Education
David Upham of the University of Dallas Politics Department sets us straight on the alleged curricular mayhem by the Texas Board of Education on the teaching of history in public schools. Upham wrote in the Wall Street Journal: "The board did not excise Thomas Jefferson, downplay constitutional religious freedom, or minimize the role of women and minorities. On the contrary, the curriculum is replete with specific references to Jefferson, religious freedom, the civil rights movement, and the achievements and struggles of women and minorities." Upham speaks both as a scholar, whose dissertation was on the 14th amendment, and an attorney with significant private practice. See him interviewed here. The proposed revisions can be found here, in the last section on the page.
A relatively sober example of the criticism can be found here. It was amusing to read how "Justice Hugo Black of the Supreme Court dug [the expression "separation of church and state"] out of history's dustbin in 1947." Of course that now in some circles sacred expression was a slogan of the anti-Catholic Ku Klux Klan, to which Black had belonged. The history and law are well-related in Philip Hamburger's magisterial Separation of Church and State.
Mr. Thomas - wow - I hardly ever hear or read about any reference to Hugo Black and his association with the KKK and digging up the "separation of church & state" phrase written by Jefferson in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Ministers in which Black used to write the Court Ruling in Everson vs. the New Jersey School Board. Thank you for bringing this to your reader's attention as it is a very important event that is missed by the liberals in this country when spewing "the separation of church and state myth". Myth, because the phrase appears nowhere in the Constitution nor in any writings of the author of the 1st Amendment, James Madison. To clear up the foggy minds of liberals reading this blog - Jefferson did not write, I repeat did not write the Constitution. He was in France during the drafting of the Constitution. Since Al Gore had not invented the internet yet, he was unable to communicate with the guys writing the Constitution in PA. Here is a link to another good treatise on the Separation of Church and State from the Heritage Foundation:
https://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2006/06/The-Mythical-Wall-of-Separation-How-a-Misused-Metaphor-Changed-Church-State-Law-Policy-and-Discourse