Posted on 11/26/2004 10:54:06 AM PST by dukeman
Let me (once again) pass on my one word for all parents regarding public schools: FLEE
This story isn't startling in its news. I just thought mention of the PEERS test might be helpful.
" even Christian students are growing up to become a part of a society with an increasingly secular-humanistic and socialistic worldview."
As a Youth Leader for our church, this is a HUGE problem that I have to grapple with constantly.
If what they're being taught at Church, in the 3 hours a week that I have their attention, isn't being reinforced and put into practice at home, it just makes the battle all the more difficult.
Even the parents often find excuse after excuse to keep their teens preoccupied with school sports/band/chorus, etc - consistently giving the Church second and sometimes third priority. These parents are members of the church, no less.
I've found that so few really put forth an effort into giving their children a sound spiritual upbringing. I end up having to un-do, or re-do quite a bit.
I have proposed having an after-school study time at the church where kids can study and also be taught history or science from a Christian perspective, but the kids are too busy with band or sports. In the process, they are assimilating to the secular world and its mindset. It's sad
If even if you "flee", there are a thousand students who do not "flee". Those students will be the future democrats/socialist of america. The DNC wants to train them to blindly vote for democrats by stigmatizing conservatives.
Your tax dollars will still be used to train those future politicians to tax you more.
Keep plugging. The Kingdom needs you! :-)
As a parent of teens, what I am upset with in the church is how watered down the youth programs are! They're little more than entertainment and talks about not having sex before marriage. As good as the second item is, it has to be put on a foundation of solid Biblical knowledge and doctrine. I agree that parents have abdicated that responsibility, but I'll have to share that with the youth ministries - at least in our area.
bump for later read
Liberals who live to corrupt children try to sell the idea that sitting across from an "out and proud" homosexual will have no negative effect on children, but any mention of God, especially in the form of a prayer, will have a great negative effect. It's appalling. (And it's appalling that I am even having to compare these two things.) They think the mere mention of the possiblity of intelligent design is offensive and coercive, yet they can present any idea contrary to Christian beliefs they want and we are just supposed to realize that it's a diverse world out there so shut up and take it. A Christmas tree might coerce a child into positive thoughts -- gasp! -- about Christianity, but a homosexual teacher can discuss his alternative lifestyle with kindergarteners and that's just fine.
This is such a load of crap. I don't see how one is supposed to interpret the Bible as a document that exposes individual liberty and the accumulation of wealth through ownership of private property. The bible sets rules for ownership of slaves but not a monetary relationship between master and servant. I don't see Christ as the great promoter of capitalism. The New Testament has the surrendering of wealth as a virtue. The Bible is littered with examples of those seeking wealth an morally bad. I hold before you the sign of Ayn Rand. This is the woman who evokes hissing and rage from both socialists and religionists. That's because she strikes right at the heart of their altruism hustle.
Secular humanism is not socialism. It is the advancement of the idea that we can hold moral values of decent social behavior without relying on commandments from an unreachable being. That is not to say that social values supposedly having a Divine origin are bad. Condemning murder is a good thing no matter how you arrive at this value. The idea that no king has a Divine right to do whatever he wishes to his subjects because that is the sole province of God is a good idea. It can be used to put the gangster dictators in check. This was the single greatest accomplishment of Moses when he carved commandments into stone and ascribed these as of Divine origin. It locked up authority for basic social rules to an unreachable, tamper-proof source.. A man-made construct, albeit.
I remember my Catholic friends twenty years ago bemoaning the clergy admonishing the parish that it was their obligation to surrender ten percent of their yearly earnings to the Church. Ten years later the Catholic Church is nearly wrecked from homosexuals using the allure of altruism to mentally drug the minds of millions while they were raping young boys in secrete. This is the collectivist mentality that Rand warns about.
The historical secular humanist is the individual striking out against the yoke of the Church. Galileo is a notable example. He routinely used his great mind, the mind of an individual, to explore the sciences with ideas contrary to the Churchs view of science. More than once he ran afoul of the church and suffered the consequences of this collectivist mob.
Any Rand is the thumb in the eye of the socialists and the religionists because as she puts it well, they both use the altruism as their fundamental premise to get control over individuals and their property.
Had it not been for the Copernican revolution the scientific revolution could not have occurred. The second Copernican revolution will have a far greater impact on civilization.
After 2,000 years of indoctrination people today have been as quick to resist the new Copernican revolution as people resisted the First Copernican revolution 250 years ago.
Reality will prevail now as it did then.
I hope you find safe outlets for your anger.
This is something many of us already knew.
ping
Some of that focus is more related to a triage approach to teaching children. I agree that the foundations must be taught. Some of those in youth programs are just trying to get the most urgent messages out to prevent immediate problems.
I recently began reading Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity, by Nancy Pearcey. The first page of the "Forward" defines "worldview" as "the window by which we view the world, and decide, often subconsiously, what is real and important, or unreal and unimportant."
Besides the definition, the book also covers religion in the public/private sphere, Darwinism, science and worldview, how our worldview influences our efforts at evangelism, etc. I recommend to you, and to all parents.
I should also have mentioned that the book contains numerous references and pages devoted to John Dewey and his influence on shaping the worldview through the educational process.
I've heard of that book. Sounds interesting. I'll have to pick up a copy.
And I'm glad you did as the work of the Nehemiah Inst. is defintely worth mentioning.
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