The state of California has agreed to remove an “Aztec chant” from its ethnic studies curriculum following a legal settlement with several plaintiffs
The new curriculum would have had students praying to the Aztec dieties Tezkatlipoka, Quetzalcoatl, Huizilopochtli, and Xipe Totec.
Part of the chant read “Xipe Totek, Xipe Totek, transformation, liberation, education, emancipation. imagination revitalization, liberation, transformation, decolonization, liberation, education, emancipation, changin’ our situation in this human transformation.”
The co-chair of the California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, Tolteka Cuauhtin, had said the chants were to “regenerate indigenous spiritual traditions” as Christians had committed “theocide” to “oppress marginalized groups.”
The Thomas More Society filed a lawsuit in September challenging the chants on behalf of Californians for Equal Rights Foundation and three parents. Special Counsel Paul Jonna said “The Aztecs regularly performed gruesome and horrific acts for the sole purpose of pacifying and appeasing the very beings that the prayers from the curriculum invoke.”
Jonna added “Any form of prayer and glorification of these bloodthirsty beings in whose name horrible atrocities were performed is repulsive to any reasonably informed observer.” He also noted the California and U.S. constitutions “prohibit prayer in public schools – particularly prayers drafted by public officials.”
Early Saturday morning, Jonna posted on his Twitter account that California had agreed to settle the suit, and to pay $100,000 towards legal expenses.
Fortunately, the parties were able to work out an informal resolution – and the State Board of Education and California Department of Education voluntarily agreed to remove the prayers from the ESMC. The State agreed to do this while continuing to dispute any and all liability.
Nonetheless, we’re pleased that the prayers have been officially removed from the ESMC.
All local school districts in California – especially those still working with Mr. Tolteka Cuauhtin – should follow the lead of the State and are hereby on notice that they should immediately remove these Aztec prayers from their Ethnic Studies curricula….”
The above comes from a Jan. 15 posting on the College Fix.
I respectfully suggest a replacement song we used to sing in grade school. 15 Miles on the Erie Canal.
Too White?
The chant sounds right out of the synod on synodality
So God does something good, and you attack His Church.
And people wonder why God doesn’t do more for His people.
Because His people are eternally ungrateful.
That’s the heresy of Pelagianism.
Pelagianism is a heterodox Christian theological position that holds that the original sin did not taint human nature and that humans have the free will to achieve human perfection without divine grace
I was in error when I said that the reason God does not do things for his people (there is one person who comments here like that) is because they are ungrateful.
God does everything for his people whether they are grateful or whether they even notice it.
I let my bitterness lead me to speak falsely of God. I repent.
It was really just a comment on somebody attacking God’s Holy Church for no reason (maybe trying to be funny.)
It is always difficult to be a faithful Catholic. Rules of silence are wise.
I am glad and praise God for this result.
We need laws to mandate teaching and upholding American democracy, and our history, and traditional American heritage and values. Children of all backgrounds need to become a proud part of an “All-American melting pot,” and grow up and work together, as Americans, for the needs of our great Nation.
The worst thing the federal government ever did was to grant tribal peoples sovereignty within America’s borders instead of requiring them to assimilate into American culture and government. We are suffering for that bad decision.
I agree. Native Anericans suffer greatly, on reservations, with a great many problems. America should be a “melting pot” of all peoples, and children should all become a part of that “melting pot,” from their earliest days. Let the past go, with all its troubles and unfair incidents. We all can make a better future, for everyone!
Many decades ago, when I was young, I worked one summer on an Indian reservation. There were both Mormon and Catholic missionaries there, and some were doing research, and writing books, from both religious groups. Lots of alcoholism, poverty, poor nutrition, illiteracy, violence, abuse of women and children, disease, and early death. Some Indians were artistically gifted, but White arts and crafts agents and buyers, did not always treat them fairly. I thought that assimilation into American life, long ago, would have greatly helped these people — as well as laws to end cruel discrimination against them, along with Blacks, and other races. One day, I was sent to pick up a 2-year-old Indian boy from his unwed teenage alcoholic mother, during an adoption process. The boy was being adopted to a wealthy white couple, and would have a better future. The poor mother was crying and hurting so much. I felt so badly for her. I also felt like a White monster.
The First Nation northern tribes should be happy about this, as before Europeans came, they were some of the victims of these gods and goddesses.