Fundies Oppose Public Education
Personally I feeel we should start screaming for a ban on homeschooling - Religious nuts want to ruin education in America. What values!
More Southern Baptist Leaders Voice Support for Public School Exodus
A number of Southern Baptist leaders have voiced support for the Shortt-Moran
measure. Dr. Rick Scarborough, Founder of Vision America and a leading SBC
grassroots activist is among those who strongly endorse the resolution and see
it as urgently needed, as is evangelist and Bible teacher Dr. Voddie
Baucham.
According to a Christian Newswire report, Scarborough contends that
public schools have long ceased to serve as a positive reinforcer of traditional
values and today "are not even neutral on many crucial issues which are
important to people of faith." He says public education has unfortunately been
"hijacked by people who reject Biblical teachings on man's origin, the proper
role of sex, and the acceptability of homosexuality."
The Vision America
spokesman feels strongly that messengers at the 2006 Annual Meeting should get
the chance to weigh in on the issue of removing their kids from an educational
system that undermines Christian values. "Our children deserve better," he says,
"and Southern Baptists should be given the opportunity to express their feelings
about this."
And Dr. Voddie Baucham, another outspoken proponent of an exodus
from public schools, says he endorses the Shortt-Moran resolution in part
because he knows "what it's like to be a poor kid trapped in underperforming
schools." As a child being raised by a single parent in the inner city, he says,
"I had no choice but to accept the inferior education my schools offered -- not
to mention the drugs, sex, and violence that were all part of the
package."
Government schools have not only failed children academically, the
evangelist points out, but they are also "destroying our children spiritually
and morally." That is why he maintains that the SBC must come up with a
comprehensive plan to create a new system of Baptist education that is open to
everyone.
Such a plan, Baucham insists, "needs to take a clear stand on
behalf of kids who find themselves in the same predicament I was in." If SBC
members will stand together, he asserts, the church can provide a high-quality,
Christian alternative to the public schools but can also "use education as a
missional outreach in Urban America."
Moran and Shortt's 2006 resolution
addresses a number of the concerns echoed by other Southern Baptist leaders,
including some of the access issues Baucham raises. While the proposal calls on
the denomination to move on divesting Southern Baptist children from government
schools, it also urges SBC agencies to assist churches as they develop workable
public school exit strategies and to give particular attention to the needs of
orphans, single parents, and the disadvantaged.Full:
