Presbyterians, Baptists Concerned About Public Schools' Worldly Influence on Children
by Jim Brown and Allie Martin
June 16, 2005
(AgapePress) - Individuals and groups within two mainline Protestant denominations are urging attendees at their respective annual meetings to take a stand for righteousness in the public square by considering resolutions addressing the secular education their children are receiving in the nation's public schools.
A Tennessee pastor is calling on fellow members of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) to "remove their children from public schools and see to it that they receive a thoroughly Christian education." Pastor Steven Warhurst of Kingsport introduced the resolution on the floor of the PCA's General Assembly in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The resolution states, among other things, that "the public school system does not offer a Christian education, but officially claims to be 'neutral' with regard to Christ," and that "the public schools are by law humanistic and secular in their instruction" (emphasis in original). In response, the resolution encourages PCA officers and members to remove their children from the public school system and, instead, give them a Christian education "for the glory of God and the good of Christ's church."
Warhurst's resolution also states that "sending thousands of PCA children as 'missionaries' to their unbelieving teachers and classmates has failed to contribute to increasing holiness in public schools." The pastor says he grew up attending public schools, but that when he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior, he had to "unlearn" many of the things he had been taught.
"We are people who drank heavily from the trough of state education and realized that it's poisonous," Warhurst says, "and now we've found cisterns of living water, so to speak -- and we'd love other people to join us. I'd love to see every family in the Presbyterian Church in America take their children out of the public schools and train them in the fear and admonition of the Lord."
Warhurst, whose church consists mostly of home-schooling families, says Christian pastors have been silent on the issue far too long. He thinks he knows why that is.
"I think one reason pastors don't speak out against public schools or encourage Christian education is because people will get mad and leave [their church]. That's probably the primary reason: fear," he says. Additional factors, he says, could be "some ignorance of the public school system and what is really going on there" and "a lack of understanding of the Christian worldview."
The Tennessee pastor contends that many people do not understand that history, literature, and science can be taught from a Christian perspective. He tells WorldNetDaily that he remains optimistic about the chances of his resolution, despite what he hears to the contrary. "There are a lot of folks [in the PCA] who support Christian education," he says.
The PCA's 33rd General Assembly concludes in Chattanooga on Friday, June 17.
Next Week in Nashville
Meanwhile, a coalition of pro-family groups is encouraging the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) to allow a resolution regarding homosexuality in public schools to come up for a vote at next week's annual meeting.
The resolution submitted by Voddie Baucham and Bruce Shortt encourages every SBC church to investigate whether the school district in which it is located has any kind of club, curriculum or program that is favorable to homosexuality or presents it as a legitimate lifestyle. This week, nearly 50 pro-family groups sent a letter to Dr. Gene Mims, chairman of the SBC Resolutions Committee, urging him to move the proposed resolution out of committee and onto the floor during the denomination's annual meeting.
Diane Gramley, president of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania, feels the resolution makes sense. "We as Christians need to know what's going on in our public school system," she says. "Even as Christian parents, if we have kids in a public school system, we need to investigate."
Gramley is among the pro-family leaders who are asking SBC officials to allow the Southern Baptist delegates, known as "messengers," to vote on the Shortt-Baucham resolution at their yearly business meeting. She feels it is time the nation's largest evangelical denomination faced the issue of the homosexual agenda in public schools.
"Sometimes a little nudge from the church, encouraging parents to check into schools and homosexual activism, is needed," Gramley says. "This will give the messengers an opportunity to vote on this issue because, day in and day out, we here in the grassroots on the state level see homosexual activism in the schools, and we see on a daily basis how this is hurting our kids."
Gramley says the message encouraging the SBC to move the Shortt-Baucham proposal out of the resolution committee and to vote to approve it "would send a clear message to homosexual activists that enough is enough, and we want to protect our kids."
The Southern Baptist Convention's annual business meeting of the takes place June 20-21 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Jim Brown and Allie Martin, regular contributors to AgapePress, are reporters for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
