Friday, January 11, 2008

German Homeschoolers Flee the Country

WorldNetDaily has a disturbing article today about the German crack-down on homeschoolers. The article states that homeschooling families are starting to flee the country.

[A] German family wrote to object to such actions.

"The minister of education does not share your attitudes toward so-called homeschooling," said a government letter in response. "... You complain about the forced school escort of primary school children by the responsible local police officers. ... In order to avoid this in future, the education authority is in conversation with the affected family in order to look for possibilities to bring the religious convictions of the family into line with the unalterable school attendance requirement."

The European Human Rights Court earlier affirmed Germany's homeschool ban.
That specific case addressed in the opinion involved Fritz and Marianna Konrad, who filed the complaint in 2003 and argued that Germany's compulsory school attendance endangered their children's religious upbringing and promotes teaching inconsistent with the family's Christian faith.

The court said the Konrads belong to a "Christian community which is strongly attached to the Bible" and rejected public schooling because of the explicit sexual indoctrination programs that the courses there include.

The German court already had ruled that the parental "wish" to have their children grow up in a home without such influences "could not take priority over compulsory school attendance." The decision also said the parents do not have an "exclusive" right to lead their children's education.

The above quotes lead me to think these attacks are religious/spiritual in nature. I thank God we still live in a society where we are free to raise our children as we see fit. I applaud the parents in Germany who have not caved and have given up country, friends, and family to do what they feel called to do.

Part of the way this country goes against God is in giving the government the responsibilities that he gave to individuals. One of those responsibilities is that parents are to train up their children in the Lord. To me, this includes educating them from a Christian worldview.

2 comments:

Karen said...

You said, "Part of the way this country goes against God is in giving the government the responsibilities that he gave to individuals. One of those responsibilities is that parents are to train up their children in the Lord. To me, this includes educating them from a Christian worldview."

I absolutely agree. And since the Bible says in Deut. 6:7 that the Lord commands us to teach His words to our children, preventing families from doing so (and demanding that the opposite be taught to them)is denying the free exercise of religion.

Frances Clements said...

Karen,

Once again a great comment. Thanks for reading my blog.