Christian Textbook ‘Teaches the Controversy’ About Moon Landing ‘Conspiracy,’ Butchers English Language in the Process (Images)

Christian Textbook ‘Teaches the Controversy’ About Moon Landing ‘Conspiracy,’ Butchers English Language in the Process (Images)

Posted by: John Prager in Education, Image Gallery, Op-Ed, Religion December 17, 2013

Many have asked me why I seem to immediately jump on this sort of story. I have been accused of having a vendetta against Christianity, of being closed-minded, and called things I didn’t know existed. The truth is that I grew up a very devout Christian at evangelical churches. I bought what they were selling.

Part of this has to do with my deep immersion in Christian education from the third grade through the ninth (when I finally got out of the Bubble). Basically, since Science class did not teach science, I realized quickly as I began to make friends outside the “bubble” that I was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay behind in science — and pretty much everything else.

As someone who has experience with Christian education, I can say that I am not surprised by finding this on the interwebs. In my youth, I attended schools that “taught” from both A BEKA and ACE curriculum and often found myself confronted with claims that humans and dinosaurs competed for real estate, the earth is just about 10,000 years old, and that homosexuality has been scientifically proven to be a choice.

I was a victim of something that went well beyond abstinence-only education (I didn’t even know what sperm was until I was 12, and my 9 year old neighbor explained it to me.) We were told that holding hands can lead to pregnancy and damnation (This is not a joke.)

You can laugh, but it took me years to undo the damage that was done with me. I was behind academically when compared to the civilized world–not through a lack of study, but through a lack of education. When Bible class is Bible class, and English class is Bible class, and Science class is Bible class, and Math class is Bible class, one is almost certain to be lacking in many of the fundamental building blocks of education.

Something positively horrifying to anyone not expecting it came the interwebs and found itself on my screen today:


“On July 20th, 1969 the Apollo 11 landed on the moon. The world was really amazed because man walked on the moon for the first time. The spacecraft carried three astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin Aldrin. They collected many rocks and took many photos. Then they returned to the Earth. It was a great achievement for humans.

However, some scientists didn’t believe the Apollo 11 landed on the moon. One scientist kept asking himself, “How can the flag be fluttering when there is no wind on the moon? The Apollo 11′s landing was fake.” Other scientists agree with him. They also argue that the technology wasn’t good enough for man to step on the moon.

Did man really go to the moon? Nobody knows whether the Apollo 11 really went to the moon or not.“

I remember something similar from my time in Christian school. It is possible that this is A BEKA, but I am not certain if this is the exact material with which I suffered in my childhood, but this does accurately represent what is taught.

“Teach the controversy” is a phrase heard often from conservatives. Teach that–yes, some theorize we have landed on the moon but that many scientists disagree with the claim…but note the additional detail provided to the “no.” section.

Please also note that a girl is on the “affirmative” side. Given the tradition of gender-biased education in Christian education, the graphic might as well just indicate that we did not land on the moon. Women, to those who would include such “educational” material in a curriculum, belong in the kitchen, not offering opinions.

The next time you hear that “both sides” should be taught–the next time someone says that we need to “teach the controversy,” think of this.

Now, I was wondering “weather” we could discuss that “grammar point…”