In order to understand the direction which the NEA has been going for many years, one needs to know where this trend started and the purpose behind it.  Here is information to help you understand the situation.

Most Americans have probably never heard of “secular humanism.”  But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.  For nearly three-quarters of a century the American Humanist Association has been influencing education in America. 

Humanist Manifesto I, which states the beliefs of the American Humanist Association (AHA), was published in 1933 and signed by 34 authors and educators, including John Dewey, often referred to as “the father of modern education.”  It was the declaration of a totally secular religion.  In fact, the term “religion” was employed at that time to describe the movement.

The philosophy of the AHA has had a major influence on the NEA.  To understand this philosophy, one must read Humanist Manifesto I.  Please take the time to read Humanist Manifesto I. Click here.  http://www.americanhumanist.org/about/manifesto1.html.

The American Humanist Association is still active in public education, working with the NEA on projects.  Click here to go to www.americanhumanist.org.   Scroll down to "Visit the News Room" and click it on the bottom right.  Put cursor over "News Room" and select "Coalitions" from the drop down menu.  Note that the American Humanist Association is in a coalition with the NEA.  Scroll down to "The National Mobilization for Great Public Schools promotes public dialogue about public education issues."  Click on link.  This website is owned by the NEA.  The American Humanist Association is in a coalition with the NEA to produce “Great Public Schools.” 

Here is a statement which appeared in the January/February 1983 issue of The Humanist, official publication of the American Humanist Association.  The article, entitled, “A New Religion For A New Age,” is written by John Dunphy.

“The Bible is not merely another book, an outmoded and archaic book, or even an extremely influential book; it has and remains an incredibly dangerous book.  It and the various Christian churches which are parasitic upon it have been directly responsible for most of the wars, persecutions, and outrages which humankind has perpetrated upon itself over the past two thousand years.  I am convinced that the battle for humankind’s future must be waged and won in the public classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith…These teachers must embody the same dedication as the most rabid fundamentalist preachers, for they will be ministers of another sort, utilizing a classroom instead of a pulpit to convey humanist values in whatever subject they teach…The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new—the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with all its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism, resplendent in its promise of a world in which the never-realized Christian ideal of ‘love thy neighbor,’ will finally be achieved.”  (Emphases added.)

John Dewey is indeed the father of modern education, and the National Education Association is his great-grandchild.