I recently got a tract from Frontline Ministries in Columbia, South Carolina that dealt with Christian pastors ignoring what goes on in government schools. The author of the tract, E. Ray Moore, Th. M. noted some interesting statistics regarding the attitudes of many Christian pastors regarding the mushrooming anti-Christian bias in what passes for education in public (government) schools. This is something I have noted in evangelical circles for almost five decades now. Many evangelicals, pastors included, if given their choice, will defend public education rather than expose its evils. Then they wonder why they have problems with their kids who went to public schools!
Rev. Moore observed: “The most significant cause retarding the growth of Christian influence in our country is the refusal of pastors to teach God’s mandate for Christian education, and their ‘taking cover’ rather than addressing the urgent need for Christian education. Many pastors ‘take cover’ for fear of offending public school employees and families in their churches. Instead of rising to lead by calling churches to begin Christian schools or by encouraging homeschooling, pastors ignore education altogether…” Or in some cases, actually encourage families who are homeschooling to cease and enter their kids in public schools. I know a little about this latter pursuit, as it was tried on my wife and I when we homeschooled our kids. We resisted it, but it was there. It seems as if some pastors feel parents are not qualified to teach their own kids and that the public school “professionals” are the only ones who should do that. The brainwashing has been going on for a long time.
As I write this, I am not saying that everyone who works or has worked in public education is an evil person. Many public schools still have dedicated teachers, but in most cases, the system they work for will not allow them to do their jobs properly. Rev. Moore also noted: “In 2017, the Barna Research Group published a report that revealed that only 9% of conservative pastors strongly and aggressively support Christian schooling. Another 21% support Christian schools and may even have their own children there but fail to teach or encourage their members to do the same. Another 28% if pastors never address Christian education or homeschooling , but present instead a position of ‘opposition’ to Christian schooling. This research reveals a lack of moral courage in the pulpit.” It also reveals that many pastors have been taught, probably in their cemeteries, I mean seminaries, that education is one of those “worldly” issues you just leave alone and never discuss – at least not in a sermon or a Sunday School class! Such thinking is the result of dispensational theology in this country after the War of Northern Aggression – and it runs deep!
Moore also noted that “Dan Smithwick, director and founder of the Nehemiah Institute, reports that 80-85% of church youth attend public schools and that 80% of them embrace a strong secular view of life.” And we wonder why we are losing our children! It shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what’s going on, but it appears that many feel it does.
I recall, when we were in West Virginia during the textbook protest there in the mid-1970s, I ran across a pastor that I told that one of my callings in life was to oppose Communism. He told me flat out he thought I was nuts! I don’t know if he was one of the pastors that opposed the rotten public school books there or not–but if he was, then he couldn’t see the communism rampant in those books or in the school system he was supposed to be opposed to. I’ve often thought to myself–with friends like that, do you really need enemies?
So many pastors in our day preach a “feel good” gospel, or they warn their congregations to avoid any topic deemed “worldly” because we are “not of this world.” And while Christians, in a certain sense, may not be of this world, they do live in it for a period of time and they should learn to deal with, and oppose, what is anti-Christian and not pretend it doesn’t exist. Christian education is out there and it is needful for Christian kids. Sending the kids to public schools is a great way to let “that old deluder Satan” educate your kids without your realizing it.
Past time to awake out of slumber and realize what’s going on before you lose your children!
August 15, 2023
~ The Author ~
Al Benson Jr. is the editor and publisher of “The Copperhead Chronicle“, a quarterly newsletter that presents history from a pro-Southern and Christian perspective. He has written for several publications over the years. His articles have appeared in “The National Educator,” “The Free Magnolia,” and the “Southern Patriot.” I addition he was the editor of, and wrote for, “The Christian Educator” for several years. In addition to The Copperhead Chronicles, Al also maintains Revised History.
He is currently a member of the Confederate Society of America and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and has, in the past, been a member of the John Birch Society. He is the co-author, along with Walter D. Kennedy, of the book “Lincoln’s Marxists” and he has written for several Internet sites as well as authoring a series of booklets, with tests, dealing with the War of Northern Aggression, for home school students.
Mr. Benson is a highly respected scholar and writer and has graciously allowed the family of Kettle Moraine Publications to publish his works. We are proud to have his involvement with each of our projects.
He and his wife now live in northern Louisiana.