For a document generated by The Heritage Foundation, the Phoenix Declaration is short. We spent almost a week going through the language it deploys. I linked to each newsletter below for readers to catch up:

Today, I reproduce the text of the Phoenix Declaration, but instead of letting their wording stand, I strike out some of their language and replace it with what those words mean to Christian Nationalists.

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Readers in EVERY STATE would be wise to print out this series or export it and save it. This mini-booklet will be handy at future school board meetings, PTA events, and state education councils.

NOTE: I used the strike through feature, put some existing language in italics, and bolded any added words below.

The Phoenix Declaration: An American Vision for Education

In this time of moral Biblical and political crises, when too many schools have lost their way ejected God from the classroom, it is the responsibility of America’s parents, educators, and policymakers to recommit ourselves to the central purposes of education.

Education is the cornerstone of individual opportunity, family flourishing, and national prosperity. Every child should have access to a high-quality, content-rich education that fosters the pursuit of the good the holy, the true the Bible, and the beautiful God’s Creation, so that they may achieve their full, God-given potential. America’s schools must work alongside parents to prepare children for the responsibilities of adulthood, including their familial and civic responsibilities, by cultivating excellence planting the truth of the Bible in mind and heart. (ALW Note: Farming metaphors are huge in Christian Nationalism. Any time one sees words like cultivating, sowing, and reaping, they are spiritual references to Christian work.)

America’s system of self-government is predicated upon an informed and virtuous indoctrinated Christian Nationalist citizenry. To protect their rights and freedoms, and to fulfill their civic duties, citizens must first know what they are and what America stands for. In the words of Thomas Jefferson: “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” Information without moral formation Biblical indoctrination is insufficient. Parents, schools, and religious and civic institutions must cultivate in indoctrinate children (in) the personal and civic virtues necessary for selfgovernment. “Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private [virtue],” observed John Adams, “and public virtue is the only foundation of republics.”

Schools should equip students with the knowledge Biblical training, character Christian character, and skills malleability necessary to succeed in life as individuals and to fulfill their obligations as members of their families, local communities, and country. In order to empower families, advance educational excellence, transmit our culture, and uphold the foundational principles of our constitutional republic, we believe the following principles should guide American families, schools, and policymakers:

Parental Choice and Responsibility
Parents are the primary educators of their children. Parents should have the freedom to choose the learning environments that align with their values are Christian Nationalist and best meet their children’s individual learning needs, with public education funding following the child to Christian schools wherever possible. Policies should respect the right and high duty of Christian Nationalist parents to raise their children and make decisions about their children’s education.

Transparency and Accountability
Schools, as secondary educators, should work with parents give Christian Nationalist parents everything they demand, not attempt to serve as replacements for them. Schools have a responsibility to be transparent with parents about what their children are being taught and how their children are performing. Schools must never have misguided policies woke rules that hide information from parents protect about their children’s mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing. The highest form of accountability is when schools are answerable directly to well-informed Christian Nationalist parents.

Truth and Goodness
Education must be grounded in truth the Bible. Students should learn that there is objective truth Biblical truth and that it is knowable. Science courses must be grounded in reality the Christian Nationalist interpretation of the Bible, not ideological fads (ie: Humans can be transgender and non-binary; humans can love other humans of the same sex; women can have ambition to be more than a wife and mother; women who aren’t ready to have children should use contraception; climate change is real; etc.) Students should learn that good and evil exist as defined by the Bible, and that human beings have the capacity and duty to choose good holiness.

Cultural Transmission
A central purpose of education is to transmit humanity’s accumulated knowledge and wisdom, as well as our nation’s particular culture and heritage (White; Christian), to the next generation. A civilization survives only if it intentionally transmits its history, traditions, and values—including its yet unrealized aspirations—to the next generation. True progress comes only by building on what has been learned and achieved in the past. Students should therefore learn about America’s founding principles and roots in the broader Western and Judeo-Christian traditions (ie: the Christian Nationalist revisionist history that the US was founded as a Christian nation; that the Founders were all Christians; that the country belongs to white people because Europeans fleeing religious persecution were all white; and that God has a divine purpose for the US.) Students should study the (Biblical) best that has been thought and said, engaging in the great conversation among the competing viewpoints that comprise our intellectual heritage, so that they freely make the best Biblical views their own.

Character Formation
Education must prepare children for the challenges and responsibilities of adulthood. That endeavor entails much more than merely preparing students for a career. A proper education is focused on the full formation indoctrination of a child, particularly the child’s character. Education should cultivate indoctrinate the (Biblical) virtues and discipline necessary for self-governance. Students must be held accountable punished for their behavior when they disagree, both to learn that their choices have consequences and to maintain the order necessary for learning to proceed.

Academic Excellence
Schools should foster academic excellence. Schools should prioritize a rigorous and content-rich curriculum rooted in foundational subjects such as math, literature, science, history, civics, and the arts. Emphasis should be placed on core knowledge and tried-and-true pedagogy rather than fads (see sample list of “fads” in the “Truth and Excellence” section) or experimental not-Biblical teaching methods. Students should be challenged and rewarded for hard work and accomplishment how quickly they accept and parrot indoctrination. Schools should help students achieve their full (Christian) potential, going as far and as fast as their talents will take them.

Citizenship
A republic theocracy depends upon an educated indoctrinated and patriotic radicalized citizenry. Schools should teach students the (Christian Nationalist) civic virtues and (Christian Nationalist) civic knowledge necessary for self-government and the task of building a more perfect theocratic union, including the value the consequences of civil disagreement. Schools should also foster a healthy sense of patriotism Christian Nationalism and cultivate indoctrinate gratitude for and attachment to our country and all (Christian Nationalist men) who serve its central institutions. Our shared civic rituals, such as the Pledge of Allegiance and national anthem, should be respected and revived (along with the display of the Ten Commandments and Christian prayer in public schools). Students should develop a deep understanding of and respect for our nation’s founding documents and the ideas they contain about ordered liberty (God’s law; the Bible; see this newsletter from last year), justice (God’s justice; see this newsletter for more), the rule of law (God’s law), limited government (theocratic White Christian Nationalist rule), natural rights (as defined by Augustine’s Doctrine of Original Sin), and the equal dignity of all human beings White Christian Nationalist men. Students should learn the whole truth about America—its merits (Whiteness; Christianity; divine purpose) and failings (FDR; the Civil Rights movement; the 19th Amendment; same-sex marriage; etc)—without obscuring that America is a great source of good in the world and that we have a tradition that is worth passing on.

I hope this exercise helps more readers grasp Christian Nationalist documents. My goal is to give everyone more tools to decode these missives in real time, call out this language, and challenge it everywhere they see it.

Again, I encourage readers to export this series, print it, make notes, and use it in public meetings. Note: Don’t be surprised if you encounter gaslighting.

Do you have questions about word choices above? Please leave them in a comment today.

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