Who Is In Charge Of The Kids?

It used to be that it was pretty much taken for granted that parents were responsible for their kids. That was the default position of American society based on the biblical principles that the nation was founded upon. In fact, it was such an accepted point of view that hardly anyone ever even considered a different point of view. The traditional family unit was assumed to be right, and based on that belief, parents were responsible for their children. They were responsible for feeding and clothing them, taking care of their health and education, and shaping their moral and spiritual values. That is not, of course, to say that all parents did it well, but that was the default belief. Apparently not so anymore in the minds of many people. And as it turns out, a different way of thinking has now been brought out into the open because of the societal chaos caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It seems that a Philadelphia public school teacher expressed concern on Twitter about what he considered a problem that was bound to occur when the students had to be taught online while they were at home. He specifically expressed concern about the “damage” conservative parents might cause if they overheard some of the lessons he was teaching the kids about gender and sexuality. It seems that though he is the one who got caught expressing this idea, he was not alone in his concern. His thoughts were specifically directed toward other teachers, and he wanted to get their feedback about what they thought about how to deal with the problem.

But lest you think this is just a problem in the Northeast, think again. Parents in a Tennessee school district were asked to sign a waver that they would not eavesdrop on their kids’ online lessons.

So what is going on here? Why would the schools be concerned about parents knowing what their kids are being taught? They are concerned because, in many places, public schools are no longer limiting their teaching to making sure that kids get a good academic education. They have become indoctrination centers with the aim of engineering social change – and this observation is not hyperbole. They now see a big part of their job to be socialization. They are teaching social justice instead of “reading, writing, and rithmatic.” In the words of the teacher from Philadelphia, “If we are engaged in the messy work of destabilizing a kid’s racism or homophobia or transphobia – how much do we want their classmates’ parents piling on?”

What? You are not serious, right?

Yes, this is deadly serious. These teachers may think that they are teaching a moral imperative, but where does their moral stance come from? It certainly does not come from the Bible. No, it comes from naturalistic philosophy.

Naturalism is the belief that the natural universe is all that exists and that there is no God or any transcendent reality. So, when it comes to determining moral values, they recognize no objective source for it. Rather, they get to make it up for themselves. They decide what is moral and immoral (thus what they will teach the kids) based purely on their own personal preferences. And they get to do just that if they can muster the power to push out any competing moral view – which is exactly what they are trying to do by blocking parents from knowing what is being taught.

While these atheistic teachers truly believe that their moral beliefs, that are based on naturalistic philosophy, are moral, they are actually immoral and massively damaging to the kids. It is damaging first of all because the things they are teaching are causing moral confusion in children who are not yet able to sort these kinds of things out for themselves. But it is also damaging because it is literally taking advantage of an unsuspecting captive audience and working from a position of power and trust to destroy the nuclear family. They believe it is not the job of parents to raise their kids, it is their job.

This is what happens when non-biblical worldview beliefs become dominant. And this is why all Christians need to get up to speed on understanding worldview principles. It is only with that understanding that Christian parents can not only be clear about what to teach their kids, but can also clearly recognize the evil influences that others are trying to foist on them so they can effectively push back.

Freddy Davis is the president of MarketFaith Ministries. He is the author of numerous books and has a background as an international missionary, pastor, radio host, worldview trainer, and entrepreneur. Freddy is a graduate of Florida State University with a BS in Communication, and holds MDiv and DMin degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a popular speaker, particularly on the topic of worldview and its practical implications for the Christian life. He lives in Tallahassee, FL, with his wife Deborah.

You may also contact Freddy at Leadership Speakers Bureau to schedule him for speaking or leadership engagements.

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