Education emptied of God

March 2, 2026 - 01:23

Humanities high school teacher Horacio Silvestre stands before his students, grappling with a profound shift he has witnessed over his career: the gradual emptying of religious discourse from the heart of public education. He observes a curriculum where the great questions of human existence—questions of purpose, morality, and transcendence that were once framed within religious traditions—now often float in a secular vacuum.

Silvestre notes this isn't merely about removing prayer from assemblies. It represents a deeper philosophical change. The narratives, art, history, and literature that form the backbone of a humanities education are frequently presented without engaging the spiritual frameworks that inspired them. Students study the Sistine Chapel as art, Dante's Inferno as literature, and the motivations of historical figures without the theological context that was central to their worlds.

This secular approach, he argues, risks creating a form of cultural illiteracy. It can leave students unequipped to fully understand the forces that have shaped civilizations, art, and human thought for millennia. For Silvestre, the challenge for modern educators is not to preach, but to ensure students possess the tools to comprehend the role of faith as a fundamental, enduring driver of human culture and conscience, even in an increasingly secular age.