Justin Carrell sent me a link to a press release by the ADF (Alliance Defense Fund). The subject of the release was a decision made by a New Hampshire court which would require a mother to stop homeschooling her 10 year old daughter, and put her in public schools.
This is one of the scariest things that I have read in quite a while, and I felt it important to share it with you. Following are the facts, and the reasoning behind the court’s decision.
- The parents of the 10 year old girl divorced in 1999. The mother has homeschooled the girl since first grade.
- The matter before the court was “renegotiating the terms of a parenting plan for the girl.”
- “The marital master making recommendations to the court agreed the child is ‘well liked, social and interactive with her peers, academically promising, and intellectually at or superior to grade level’ and that ‘it is clear that the home schooling…has more than kept up with the academic requirements of the…public school system.’”
- “In addition to home schooling, the girl attends supplemental public school classes and has also been involved in a variety of extra-curricular sports activities.”
Despite the fact that the court acknowledges the girl is thriving academically and socially, the court still ruled that she must enter public schools. Why? Because of her religious convictions! Note the following quotes:
The marital master “proposed that the Christian girl be ordered into a government-run school after considering ‘the impact of [her religious] beliefs on her interaction with others.’”
“The guardian ad litem involved in the case concluded, according to the court order, 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’ and ‘different points of view at a time when she must begin to critically evaluate multiple systems of belief…in order to select, as a young adult, which of those systems will best suit her own needs.’”
“Marital Master Michael Garner reasoned that the girl’s ‘vigorous defense of her religious beliefs to [her] counselor suggests strongly that she has not had the opportunity to seriously consider any other point of view’ and then recommended that the girl be ordered to enroll in a government school instead of being home-schooled. Judge Lucinda V. Sadler approved the recommendation and issued the order on July 14.”
Brethren, President Obama recently said the United States is not a Christian nation. He is certainly correct in that assessment, as is clearly indicated by this decision. As parents we are commanded by God to bring our children up “in the training and admonition of the Lord” (cf. Ephesians 6:4). We now have a government that is willing to interfere with our God given duty.
Perhaps the decision will be overturned on appeal. Regardless, the decision is enough to send chills down the spine. As Christian parents, we need to pray for the protection of our children and their faith in the midst of the hostile and ungodly society in which we live.
