Coalition Encourages Parents to Remove

Children from California Public Schools

Phyllis Schlafly, Star Parker, Robert Simonds & Ray Moore Among Leaders

By Jim Day

As readers of the MetroVoice may recall, we have been reporting on the fact that California Governor Schwarzenegger has signed legislation (SB 777) which mandates that public school children be indoctrinated to ‘accept as normal’ the homosexual lifestyle and other forms of sexual deviancy.

As a result of failure to pass a referendum to repeal this legislation in early January, a broad coalition of Christian grassroots organizations gathered together by Exodus Mandate and California Exodus have endorsed Randy Thomasson’s Campaign for Children and Families calling for California families and churches to rescue their children from California’s public schools.

The growing coalition includes Phyllis Schlafly the founder of Eagle Forum; Denise Kanter with Considering Homeschooling Ministry; Dr. Robert Simonds with Citizens for Excellence in Education; Star Parker with the Coalition on Urban Renewal & Education; Patch Blakey with the Association of Classical and Christian Schools; Dave and Kim d’Escoto with Dexios; Dan Smithwick with the Nehemiah Institute; Alan Schaeffer with the Alliance for Separation of School and State; Linda Harvey with Mission America; Dr. Ron Gleason with California Exodus; and Chaplin Ray Moore, Jr., President and Chairman of Exodus Mandate, which has chapters in states across the country. These organizations (which are only the tip of the iceberg) intend to provide information in one form or another to California parents and pastors concerning the new school legislation, how it promotes and mainstream’s sexual deviancy among children, and what alternatives to California’s public schools are available.

According to Phyllis Schlafly, “Many of us have worked to reform public schools for years. Unfortunately, SB 777 and the related legislation represent a repudiation of 2,000 years of Christian moral teaching on human sexuality, marriage, and the family. The result is that California’s schools are now promoting behaviors and lifestyles that are physically and spiritually dangerous for children. Consequently, in California, parents must try to find alternatives to the public schools.”

The Chairman for California Exodus, Dr. Ron Gleason, theologian and pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church, Yorba Linda, CA (as well as the stated clerk of the South Coast Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America), stated: “As a parent and grandparent, I want those near and dear to me to have a quality education. This country excels in every social, economical, scientific, and political category known to man, but gets low grades on the education of its children. We should be leading the world in developing well-educated young people. This role is first and foremost the responsibility of parents.”

Education, however, is not the only concern for Dr. Gleason and other members of the coalition. California Exodus’ website (www.californiaexodus.org) makes a strong case in relation to the health problems, which will be exacerbated by SB 777. The site points out that by mainstreaming homosexuality and other deviant lifestyles, the new legislation makes it inevitable that more students are going to become trapped in those lifestyles. Therefore, more students are likely to eventually contract AIDS, anal cancer, syphilis, gonorrhea, and a host of other sexually transmitted diseases, as well as become substance abusers and alcoholics at higher rates than they otherwise would. Dr. Gleason’s site states, “For these reasons, we believe that no child should be educated in California’s public schools because no child should be subjected to these physical, moral, and spiritual risks. The fringe left and homosexual and other sexual deviant activists have hijacked the California public schools with Governor Schwarzenegger’s cooperation. Consequently, we urge California parents to rescue their children from the California public school system by removing them immediately and providing them with a Christian education in a Christian school, homeschool, or other alternative to the California public schools.”

In offering hope and an alternative to leaving children in California public schools, California-based coalition member, Denise Kanter, Founder of Considering Homeschooling Ministry said, “We hope our ministry with its free resources and website will encourage families to provide their children with a safe Biblical home education.”

Dr. Robert Simonds, President of Citizens for Excellence in Education, also a California organization, added, “Now is the time for pastors and churches to fulfill their role in rescuing their own children and helping society by providing K-12 Christian education.”

Randy Thomasson of the California-based Campaign for Children and Families has witnessed the attacks on parental rights and sexual indoctrination of children over the last several years intensify. Thomasson pointed out, “First, the law allowed public schools to voluntarily promote homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality. Then, the law required public schools to accept homosexual, bisexual, and transsexual teachers as role models for impressionable children. Now, the law has been changed to effectively require the positive portrayal of homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality to six million children in California government-controlled schools. To rescue their children, loving parents need to find an alternative to government schools, and every church needs to make it a priority to help parents be in charge of their children’s education again.”

Chaplin Ray Moore, Jr., of Exodus Mandate stressed the urgency of making parents and pastors aware of how dangerous the new legislation is going to make public schools and that Christians must take up their God-given responsibilities to protect their children. Moore emphasized, “The Biblical and theological case for Christian families and churches to practice K-12 Christian schooling or homeschooling is strong. Christians should begin with the belief that children belong to the Lord and are a stewardship of the family, not the state.”

Moore went on to say that the coalition’s goal is the put into place programs and resources that will successfully extract 600,000 students from public schools this year. He said that’s about 10 percent of the California public school student population, and that would align with the percentage of the population that claims an affiliation with evangelical Christianity. “Obviously we would hope all the children would go,” he said.

Moore concluded with a strong appeal to believers, “This [legislation] is an egregious offense against a Holy God. If believers will stand up and act boldly, perhaps, in God’s mercy, He will grant us a Jericho type victory with a sudden shifting away from public schools toward Christian education.”

Bruce Shortt, author of The Harsh Truth About Public Schools, noted, “Christians have already become numb to the moral relativism that is taught in all public schools today. Now children will be told that their sexual orientation and gender are relative, too. No longer will children raised in these schools understand that God made us male and female with different, but complementary roles. Instead, children will be taught that sexual orientation and gender are merely a matter of personal choice. Thus, children will be told that because there are many sexual orientations and gender identities, they simply have to reach their own conclusions about which sexual orientation and gender ‘possibilities’ are ‘right for them.’ Along with this will come the message that you really can’t tell whether you like something unless you have tried it. The likely consequences of this for children, the institution of the family, our churches, and our culture are horrendous.”

End Comment

My fervent prayer and hope is that this movement to encourage parents to remove their children from the public education system will continue to grow and spread across the nation.

It should be noted that several of the organizations listed as part of the coalition have traditionally focused on ‘school reform.’ Praise God they have come to the realization that government-public schools cannot be ‘reformed.’ Praise God their eyes have been opened to the fact that our educational system is firmly in the hands of those who see our nation’s children as nothing more than human capital for a utopian, humanistic, global society which educational elitists world-wide are trying to create. A society I might add, without tolerance for anyone who holds to traditional Judeo-Christian values.