Public School Exit Strategy--A true "No Child Left Behind"

SBC Urges the denomination to remove its children from public schools.
from Agape Press
by Rusty Pugh and Jenni Parker

The Southern Baptist Convention is again urging the denomination to devise a resolution calling for an "exit strategy" from public schools. This resolution is co-sponsored by Texas lawyer Bruce Shortt and SBC Executive Committee member Roger Moran.

The proposal asserts that recent federal court rulings have favored public schools "indoctrinating children with dogmatic Darwinism" and have limited parents' rights regarding what their children are taught, including what schools teach them on matters of sexuality.

Shortt asserts "As Christians, we are called to give our children a Christian education, not just some of the time but all of the time," he noted, "and the public schools have become, increasingly over the years, more and more antagonistic to Christianity."

Shortt believes it is naïve for Christians

to think of their children as

missionaries in public schools.

"The schools are aggressively

developing bad character,"

he told AP. "Contrary to what a lot

of the more 'Pollyanna-ish' parts

of our leadership would think,

our children are not evangelizing

in the schools; the schools are

evangelizing them out of

Christianity."


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.

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."

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.

...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.

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I have expressed this in my Sunday School class over and over again; where many of us are educators. But I have yet to convince anyone of the seriousness of this issue.

Too many believe our Christian children and teachers are the only lights these non-believers will see.

They are wrong. These Christian lights will still be seen in and around the community. No Christians I know of completely isolate themselves from the activities of the world.

But it has been my contention that we render to caesar what is caesar's and render to God what is God's. My child belongs to God. Therefore, he needs to be nurtured and sheltered, yes, sheltered until he is strong enough with God's armour to go out into a hostile world and be an unflickering light.

I don't know any Kindergarteners who can do this.....I know very few High School Seniors who can yet do this. They are not ready; they are not mature enough in their reasoning to explain why homosexuality is a sin according to God's word. They sure are not ready to take on an authority figure such as a teacher or professor and contradict her/him!

With research proving our young people are being influenced by liberal educators in college to LEAVE their FAITH; then we need to step back and determine what WE can do to stop this.

"...by the end of their freshman year in college, between 75 and 88 percent have left the church." Agape Press

"After they graduate from high school or move away from home, just two out of five teens contend it is 'very likely' that they will attend a Christian church on a regular basis, and another two out of five say it is 'somewhat likely.'' Agape Press

"...the recent federal court decision to bar the teaching of theory of intelligent design in the Dover Area School District in Pennsylvania is yet another reason why parents should get their kids out of public schools. Columnist Cal Thomas says the ruling should awaken religious conservatives to the futility of trying to make a secular state reflect their beliefs."

"...many parents who would never send their kids to a Sunday school that teaches false doctrine are content to place those same kids in state schools five days a week where they are taught doctrines and ideas in conflict with their faith." Agape Press

"...One of the great tragedies of American Christianity has been the near universal failure of its leaders to boldly proclaim the inherent dangers lurking within America's government-owned and controlled schools..." Agape Press

"The mission field is not just overseas; it is right here. And this mission effort requires a more serious commitment than just handling out tracts or sharing a testimony.

God will, however, hold us accountable for our stewardship of our children."
Dr. Voddie Baucham


Educating our children in a Christian

environment for 12 years

is one thing WE CAN DO!

We need to do it before it is

too late.......

c~b~n

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