Tuesday, May 11, 2004

WHY CHRISTIANS SHOULD CONSIDER CHURCH SCHOOLS FOR THEIR KIDS

Jeff Jacoby notes how hostile to religion public schools have now become: (Excerpts)

"Parents who take their faith seriously ought to think twice before putting their kids' education in the hands of the state. If war is too important to be left to the generals, the shaping of children's minds and values is surely too important to be left to government educators.

For the first two centuries of American history, it was taken for granted that education included not only reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic, but a fourth "R" -- religion -- as well. That began to change in the 19th century, however, and by the late 1800s, the burgeoning "common school" system was resolutely secular.

Nonetheless, many schools continued to affirm the importance of God and religion in American life. Well into the 20th century, for example, daily prayer and Bible reading were a familiar part of the public-education experience, and students sang Christmas carols in annual school pageants.

No more. Government schools today routinely suppress any trace of religious influence. Not only do teachers no longer lead their classes in group prayer, students have been reprimanded for uttering *private* prayer, such as grace before meals. Public schools have barred children from reading Bible stories during their free time or giving bags of jelly beans with a religious poem attached to their classmates before Easter. In a case now being litigated in Virginia, school officials want to ban a graduating senior from singing Celine Dion's "The Prayer" during commencement exercises because the song asks God to "help us to be wise in times when we don't know."

This isn't neutrality toward religion -- it's hostility."


For the record, I send my son to a Catholic school -- complete and unswerving atheist though I am. Unlike Leftists, I don't feel threatened by beliefs and attitudes different from my own. I recognize religion as an important part of life and think my son should learn about it. And I never say a word against religious faith -- either to my son or to anybody else. Religious tyranny -- which is what the Left, most Muslims and some old-fashioned Christians advocate -- is a different matter, of course.

I must confess, however, that I am not a little amused by how futile Leftist religious tyranny often is. Nowhere has Leftist religious tyranny been more complete than under the State-sponsored atheism of the old Soviet system. Yet Russia today is still a very religious country -- with many young clergy. By contrast, I did everything I could to assist my son to achieve his wish to be baptised and confirmed -- and now note that, at age 16, his views seem to be converging rapidly with my own!


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