The Department of Defense is introducing a course centered on Western civilization and Christianity this fall in the schools it operates for military families. The course, titled ‘Western Civilization to 1500,’ will be offered through the department’s virtual school and will fulfill a world history graduation requirement.

Course Curriculum

The course will use a textbook published by Encounter Books, a conservative publishing house, titled ‘The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition, Volume I: The Ancient World and Christendom.’ The textbook includes suggested lesson plans created in partnership with Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian school in Michigan.

Historians and educators who reviewed excerpts of the text told The Associated Press it depicts points throughout history in misleading ways, representing Western civilization and Christianity as one and the same and casting Islam as a threat to both.

Classical Learning Initiative

The course is part of a wider reshaping of the Defense Department’s schools, which have begun hiring classical learning teachers and brought in new academic chiefs with ties to classical learning charter schools and to Republican-led efforts to promote more patriotic and civic education.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has advocated for parents to embrace classical Christian education, describing a history of progressives working to remove God and religion from public and private schools in his 2022 book ‘Battle for the American Mind.’

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.