Taxation without Equal Representation
by Kathy Brown on March 7th, 2010 | 0 comments
This week Glenn Beck, on Fox News, made some incredible claims. He stated that the children of America are being indoctrinated in public school. He sited the example of textbook inaccuracies and general “progressive” influence in government schools. He touched lightly on what the root problem is when, in one quick comment, he said that God is left out of the system.
If you are a regular reader of this website you are probably groaning. Here we go again! Why is this a point so often emphasized? It is critical for many reasons. Here are a few of them:
*If the premise for education is the pursuit of truth, there must be a truth giver. Without acknowledging the identity of the arbitrator of morality and the designer of reality, each individual is left to determine the rules and boundaries for human behavior and endeavor. Because of misunderstanding the “separation of church and state,” only one of two religious ideologies is allowed into the public sector. (Foundational Presupposition Chart) Each has impact on social order in distinct ways. One benefits the culture at large, the other does not.
*When public dollars fund the instruction of children on behalf of parents, one worldview should not be preferred over another. In the case of America’s education template there is a financial penalty for those with an unrepresented religious view. Those who adhere to a theistic worldview not only pay for a contradictory message, they must support their own with tuition.
*If all ideas are equal, then there is no need to be concerned what pliable minds are taught. But all ideas are not equal and no amount of money poured on bad fundamentals will result in different outcomes. It has been said that the definition of a fool is someone who does the same thing over and over and expects a different result.
*Sympathy toward the poor, underachiever or handicapped usually justifies the ongoing practice of public education. The actual benefit to these categories of youngsters is hardly satisfying; it is pathetic. When parents are given the choice whether to leave or stay in the schools that are touted to be so helpful, there is a fast exit. One has to wonder what is really at the root of maintaining the status quo.
*Institutions that receive a stream of tax dollars need not compete in the marketplace. As their measure of success declines, more revenue floods in. Private schools, in contrast, are directly accountable to the customer: parents. Currently public schools are operated under union mandates. They are not student advocates; their focus is faculty and jobs.
*There has been, traditionally, much trust put in public education. Kids trot off to school without much inquiry by the adults who send them. Parents assume that the worldview they diligently built in their youngsters at home and in church will stand up to the twelve plus years of contrary instruction. Barna studies tell a much different story. The presuppositions nurtured by parents at home have be battered down and lost by early adulthood.
*The problems we see in politics, finance and family are not incidental. They are the reflection of a long, relentless battle against one kind of theology by the strident weapons of another. The majority of America has congregated at the pulpit of liberal preaching . . . and it shows.
There is a movement afoot to make changes. The great thing about America is our heritage. We were founded not by secular humanists, but by God-fearing men and women who fled from the tyranny of governmental religion. In the end they had to arm themselves and struggle against taxation without representation. As many are waking up to how the state has imposed one set of beliefs in education, while denying equal opportunity for any other, we need to do as those who have gone before us: stand up for freedom.
From Romans 1:20
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”
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