A recent letter to the editor by Mr. John Stevens attempts a sweeping rebuttal of my previous commentary on the decline of American education and its detachment from constitutional principles, moral truth, and historical accuracy.
While couched in tones of moral superiority, the letter actually reinforces the very crisis I highlighted: the indoctrination and decay within public education, the marginalization of Christian influence, and the refusal to acknowledge how the state system often serves ideology rather than truth.
I do not like to waste my wordcount in the local newspaper with addressing criticisms but prefer to introduce new topics instead. However, I will respond to his letter on this forum.
Mr. Stevens is a former educator who represented the local teacher union affiliate as co-president.
I deduce he is from a United Methodist or similar “progressive” denominational background. Progressive denominations including the United Methodist Church have been heavily influenced by secularism, and many members and pastors no longer reflect the orthodox beliefs of their founders.
Mr. Stevens mentions his family’s long association with the teaching profession. Many of the teachers from my past were respectable individuals, and I honor their contribution to my education.
However, being associated with the profession is not a blank check for credibility or virtue. Most teachers are worthy of respect and honor; others are not.
For instance, teachers are amongst the most likely to commit sexual offenses against children and to be involved in their exploitation and abuse in other manners.
I surmise Mr. Stevens is a Democrat. He has stated in the past that critical race theory is true. Therefore, it is obvious that our political beliefs and worldview are far apart. I reject the Democrat party as incompatible with biblical Christianity due to their position on abortion, unbiblical sexuality, and gender ideology.
Let’s take Mr. Stevens’ arguments specifically mentioned in the letter, one by one.
Misrepresenting the Constitution: A Pattern on the Left
Mr. Stevens begins his letter with a bold accusation: that a teacher I referenced, Mrs. Rhodes, violated the U.S. Constitution by expressing her religious beliefs in relation to public education. Curiously, he offers no citation of which part of the Constitution she supposedly violated. Was it the First Amendment? If so, then his charge is deeply flawed.
The First Amendment guarantees both the free exercise of religion and freedom of speech. It restricts the federal government from establishing a state religion, but it does not—and never has—prohibited citizens from expressing their religious convictions in public life. Indeed, the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed that citizens do not forfeit their religious rights at the schoolhouse gate, especially when speaking in their private capacity. If Mrs. Rhodes spoke up as a parent, a taxpayer, or a concerned citizen, she was well within her rights.
It is true that there are boundaries that teachers should respect related to parental rights and excessive, unsolicited interference with family beliefs. For instance, if a Christian teacher tried to convert a Muslim child to Christianity in defiance of a parent’s wishes, that would constitute a legitimate concern. However, Mrs. Rhodes’ remarks did not exceed such boundaries.
In fact, those are the types of boundaries which are violated when activist teachers force wokeness, gender ideology, and comprehensive sex education upon students whose parents don’t share their ideology.
But this is part of a troubling trend on the progressive Left: using the word “Constitution” as a rhetorical weapon while having little regard for its actual content or the framers’ original intent. The Constitution is a document designed to limit government and protect individual liberty. It does not empower bureaucracies to indoctrinate children with radical ideologies, nor does it prohibit parents from protesting when they see it happening.
On Trump and the Oath of Office
Mr. Stevens opens with a bizarre tangent, focusing on the claim that President Trump did not place his hand on a Bible when taking the oath of office in 2017. This claim is easily refuted. Multiple credible sources, including photos from the Associated Press, Getty Images, and The New York Times, show President Trump placing his hand on two Bibles—one from his mother and the other used by Abraham Lincoln. This is public record. The critic’s reliance on a CBS News photo gallery, while ignoring the photographic and video evidence to the contrary, is either poor research or willful misinformation. This opening salvo demonstrates the kind of careless bias that too often permeates political discourse today.
It is true that President Trump did not place his hands upon the Bible during his second oath of office in 2025. Perhaps that is what Mr. Stevens is referencing.
Trump’s wife was holding two Bibles at the ceremony….the Lincoln Bible and Trump’s personal Bible…however, this is not a Constitutional requirement for the President to place his hand on the Bible.
I suspect Trump simply forgot to place his hand on the Bible in the excitement of the moment. Reading anything else into his omission borders on conspiracy theory in my opinion. I do not consider President Trump to be a regenerate Christian anyways, although he is respectful towards Christians and maintains some level of acknowledgement of God and his responsibility to lead in a godly fashion.
On Public Education and the Constitution
Mr. Stevens claims that public school educators “respect and revere the Constitution.” That sounds noble, but the practical reality tells a different story. How can we claim fidelity to the Constitution while denying students their First Amendment rights to express religious convictions in the classroom or while excising foundational truths from American history textbooks? The Constitution is not a prop—it is a covenant of liberty. And liberty begins with truth, not with the revisionism or moral relativism currently being taught in many classrooms.
The letter insists that educators teach “facts”—yet the facts many teach are carefully selected, heavily politicized, and often slanted by contemporary ideological trends. What passes for “history” in many public schools now is a reimagined narrative driven by grievance politics, identity theory, and systemic blame.
Scientific “facts” are redefined to align with gender ideology, climate alarmism, and Darwinian materialism, while moral absolutes—particularly those rooted in Christian conviction—are dismissed as antiquated or oppressive.
On Private Schools and Segregation
The suggestion that school choice is merely a scheme to reintroduce segregation is both insulting and historically inaccurate. The modern school choice movement was birthed not out of racism, but out of a desire to liberate students—especially poor and minority children—from failing, dangerous, and politically radicalized schools.
It is inner-city parents, many of them black and Hispanic, who clamor for charter schools, vouchers, and religious education because they recognize what the teachers’ unions won’t admit: the system is broken. Keeping children trapped in underperforming public schools for the sake of ideological uniformity is not justice—it’s cruelty.
The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of public funding for private and religious schools under certain programs, provided the funding goes to parents who choose where to use it. Mr. Stevens’ assertion that such funding is “unconstitutional” is simply incorrect.
On Classroom Propaganda and Cultural Decay
Mr. Stevens scoffs at stories about litter boxes in classrooms and boys identifying as girls before lunch and boys again afterward. While some claims are exaggerated online, many are rooted in real policy discussions and documented events. There have been districts where “furry” behavior was accommodated under claims of identity. There are school systems requiring teachers to affirm a child’s chosen gender identity—even if it contradicts biological reality and the wishes of the parents.
Denying that these trends exist is either naive or dishonest. The gender confusion promoted in public schools has been confirmed in school policy documents, teacher training modules, and even in federal directives under the Biden administration. Pretending it’s all a myth is like standing in the rain and insisting the sun is shining.
It is precisely here that we see the danger of what I would call toxic empathy—a false form of love that confuses affirmation with compassion and tolerance with virtue. True love, as defined in Scripture, “rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6). Toxic empathy, particularly within the public school system, expresses itself as emotional support disconnected from reality or righteousness. This is how we end up affirming children in confusion rather than leading them toward healing, discipline, and objective truth. It is not love to let a child live in delusion. It is not kindness to withhold the truth out of fear of offending someone. That is cowardice dressed in therapeutic language.
On the Constitution and Christian Patriots
Mr. Stevens takes time to recount the military service of his ancestors, claiming their devotion to the Constitution and American democracy. I honor every man or woman who has served this country with integrity. But let us not use the sacrifices of our ancestors to excuse the errors of the present.
The Constitution they fought for guarantees freedom of religion—not freedom from religion. It protects the rights of parents to direct their children’s education. It affirms the limits of federal power, which public education bureaucracies too often ignore. Upholding the Constitution today requires opposing the educational establishment’s attempts to erase truth, silence dissent, and vilify the religious convictions that helped form the very Republic they claim to defend.
On the Bible, Jesus, and “Wokeness”
Lastly, Mr. Stevens questions whether my Bible includes the Sermon on the Mount and suggests that Jesus’ teachings make Him sound “pretty woke.” This is a deliberate distortion of Jesus’ words. The command to love one’s neighbor was never a license to affirm sin, tolerate falsehood, or surrender moral clarity. The Good Samaritan helped the broken man as he was—he did not deny the reality of what had happened or claim that there was no such thing as evil.
The “woke” Jesus of progressive fantasy—who blesses abortion, affirms gender confusion, celebrates socialism, and dismantles objective morality—is not the Jesus of Scripture. That Jesus calls sinners to repentance, calls men to be men and women to be women, and warns against those who cause the little ones to stumble.
Conclusion
Mr. Stevens is entitled to his opinions. But he is not entitled to rewrite history, misrepresent the facts, or redefine Christianity to suit his worldview. I strive to hold up the light of biblical truth, constitutional freedom, and moral clarity in an age of confusion. It is not “misinformation” to quote the Bible. It is not “racist” to want better schools. And it is not “anti-democratic” to insist that public servants and educators be held accountable to the truth.
We must reject propaganda in all its forms—whether it comes from the far left or masquerades as sentimental moralism. The future of our country and the souls of our children depend on it.
By the way, although I subscribe to the newspaper, I admit I don’t read it with diligence. I subscribe due to my belief that local newspapers are important to the community. I think newspapers could supply a balanced perspective that online forums may lack at times.
I occasionally search the newspaper archive to see if anyone responded to one of my letters. I found Mr. Stevens’ letter in this manner.
I notice that the newspaper is making a little more effort to reflect both political perspectives, and I applaud them.
Best wishes to Mr. Stevens. I hope that he eventually overcomes his Trump Derangement Syndrome. I see so many older people from the hippie generation in their 70s and early 80s that struggle with it.
S.D.G.,
Robert Sparkman
rob@christiannewsjunkie.com
RELATED CONTENT
Teacher unions are one of the most negative forces in the public school environment. This video documents the situation with teacher unions and their damage to K-12 public education.
By the way, who do you think educated me on the harm that teacher unions have caused K-12 public schools? Two different teachers. Conservative teachers know that the teacher unions are a major force in subverting the will of parents in regards to political indoctrination.
This is the letter that Mr. Stevens submitted to the newspaper.
This is the letter to the editor that I submitted originally. My intention was to reflect upon teachers from my past. I remember very few negative examples from my K-12 public school days.
Concerning the Related Content section, I encourage everyone to evaluate the content carefully.
Some sources of information may reflect a libertarian and/or atheistic perspective. I may not agree with all of their opinions, but they offer some worthwhile comments on the topic under discussion.
Additionally, language used in the videos may be coarse. Coarse language does not reflect my personal standards.
Finally, those on the left often criticize my sources of information, which are primarily conservative and/or Christian. Truth is truth, regardless of how we feel about it. Leftists are largely led by their emotion rather than facts. It is no small wonder that they would criticize the sources that I provide. And, ultimately, my wordview is governed by Scripture. Many of my critics are not biblical Christians.
Feel free to offer your comments below. Respectful comments without expletives and personal attacks will be posted and I will respond to them.
Comments are closed after sixty days due to spamming issues from internet bots. You can always send me an email at rob@christiannewsjunkie.com if you want to comment on something, though.
I will continue to add items to the Related Content section as opportunities present themselves.