesson entitled "hug a
tree" students are led outside to an area with trees. A child is blindfolded
and led to a tree where he/she is to hug it, and then feel the tree very
carefully. "Try to learn everything about the tree that you can without looking
at it." The student is led back to the group, spun around three times and the
blindfold is removed.
The Group tree-hugging lesson goes on to instruct the facilitator "after
everyone has hugged a tree, been spun around and sat down, remove the
blindfolds and find out how many kids can identify the trees they hugged. If
it's a nice day, sit down on the grass and discuss the experience."
Questions for the "facilitator" to ask:
* How did it feel to hug a tree?
* How did you feel when you recognized the tree you hugged?
* What do you like about trees?
Here's another part of the lesson called "Life Applications." Children are to
be taken on a walk around the outdoor area of the church. Once back inside "ask
about the natural surroundings and human-made sounds. Talk about natural beauty
and human-made pollution. If you want, have the kids go back outside and pick
up any trash they saw on the walk."
Question to ask: "How do you think God feels when he sees how people have
messed up the beautiful world he created?" Children are then given a game to
play to simulate pollution.
In a Group Workbook entitled: "Sunday School Specials" a chapter tells students
that "real conservation means remembering to turn off lights, hiking or biking
instead of hitching a car ride, and cooling off in the shade instead of in the
air conditioning. Kids are often tempted to do things the easy way instead of
the 'green' way. They need lots of encouragement and affirmation to develop and
stick to an environment-conscious lifestyle..." That one line demonstrates an
important key to the purpose of Group's Sunday School curriculum—to promote a
political agenda based on pagan earth worship rather than Christian values.
Are your children safe from pre-programmed, behavior-modification processes at
your church? Will they gain the solid moral Christian values that you intend
for them to receive from a Sunday School lesson? Not if Group is in your Sunday
School.
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