Pentagon Schools Adding Christianity-Focused Western Civilization Course (Worthy News In-Depth)

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – The U.S. Department of Defense is introducing a course centered on Christianity and Western civilization this fall in the schools it operates for military families, while casting Islam as a threat to both.

The course is part of an effort by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a devout Protestant Christian, to redirect the education system toward patriotic values and classical learning, according to sources familiar with his thinking.

The Department of Defense Education Activity operates about 160 schools across 11 countries and educates roughly 70,000 students who are children of active-duty military or civilian service members.

Critics say that conservatives have eyed the schools — which, unlike most public schools, are run by the federal government — as a testing ground for reshaping education.

CHRISTIANITY AND THE WEST

The Western civilization course, available to high school students through the department’s virtual school, will use “The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition, Volume I: The Ancient World and Christendom,” published by conservative Encounter Books. Suggested lesson plans were developed in partnership with Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian institution in Michigan.

The textbook credits early Christianity with helping advance the principle that all people should be treated humanely, saying the “Christian faith also supported a humane cosmopolitanism.”

However, historians and educators who reviewed excerpts for The Associated Press news agency criticized the text, saying it too closely identifies Christianity with Western civilization while portraying Islam as inherently more violent and threatening.

The textbook describes the Crusades largely as Christian efforts to defend fellow Christians while discussing Islamic violence in connection with the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States and the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel.

Phil Gorski, a historical sociology professor at Yale University, questioned whether the emphasis on Western civilization was effectively a way to introduce Christian education into federally operated schools.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION CONCERNS

“You’ve got to wonder a bit whether Western civilization is a Trojan horse for classical Christian education,” Gorski said.

The changes reflect views Hegseth expressed before joining the Trump administration. In his 2022 book “Battle for the American Mind,” the former Fox News Channel host argued that progressives had systematically removed God and religion from American education and urged Christian parents to embrace classical Christian schooling.

“It is certainly not sustainable, merely passing the same losing hand to the next generation,” Hegseth wrote. “With this approach, we lose. We lose America — and Western Civilization.”

Hegseth has also publicly linked America’s founding principles with Christianity. Speaking at a civics education event last year, he said the brilliance of the Founding Fathers “was first inspired by God” and shaped by “an understanding of biblical history” as well as Western philosophy, theology and civics.

However, some Bible-believing pastors and other Christians have also questioned efforts to promote Christianity through government institutions, arguing that Biblical faith cannot be imposed on a largely unbelieving society.

FREEDOM IN CHRIST

They stress that Christianity, as presented in the Bible, centers on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, salvation through faith, and the freedom believers have in Christ rather than adherence to Christianity primarily as a cultural or political identity.

Some also caution against equating Christianity too closely with Western civilization, noting that the Christian faith originated in the Middle East and that the Bible presents the Gospel as a message for people of every nation and culture.

Their concerns reflect a longstanding debate among Christians over whether government should actively promote Christian values or whether the church should instead rely primarily on evangelism, personal conversion and voluntary faith.

The Pentagon said it “remains committed to providing all of its military-connected students with the best possible education and opportunities,” but did not directly address questions about criticism of the textbook.

The debate comes as the Trump administration has sought to give greater prominence to religion and traditional values in public life, while supporters argue that Christianity’s historical influence on the United States and Western civilization has often been understated.

AUTHORS DEFEND TEXT

Critics argued that the textbook minimizes violence committed in the name of Christianity while presenting Islam as historically aggressive. Matthew Gabriele, a Virginia Tech professor specializing in history and religion, said its treatment of the Crusades removed important historical context to advance contemporary political arguments.

Several Bible-believing Christians, however, reject describing the Crusades as an expression of Biblical Christianity, arguing that those committing violence in Christ’s name were Christians in name only and acted contrary to Jesus Christ’s teachings.

But the book’s publisher, Roger Kimball, rejected criticism of the text, saying the work had been peer-reviewed by 15 experts and that he stood behind it “in every detail.”

Co-author James Hankins, a Harvard University emeritus professor, also rejected claims that the book equates Christianity with Western civilization, noting that it acknowledges Western civilization’s cultural debts to the Islamic world.

Hankins argued that teaching Western civilization was commonplace until the 1970s and said abandoning it had contributed to “the growing cultural disorientation of the last couple of generations.”

CLASSICAL LEARNING EXPANDS

The course is part of a broader shift within the Pentagon’s school system toward classical education, a liberal-arts-based approach emphasizing foundational texts, critical thinking, rhetoric, history and citizenship.

In March, Hegseth replaced the head of the Department of Defense Education Activity with Paul Craft, whom he described as the right leader to reorient the schools “toward patriotic values and classical learning.”

Other senior education appointments have included officials with backgrounds in conservative-backed classical education initiatives, while U.S. military academies now accept the Classical Learning Test as an alternative college entrance examination.

Hegseth has described Christianity as integral to America’s history and has repeatedly urged military personnel to embrace faith in God.

Supporters view the changes as a correction to an education system they believe has marginalized Christianity and Western heritage, while critics fear the Pentagon is moving beyond teaching about Christianity’s historical influence toward promoting a particular religious and political worldview.

The developments are therefore likely to intensify debate not only over the constitutional boundaries between government and religion, but also among Christians themselves over whether Biblical faith is best advanced through institutions or through the Gospel’s call to personal faith and freedom in Christ.

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