The Austin American Statesman is reporting that former State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy is responding to criticisms of the SBOE's attempts to rewrite the state's social studies curriculum to include how the Judeo-Christian tradition uniquely influenced the founding fathers in creating a limited government that allowed its citizens to be free.

The American Humanist Association (AHA), which advocates "keep[ing] religion out of American classrooms," had written a letter to the SBOE criticizing their efforts. So McLeroy wrote a letter in response, entitled "The Gift of Medieval Christendom to the World," which the association posted on their website. Writes McLeroy:

The West is very remarkable and unique in the world. The West has relieved human suffering to a unprecedented degree; the West has developed freedom to a unparalleled level, both in freedom of coercion by other men and in freedom of opportunity to rise above one's original station in life. This is demonstrated by an incredible standard of living where even its “poor” are rich by global standards. It is also seen in the full political rights of all and the accepted idea of equality of all—including women and minorities. It is most obviously seen in the elimination of slavery—that universal plague of mankind that still persists in the world today. Can anyone dispute the fact that untold millions who could, would cherish the opportunity to move here; while those who live here and have the freedom to leave, stay here?

The key question is “Why?” What is it about the development of the West that made it so remarkable and unique? Why in the West are all people important? What is the ultimate source of these ideals of freedom, equality and limited government? What was the defining ideological force that uniquely shaped the West’s political development, especially in its formative medieval period?

I believe the best and really only answer to all the above questions is the gradual assimilation of Judeo-Christianity in the West. By arguing that humankind is “made in the image of God”, medieval thinkers developed the idea of the dignity of the individual, not something arbitrary—man-given, but a reality, inherent in every person—God-given.

Although the AHA claims to be neither atheist nor secularist, it seems to oppose the inclusion of religious discussion in public schools. A link in the right-hand column of the page featuring McLeroy's letter reads: "We need your help RIGHT NOW to keep religion out of American classrooms." Yes, the horrors!

The "About the AHA" page reads:

We strive to bring about a progressive society where being “good without god” is an accepted way to live life. We are accomplishing this through our defense of civil liberties and secular governance, by our outreach to the growing number of people without religious belief or preference, and through a continued refinement and advancement of the humanist worldview. 

The page goes on to describe the association as middle of the road between "transcendental views of traditional religions and mythologies" and "atheism and secularism." But the website does not appear to contain any exhortations of activists to help "keep atheism out of American classrooms."

The "humanist manifesto" calls for a new kind of "religion" -- a "religious humanism" that is "shaped for the needs of this age." "To establish such a religion is a major necessity of the present," the manifesto reads, before stating its own axioms that function essentially as a religious creed, the first of which being that the universe is "self-existing and not created." Another belief is that "the time has passed for theism, deism, modernism and several forms of "new thought,"" -- meaning the new religion would be, essentially, godless.