Accelerated Christian Education

Christian Education Europe, Accelerated Christian Education, at least eleven British schools #fundie #wingnut news.sky.com

Students in schools using the Accelerated Christian Education curriculum are being taught human-caused climate change is not real and evolution is "impossible", a study has found.

Climate change denial is a new addition to science textbooks that have been updated over the last few years, according to the research.

The textbooks deny human action is linked to rising temperatures and instead teach students God has a plan to prepare a new heaven and Earth with a better climate.

The Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) curriculum originated in Texas in 1970 and is used by at least 11 schools in the UK, as well as by some homeschooling parents.

It presents every subject through a Biblical worldview and creationism is a cornerstone of its science lessons.

Christian Education Europe, which oversees the ACE curriculum in the UK, describes the science course as "non-evolutionary in approach and content" on its website. The organisation did not respond to a request for comment.

Researchers from University College London found pupils are not exposed to any ideas contrary to the literal interpretation of the Bible until Year 9 - which they said goes against the legal requirement for schools to offer a "broad and balanced science curriculum".

The study's lead author, Dr Jenna Scaramanga, told Sky News pupils who study the curriculum end up "misinformed [and] not able to weigh scientific evidence".

Christian Schools Trust, Accelerated Christian Education, and unnamed faith schools #fundie telegraph.co.uk

Creationism is still taught in dozens of faith schools despite Government threats to withdraw their funding, the Telegraph can disclose. Last August Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said schools found teaching creationism as scientific fact would not be eligible for any money from the taxpayer. Yet a series of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests show that 54 private schools are still being funded by local authorities, while continuing to teach that the Earth began with Adam and Eve.

Only 14 of the 91 schools teaching creationism have had their funding withdrawn, an investigation by the British Humanist Association revealed. The campaign group also found that some faith schools' science departments were teaching pupils to identify what happened on each of the days of the creation. The curriculum of one group of religious schools reads: "Creation stories give a holistic image of the origins of the earth, plants, animals and human beings." In another, it says that 'The Darwinian mechanism delivers clarifying power within a certain range of phenomena, but it is rooted in reductionist thinking and Victorian ethics and young people need to emerge from school with a clear sense of its limits.'

Separately, the Christian Schools Trust's current guidance to their schools says: "Young children within the schools would learn from the start of their schooling that they are created beings, that they are very valuable to God and that they are made in His image. "They would be taught that He is the Creator of all things, including all living things, and that He has designed this Earth to be their home. They would also learn that creation was originally good but that it is now flawed as a consequence of sin introduced into the human race by Adam and Eve." The BHA investigation also found five schools under the US firm Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) are also teaching creationism as science.

In the past, ACE has allegedly used the Loch Ness monster to discredit evolutionary theories, according to the BHA. Its content reads: "Some scientists speculate that Noah took small or baby dinosaurs on the Ark. Are dinosaurs still alive today? With some recent photographs and testimonies of those who claimed to have seen one, scientists are becoming more convinced of their existence. "Have you heard of the 'Loch Ness Monster' in Scotland? 'Nessie', for short, has been recorded on sonar from a small submarine, described by eyewitnesses, and photographed by others. Nessie appears to be a plesiosaur."

The group has explicitly discredited evolution in its various textbooks, according to the BHA. Another excerpt reads: "No branch of true science would make these kind of impossible claims without proof. "Because evolutionists do not want to believe the only alternative - that the universe was created by God - they declare evolution is a fact and believe its impossible claims without any scientific proof." Responding to the FOIs, Hackney council said it has informed schools about the rules introduced last August.

However, it added: "The Local Authority has not had correspondence with the schools" on a list of 21 schools the BHA identified as receiving state funding despite not complying with the guidance. Commenting on these latest findings, BHA director of public affairs and campaigns, Pavan Dhaliwal, said: "We congratulated the government last summer when it changed the rules on nursery place funding to this effect. "It is hugely disappointing therefore to discover that creationist schools have continued to receive state funds since the ban on their doing so came into force. "Little seems to have been done to ensure conformity to the new rules and the Department for Education (DfE) urgently needs to address this.

"The funding is administered by local authorities and they do not seem to have the same awareness as the DfE as to which local authorities are implicated by such a ban. "As we have done in the past, we will be doing all we can to raise the issue with relevant officials to ensure that the ban on funding is properly implemented."

Accelerated Christian Education #fundie independent.co.uk

Teachers at Christian fundamentalist schools in Britain allegedly performed exorcisms on pupils, beat children in religious rituals and “groomed” girls for marriage, according to former students who say they have decided to speak out now after years of suffering in silence.

The former pupils told The Independent such treatment of children was a “terrifying” part of life at schools in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s in an environment where they felt too afraid to complain for fear of retribution from school staff, evangelical parents and their close-knit Baptist faith community.

One former pupil alleged that in the 1990s pupils at school assemblies would start convulsing amid “blood curdling screams” as prayers were said for the holy spirit to rid children of demons. The alleged abuse is said to have taken place many years ago at a number of schools in the UK that follow the Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) curriculum, a form of learning that originated in the southern Baptist states of the US.

The former pupils contacted The Independent after reading our June report revealing that some of these schools still teach children that girls must submit to men, homosexuality is unnatural and that creationism is a fact. They said the article jolted their memories of their own experiences.

More than 1,000 4-18 year olds are currently taught in 30 ACE schools in the UK, all of them registered as private institutions. Although the schools are bound by the same safeguarding and child protection regulations as the state sector, former pupils want assurances that monitoring of these schools is more effective than when they attended.

One told The Independent that during his time at an ACE school in the 1990s: “We were told that we were the children of God and the world was out to get us. So we were isolated and couldn’t speak out. There was nobody checking on us. I just took it.”

Pupils who have traditionally attended the schools tend to come from Christian families who follow a fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible. Former pupils said many of the children will have limited interaction with mainstream society.

One former pupil, who attended a school in the 1990s and who has asked not to be named, said: “Exorcisms used to happen at school assemblies sometimes. There would be 20 or so children and perhaps five adults. We were told that the holy spirit would come through children. I started convulsing and I couldn’t stop. Even when I went to bed I kept convulsing. I was terrified, I really thought it was the holy spirit.

“We would all begin convulsing. I remember them screaming blood curdling screams and then we’d all pray rigorously to get the demons out. Teachers would physically push us. They’d lay their hands on us when we prayed and they’d push us down. If you didn’t fall it was said that you weren’t really ‘feeling the Lord’. It was a very dark thing. It really was insanity. It got completely out of control.”

Two other former pupils from the 1990s and 2000s alleged they witnessed exorcisms performed on some occasions at other schools, where children were encouraged to “speak in tongues”.

Allegations from ex-pupils include other potential concerns. At some schools, girls were groomed for marriage from a young age, two former students said. They claimed the grooming was done by the church communities that run the schools and by teachers. Methods were said to include controlling girls’ sexuality and isolating them from boys their own age so they might later be married to much older male members of the church groups.

In some schools they were allegedly encouraged to marry soon after they turned 16, as church leaders told them it was “God’s will”.

One woman, who attended a school between the late 1990s and early 2000s, said: “There was one girl I knew who married someone more than 20 years older. The man she married had known her since she was seven years old and he was 30. She’d sit on his knee when she was a child. He’d played with her when she was a child. Now they’re married. It’s just really creepy.

“As a young girl, you were told you were not allowed to talk to boys your own age, you had to stand six inches apart from boys at all times at schools, teachers told you they’d hit you with a wooden paddle if you kiss a boy. So you didn’t get to meet anyone else and then you’re shown sexual interest for the first time and it’s some creepy old man. It was so sexualised, they were sexualising children.”

Another former pupil who attended an ACE school in the 1990s said a girl at her school had married a man at 16, when he was in his 40s, and who she had met when he began teaching at her school.

She said: “You were told from a young age that your role is to support a man and God will lead you to him. The role of women in these religious groups is quite clear. You’re told God has chosen a husband for you and God will lead this man to you. But in reality, pastors and church leaders guide men to you. It’s grooming.”

She added: “When I was 18, I experienced it. From the age of 14, the church had been pushing me towards a man in the church group who was eight years older. I was actively encouraged to work with him. They were very pushy about marriage, it was very intimidating. It’s very closed and isolating.

“As a girl, you’re left feeling redundant if you don’t get married. You’re told it’s God’s will and you’re just wasting time until you get married – it’s your ultimate goal.”

She said that none of the girls married before the legal age of consent, adding: “They are very keen to ensure nothing illegal happened, but the conditioning was around a long time before that.”

Although all the claims made by former pupils for this article relate to historic incidents, textbooks still used by the schools – and seen by The Independent – raise current concerns.

The books suggest pupils are still taught that “the wife is to obey, respect and submit to the leadership of her husband, serving as a helper to him” and “God desires for [women] to submit to husband.”

Other pupils told The Independent there were also historic concerns about corporal punishment, which they say took on a religious characteristic at the ACE schools.

They claimed children were beaten with a wooden paddle and then forced into a ritualised religious quasi-ceremony in which prayers were said for their salvation in the 1980s and 1990s. They said that the church groups believed at the time that corporal punishment was “God’s will” as it stopped children from sinning.

Corporal punishment was outlawed in UK private schools in 1998 and there is no suggestion the ACE schools breached that law.

David Waldock who attended an ACE school between the ages of 11 and 16 prior to 1998 said: “I was beaten with a cane by teachers while a pupil at an ACE school. The school was in the basement of the church. The cane was kept in the vestry. You would be led up to the vestry to a fold down desk, inside was a cardboard case and in that was the cane.

“The teachers explained to you your ‘offence’. You were told to take your trousers down. Then you were bent over a chair with your trousers down and wearing just your underwear. Then you were caned. And then you prayed for forgiveness.

“It was very ritualised. It was a ritual of confession, administration and prayer for forgiveness.”

One former pupil who attended an ACE school in the 1990s said a four-year-old boy at her school had special needs which caused him to urinate and defecate uncontrollably in class. She claims the child would be routinely taken to be beaten by the headmaster with a wooden paddle to punish this “bad behaviour”.

She says knowing corporal punishment was happening to other children was extremely distressing: “I remember feeling sick. I was so frightened I dug my nails into my hands.”

A 1993 copy of the ACE teachers’ training manual, seen by The Independent, appears to instruct teachers in how to administer corporal punishment when children have “sinned” in ritualised religious ceremonies. It says: “Demerits are for procedural violations; the paddle is for moral violations.”

The manual then lists a step by step process for hitting children.

“Using Bible verses, explain to the child the principles he has violated. Make sure he clearly understands what he has done wrong — position the child so he is leaning forward with his hands on a desk or chair and with his feet spread. Keep the paddle, switch, or belt low to avoid hitting the spine.

“Pray with the child following corporal correction. Review the offense and show him Hebrews 13.17. Request that he ask the Lord to forgive him for _____ (name the violation) and help him obey God’s Word and those people God has placed in his life to train him.”

An updated edition of the teacher training manual compiled after 1998 stops advocating corporal punishment by teachers at ACE schools. Christian Education Europe, an organisational body that runs and promotes ACE schools, say stocks of teaching manuals are regularly checked to ensure they are up to date.

A former pupil who attended an ACE school in the 1990s said: “The kind of people who send their children to schools like these believe in it absolutely. The pastor had absolute power and they could do anything.”

ACE (Accelerated Christian Education) #fundie theguardian.com

Scientists have known for years that snowflakes are shaped in six-sided, or hexagonal, patterns. But why is this? Some scientists have theorised that the electrons within a water molecule follow three orbital paths that are positioned at 60° angles to one another. Since a circle contains 360°, this electronic relationship causes the water molecule to have six ‘spokes’ radiating from a hub (the nucleus). When water vapour freezes in the air, many water molecules link up to form the distinctive six-sided snowflakes and the hexagonal pattern is quite evident.

Snowflakes also contain small air pockets between their spokes. These air pockets have a higher oxygen content than does normal air. Magnetism has a stronger attraction for oxygen than for other gases. Consequently, some scientists have concluded that a relationship exists between a snowflake’s attraction to oxygen and magnetism’s attraction to oxygen.

Job 38:22, 23 states, ‘Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?’ Considering this scripture, some scientists believe that a tremendous power resides untapped within the water molecules from which snowflakes and hailstones are made.

How can this scripture, along with these observations about snowflakes, show us a physical truth? Scientists at Virginia Tech have produced electricity more efficiently from permanent magnets, which have their lines of force related to each other at sixty-degree angles, than from previous methods of extracting electricity from magnetism. Other research along this line may reveal a way to tap electric current directly from snow, eliminating the need for costly, heavy, and complex equipment now needed to generate electricity.

ACE (Accelerated Christian Education) #fundie theguardian.com

Researchers have discovered that the hydrogen canopy that may have enclosed Earth before the Flood had some very interesting effects on plant and animal life. The hydrogen in the canopy absorbed blue light, but radiated red light, so the sky was pink rather than blue! Not only did pre-Flood man see the panorama of Creation “through rose-colored glasses,” but the pink light had a definite effect on his mind and body. Modern scientists have discovered that pink light stimulates the adrenal glands to secrete a hormone called norepinephrine. Norepinephrine is both a tranquilliser and a neurotransmitter that both calms the person and sharpens his ability to think. The tranquilliser in the hormone can reduce stress and the accompanying medical complications (heart conditions, ulcers, etc) that come with our-hectic, modern-day lifestyles. Some drugs have the same tranquillising effect, but these drugs also decrease the ability to think and respond to the environment. The neurotransmitter in the norepinephrine sharpens the person’s senses and enables him to think clearly by speeding up his nervous impulses.

Metal hydrogen not only filters blue light, but it also has a fiberoptic effects. This means that light from the sun was not only transmitted through the canopy, but was also spread out across the canopy. The light was dispersed around the world – even at night! At sunrise the sky was a vivid pink color. As the colour of the sky changed, the light grew in intensity throughout the morning, until it was a light pink at noon. As the light subsided during the afternoon, the color of the sky returned to vivid pink again at sunset.

The pink colour and the light dispersion worked together to create a perfect working condition. The pink morning sky caused the norepinephrine to begin flowing and stimulating the man to work. At noon, when the pink light and the norepinephrine production were at their peak, the man worked most efficiently. The decreasing intensity of the pink light in the afternoon gradually calmed the person so that by sunset he was relaxed and ready for a peaceful night’s sleep.

Modern scientists are just now discovering what Christians have always believed – that God’s Creation was perfect.

For more information on the subject of Creation model, you might like to read the book Panorama of Creation by Dr Carl Baugh. You might also want to read some of the numerous books on Creation written by Dr Henry M Morris or other contemporary Christian scientists.

Next page