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America didn’t stumble into Christian language in education by accident. When you read the founding purposes of early colleges and universities, you find direct, unapologetic goals: train ministers, form character, teach “good letters and manners,” and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. I walk through several non Ivy League schools that rarely come up in today’s debates, including the College of William and Mary, Rutgers (originally Queen’s College), Washington and Lee’s early academy roots, and Dickinson College’s faith and liberty symbolism.

Then I connect those institutional receipts to the ideas behind a republican form of government. I read Benjamin Rush on why religion anchors virtue and why virtue anchors liberty, and I share a quote from Fisher Ames, the man I reference as wording the Establishment Clause, arguing the Bible should regain its place as a school book, not only for morals but even for clear, elegant English. The point is not a denominational state church, but a serious look at how the founders and early educators understood Christianity’s role in public life.

Finally, I talk about the McGuffey Readers, a massive piece of American education history with over 125 million copies sold. McGuffey explicitly draws from Scripture and calls the United States a Christian country, challenging the modern assumption that biblical content in schools is some new invention. If you care about Christian education, American history, Bible literacy, or the ongoing fight over civic virtue and liberty, this conversation gives you concrete sources to think with.

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