Posted on 08/27/2009 11:21:03 PM PDT by kingattax
The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) has asked a New Hampshire court to reconsider its decision to order a 10-year-old home-schooled girl into public school.
"Parents have a fundamental right to make educational choices for their children," said ADF-allied attorney John Anthony Simmons. "In this case, the court is illegitimately altering a method of education that the court itself admits is working."
The parents of the girl are divorced, and the mother has been home-schooling her. In the process of renegotiating the terms of a parenting plan for the girl, the guardian ad litem concluded that the girl "appeared to reflect her mother's rigidity on questions of faith" and that the girl's interests "would be best served by exposure to a public school setting."
Judge Lucinda V. Sadler approved the recommendation and issued the order July 14.
"The New Hampshire Supreme Court itself has specifically declared, 'Home education is an enduring American tradition and right,' " said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Mike Johnson. "There is clearly and without question no legitimate legal basis for the court's decision, and we trust it will reconsider its conclusions."
Mike Donnelly, staff attorney at the Home School Legal Defense Association, agreed this is "not the place for the courts to be inserting themselves."
You are really hoping for that, aren’t you? Really have a thing against mothers and Christians.
That is a ridiculous statement. One should do a little research before posting a conclusion like that. P-M is a highly respected lawyer fully conversant in law and the scriptures and has been defending the tenets of evangelical Christianity on this forum for almost 10 years.
You owe him an apology.
No!
I’m with you. “Rigid adherence” may, as apparent to the court actually involved, go so far beyond reasonable parental choice as to enter mental abuse or some such (say, parent totally isolating child socially for fear of contact with other belief systems - not enough harm to warrant taking the kid, but enough to say “enough, you’re abusing the situation”).
There’s more to the story.
“No!”
I didn’t think so.
When he emphasizes WILL in his comment, he makes very clear his hope for the behavior of this mother.
The reports on this case show that mom has been homeschooling, successfully for years, but Dad doesn’t like it. So throw the kid to the wolves at his petty request, and justify it by saying the child needs to be exposed to other views and have her faith challenged, there is something inherently wrong. And to defend it is sickening.
“And to defend it is sickening”
If you have never been involved in a case like the one reported here then you cannot know all of the dynamics? Any lawyer who has tried family relations cases understands that there is always more to the situation than appears in a short report, especially one prepared by one of the advocates.
There are other reports out there that give plenty of detail to show the judgment to be in conflict with the findings.
And I have been through a divorce. Have pretty first hand knowledge.
I can understand why.
Of course, it was my fault. See, proving my point.
Since I don't know if you are a mother or a father, I don't see how that proves your point.
Is it true that idiotic statements tend to come from idiots?
Oh come on, I am saying that dad brought the suit to annoy the mother.
Oh, are you defending your ping pals. Coming to their rescue.
No, she should obey the ruling of the court:
Titus 3:1 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
Romans 13:1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.
Really have a thing against mothers and Christians.
LOL!
Good point! I love those scriptures!
Until rulings of such government are in direct conflict with God’s laws.
And you know this because.....?
I suspect that the courts have found that the daughter's somewhat intransigent religious views may be alienating her to her father. If that is true, then it is not a good thing.
As a Christian, the daughter is under an obligation to honor her father no matter what kind of jerk he is.
And his wife is now under an obligation to obey the court order, no matter how stupid it is.
I don’t know that dad brought the suit to annoy mom anymore than those that say mom is indoctrinating the child to annoy dad know that.
I was swinging a pendulum.
I am upset with the ruling, period. The ruling was that the girl was too religious and needed outside exposure to other points of view and to challenge her faith. At the same time finding her upbringing successful and that she is exposed to outside influences.
It was hypocritical on its own merits, making its true intent blatantly obvious.
The problem is HOW the courts made this decision. They decided for the father because the COURTS didn’t like the girl’s religious beliefs. Therein lies the problem. They couldnt fault the academics, the social interaction, or anything else except that she was just a little too RELIGIOUS. This is why so many are upset. The court wants the little girl to experience a broader worldview. That isn’t their place. With the evidence that we have heard (good academics and good social interaction and the fact that she has been homeschooled since 1st grade) the court should have ruled in the mother’s favor.
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