Posted on 01/01/2005 7:47:36 AM PST by Theodore R.
Religion in the Classroom By DUNCAN MANSFIELD Associated Press
SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. — Frustration with public education seems to be growing among the nation's Southern Baptists, with supporters of Christian schools and home schooling arguing that if God is absent from the classroom then their children should leave, too.
"What has happened is not so much that the Christians are leaving the public schools as that the public schools have left the Christians," advocate Ed Gamble said.
Gamble is executive director of the Southern Baptist Association of Christian Schools, an Orlando, Fla.-based group that supports the more than 600 Southern Baptist schools created in the past eight years.
"As the public schools have become increasingly secular and increasingly intolerant of things Christian, people who are openly Christian have said, 'I guess they are not part of our team anymore,' " Gamble said.
The number of conservative Christian schools grew by nearly 11 percent between 1999-2000 and 2001-2002, to 5,527, according to the U.S. Department of Education's latest statistics.
At that rate, Christian schools are growing faster than private schools as a whole, and they have increased their share to nearly 1 in 5 private schools in the country.
Last year, a resolution proposed at the national meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention — which guides the nation's largest Protestant denomination — urged parents to withdraw their children from "officially Godless" "government schools" in favor of religious education.
While the measure was rejected, interest in faith-based schools has continued to spread among Baptists at the state level, particularly in Tennessee, Missouri, Florida, South Carolina, Illinois, Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, California and New England, according to Exodus Mandate, a Columbia, S.C., group that promotes private, Christian and home-school education.
A recent resolution promoting Christian schooling easily passed the Missouri Baptist Convention but was quashed in committee at the Tennessee Baptist Convention meeting in Sevierville last month.
The Missouri resolution talked about the "inherent dangers of secular educational philosophies that now permeates America's public education system" and affirmed "the importance of systematically training ourselves and our children in the ways of authentic, biblical Christianity."
"What we are saying is that God has given us some very specific commands that we are to train our children in the ways of the Lord, not in the ways of the world," said the Rev. Roger Moran, of Troy, Mo., the resolution's author and a member of the Southern Baptist Convention's executive committee.
That means teaching creationism over evolution, that life begins at conception, and that homosexuality is immoral, as is sex outside of marriage.
But it is more.
Glen Schultz heads the Baptists' LifeWay curriculum program for church-based schools and home schoolers.
"It hits everything, when you realize the reality of life is (that) life was created by God and the entire universe is his creation," Schultz said. "Therefore, everything has meaning and reflection on his nature, whether it is math or history or science. Two plus two equals four because God created them that way."
The Tennessee resolution came one step short of asking Baptist parents to pull their children from public schools.
"I wanted to be positive in promoting Christian education," said the Rev. Larry Reagan of Dresden, who wrote the measure. "I didn't want the resolution to be portrayed as attacking public education."
But the Rev. Mike Boyd of Knoxville, outgoing president of the 1 million-member Tennessee Baptist Convention, worried about the divisiveness of the issue. And the Rev. Grover Westover of Whiteville, chairman of the resolutions committee, said, "It was not wise, is all I am saying."
He said Reagan's resolution would have promoted more "Kingdom education" schools following LifeWay's lead.
Schultz said the program has reached some 150 churches since 1996.
"We encourage our members to pray for this ministry, and we encourage the promotion of an adequate system of Christian schools," Reagan said.
Boyd agreed there were "some serious issues in the public schools" to resolve but said the focus should be on supporting the teachers working in them, including many Baptists, and parents.
"Historically, Baptists have been pretty staunch supporters of the public school system, and they still are," said Gamble, who was not surprised to see the convention resolutions fail.
"But this is a bottom-up movement, as it is a bottom-up denomination. This is not a movement that is being led so much by pastors as it is being led by moms and dads who are frustrated.
"And some day, I don't know how long it will be, most of the kids will be educated in Southern Baptist schools or in their homes."
Maybe not in a material sense; but your heart will be at peace, knowing that your most important work has been well done.
Well said. Leftists act as though all religions are morally equivalent. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I am a Protestant Christian. My extended family are Spanish Catholics who are completely tolerant to me now but generations ago would have been trying to torture or kill me for my beliefs. And they would have done it with the same vehemence that you show in your posts, "We are right and God is on our side!" My postmodern leanings are a extension, probably too far but better safe than sorry, of my desire to distance myself from my ancestors' actions.
You're not alone.
We see it this way ... we will have eternity to be together. We love our daughter enough to make sure this is her fate.
Don't you find it a tad odd that homeschoolers and private Christian school kids ALWAYS outscore public schooled kids?
Yes, I think they know what a "molecule" is ... LOL! They can do circules around you ... with secular knowledge.
Careful your bigoted bias is showing ... yet again!
Homeschooling isn't for everyone. It's not a universal panacea that's going to solve all the problems of public education, especially those that result from dysfunctional families, crime, and illegitimacy.
You don't have to set foot in a public school to take these tests, if you're a homeschooler. You just sign up online, pay with a credit card, and pick whatever test center in your area you want. Many universities public & private serve as test centers.
Not in my case. My seventh grader is learning about Christianity as well as other religions (Hindusim, Judaism, Persian Zoroastrianism) in her ancient history class (taught by a lady in our church whom we know, BTW.) I see nothing wrong with learning about other religions *in the context of a history class.*
As far as worship, I don't think that has a place in public school when the school runs it.
Regarding the teaching of evolution, we don't believe in "young earth creationism." We believe God created the universe and guided human development (so that man has an immortal soul in the image of God), but we believe that happened by "intelligent design," so that the evolutionary process was *used* by God to produce the effect (man & his immortal soul.) But as far as science goes, our local school's science classes have *not* taught science in any atheistic way - they just talk about the science, without going into the cause - which is fine with us.
Here in MO, the community colleges either give you the option of submitting ACT scores, or taking their own placement tests. They admit pretty much everyone, but they don't have to put the student in classes that they don't think the student can handle.
But just an observation: I find it interesting that people who wouldn't touch a public high school seem to have no compunction about sending a 16-18 year old to a public community college, where the instructors have *far* less "brakes" on them than they do in a local high school.
Likewise, people who think vouchers are the "solution" to every public school problem frequently don't consider that vouchers would be paid to Islamic schools as well - including the radical ones paid for by rich Saudis that black out Israel on the map.
Actually, they don't, not always. There is a wide range of kids to be found in homeschooling, including those who are learning disabled, etc.
That's true, However, in practice, those universities and and various other test centers may not be administering the test on the day you want/need to take it. There are many testing centers, but they do not all administer the test every time, or they can fill up before the sign-up deadline is passed. Just FYI. Sign up early and check out the various testing centers by DATE.
Is it that big a deal, though, if a child takes the ACT/SAT in a public high school?
Wasn't my argument. Did you even read what I wrote?
Yes, I think they know what a "molecule" is ... LOL! They can do circules around you ... with secular knowledge.
In my field? Unless they have been to graduate school this is pure and total codswallop.
Careful your bigoted bias is showing ... yet again!
Insult away. However, this does not reflect highly on you.
FYI, circules should have been spelled circles. Hope you are not the spelling teacher.
Thank you for your voice of reason. :-)
Thanks for the ping. I'm all for private schools, even those that teach some nonsense. The worst of them can't be any worse than the typical government school.
This may be surprising to some here on this thread, but I do agree with you all the way. My argument further up was not even pointed at home schooling.
It is true that there are several homeschooling families with children who are learning disabled. But you are not right when you say that homeschoolers do not always outscore public-schooled children. (unless you are talking on an individual basis) Nationwide, it is a proven statistical fact that homeschooled children outscore public school children.
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