Posted on 06/02/2009 7:28:14 AM PDT by achilles2000
The Southern Baptist Convention is Finally 'Throwing in the Towel' on Government Schools
President and Executive Director of the SBC Executive Committee Proposes Major Expansion of Christian Schools by Churches
COLUMBIA, SC, June 2 /Christian Newswire/ -- In 2004 Brig. Gen. T.C. Pinckney, USAF Ret. and former 2nd Vice President of the SBC, and Dr. Bruce Shortt, Houston attorney, opened a debate over education by submitting a resolution to the Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention urging Baptists to remove their children from government schools and, instead, give them a Christian education.
Although the Pinckney/Shortt Resolution was met with howls of execration from many Christian leaders, and the Resolutions Committee prevented it from being voted on by the Annual Meeting, the Resolution initiated an important debate over education, both inside and outside the SBC.
Despite the Pinckney/Shortt Resolution's hostile reception, in 2005 Dr. Albert Mohler, President of the SBC's "flagship" seminary, Southern Theological Seminary, called for the SBC to develop an "exit strategy" from the government's schools. (www.albertmohler.com/commentary_read.php?cdate=2005-06-17) Since then other Christian leaders have endorsed, in part or in whole, the call to provide Christian children with a Christian education.
Now, the SBC has come full circle. In an article that recently appeared in The Baptist Messenger, Dr. Morris H. Chapman, president and chief executive officer of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee, called for churches to provide many more Christian elementary and secondary schools as alternatives to the government's schools. (www.baptistmessenger.com/story/11E2669E88B513F2EAC03509EACA78D3)
The anti-Christian moral teaching within government schools was among Dr. Chapman's chief motivations for calling for a major expansion of Christian education: "In far too many public schools throughout the country our children are being bombarded with secular reasoning, situational ethics and moral erosion."
Moreover, Dr. Chapman sees the need for greatly expanding Christian education as urgent: "In recent days, two questions have weighed heavily on my soul. If Southern Baptists don't do it, who will? If we don't do it now, do we risk forever losing the opportunity to build schools for God's glory and the future of our children, grandchildren and the land we love?"
To implement his vision of a major expansion of Christian education, Dr. Chapman advocates two initial concrete steps. First, he identifies the inner cities as places where a Christian education ministry is much needed and would be welcomed. As Dr. Chapman sees it: "In such areas, Kingdom schools would serve as a central ministry among a myriad of ministries that would help families recover from the chaos that now exists and help them establish Christ in the home."
Second, Dr. Chapman calls on every local Baptist association to create new schools: "Why shouldn't we have at least one Christian school in every association that merges dynamic biblical principles with academic excellence? At minimum, a number of Southern Baptist churches in the same association could band together to create an outstanding Christian school for the area. In our voluntary fellowships with each other, Southern Baptists still have shown themselves uniquely structured and resourced to take on such a challenge. Elementary and secondary education is an area we can add to how we cooperate in missions and ministries."
Dr. Chapman's proposal has been warmly welcomed by Dr. Shortt, the co-sponsor of the 2004 education resolution and of education resolutions in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008:
"As the chief administrator of the SBC, Dr. Chapman's voice is extremely powerful. With his recent call to greatly expand Christian education among Southern Baptists and others, Dr. Chapman has, in effect, laid out the first step in the "exit strategy" called for by Dr. Mohler in 2005. All Christians should note this sea-change in sentiment within the SBC. The spiritual, moral, and intellectual pathologies of the government school system are now obvious even to casual observers. Christian parents and pastors need to ask themselves just how much longer they intend to render our children to Caesar's spiritually dark, morally decaying, and physically dangerous government schools."
E. Ray Moore of Exodus Mandate expressed his hearty agreement: "Dr. Morris Chapman's clarion call for a major expansion of Christian elementary and secondary schools is an example of bold leadership, not only for the SBC, but for the entire Christian community. This could not have come at a more opportune moment when families are crying out for assistance with their children and churches are losing the next generation of youth to worldliness, humanism and post modernism due to public schooling. In the last several decades, Christian organizations and publishers have created excellent curriculum materials and online Christian education programs that will work for small or large churches as well as for home school families. Technology combined with good curriculum have made K-12 Christian education available to anyone anywhere anytime and at reasonable cost."...
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The industrial midwest is now little more than a giant union cesspool and will always vote in accordance with their union bosses "recommendations". Move on over to the plains, and you get states like Iowa and Minnesota which are reliably Democratic as of late.
Curious to see how you get to 270 without Texas' 34 EC votes and/or Florida's 27...Curious to see where you make up the Southern block's 168 EC votes...If the GOP gave up the South, all the Donks would need is California, New York and Illinois to hit 270 (would actually be 275).
Do you honestly believe that CA and NY are in play for the GOP solely because Ronald Reagan won them 25 and 30 years ago? Seriously? If you say yes, you are living in another world. If you say no, then it is impossible to get the EC votes. So which one is it?
Your cutesy little theory may reinforce your dislike of the South, but until you can get the electoral calculus to work, you should get used to the fact that these "uneducated tar babies" from the South are pretty damn important to getting a conservative into the White House.
Texas - 55.28 to 41.42
Alaska - 54.35 to 26.41
Louisiana - 51.20 to 45.75
Nevada - 62.54 to 26.89
Mississippi - 49.42 to 48.09
Michigan - 48.99 to 42.50
Alabama - 48.75 to 47.45
Oregon - 48.33 to 38.67
Florida - 55.52 to 38.50
Nebraska - 65.53 to 26.04
Arkansas - 48.13 to 47.52
Pennsylvanis - 49.59 to 42.48
Tennessee - 48.70 to 48.41
Wisconsin - 47.90 to 43.18
South Carolina 49.57 to 48.04
Vermont 44.37 to 38.41
Missouri 51.16 to 44.35
Idaho 66.46 to 25.19
Kentucky 49.07 to 47.61
New Hampshire 57.74 to 28.35
North Carolina 49.30 to 47.18
Utah 72.77 to 20.57
Virginia 53.03 to 40.31
North Dakota 64.23 to 26.26
There wasn't anywhere that Reagan didn't do better than he did in the South and the goobers claim his legacy. Baloney.
We were Republicans when the South was voting 97.06 to 2.74 for the Democrat. We are still Republicans and the South is still Democrat.
Who is “we”? If you got the EC votes to back it up, then go for it, but you still haven’t shown me anything other than some inconsequential numbers that didn’t change the fact that Reagan only lost one southern state during his 80 and 84 runs.
Bottom line: How do you get to 270 without the south? Nebraska, the Dakotas and some other sparsely populated states ain’t going to cut it.
Republicans win by doing what Republicans have always done: run against Southern Democrats.
You can be a smarta** all day long, but you still haven't set out even a half-hearted defense of your assertion, which is that the GOP is better positioned to win the White House without the south.
You can either spit out some electoral calculus or not, I don't care, but until you do, you and I both know that your strategy just doesn't add up. As the saying goes, "put up or shut up."
I would like to know what an “emergent” church is.
I just found out what the “emergent” church is. Our friend Rick Warren seems to be part of it.
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/emergingdiaprax.html
Don’t forget that the Southern states have large black populations.
So?....Why have conservatives ( Christians and non-Christians) allowed these government schools to stay open?
If there is one thing that liberal/marxists are good at is getting their hands on other people’s money to promote their fanatical cause.
About your daughter turning her back on the faith after entering public school, I don’t know what your public school is like, it may be the left indoctrination but it could also be the pack mentality of kids who’s role models come from the mass media. There is lots of toxic messages in the popular culture which comes from the liberal media. The Christian schools at least provide a Christian moral perspective in their teachings which provide an antidote to the poisonous liberal culture.
Even if they do not give tax exemptions to parents who do not use the public schools, just having far fewer kids in the public schools will mean that your taxes will go down because there would be fewer schools to build, fewer public school teachers to pay, fewer schools buses, fewer school employees etc. etc. They may even have to sell off some of the unnecessary school buildings or put them to some other use.
I love that “socializing” nonsense. These teachers are such brainwashed lightweights. Children are socialized from the moment they are born by their parents. These brainwashed teachers seem to think that parents who don’t go along with the public school program are locking their kids in the basement and abusing them. How ridiculous.
If enough people accept the Christian alternatives, they will not have to lobby for the complete shut down of government schools as they will shrink from lack of use.
I used to be for school vouchers but now I have second thoughts since the government will always use the excuse that it is public money to dictate what should be taught at school. However, some of the schools mentioned here, such as university model schools etc. are very innovative while being affordable and not being a heavy burden on parents.
However...Don't look to the churches for Christian schools.
There are too many government teachers and school employees in the the pews. Add to this their families and those doing business with the government schools. Few ministers are brave enough to bite the hand that puts money in the collection plate.
Conservatives ( Christian and non-Christian) must start private educational foundations that would award grants to individual teachers. These teachers would open mini-schools, one room school houses, and homeschool co-ops. The private foundation would certify the teacher, test the students, and approve the curriculum.
I agree with you on vouchers.
The best plan would be to remove enough students that the government schools would collapse.
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