Christians Not Powerless Against Court
September 04, 2001 - 17:22
Christians Not Powerless Against Court
The State Columbia, South Carolina - Tuesday August 29, 2000 By:
E. Ray Moore Jr.
The concern expressed in our community by many about the loss
of Christian principles in our public schools as a result of the
Supreme Court’s Santa Fe decision is commendable. The courage
of the Batesburg-Leesville School Board is admirable. The Christian
Community, especially many pastors, are in a quandary about what
to do next. It seems clear that the curtain has dropped on any
expression of Christianity in our public schools. Whether Christians
like it or not, it’s the law. It’s too late to reverse
half a century of Supreme Court rulings.
The Congress will not implement the system of checks and balances
to correct these errors. The federal courts won’t police
themselves, and state government and legislatures don’t have
the stomach for a fight. And a protest is not as good as a plan.
Starting with Everson vs. Board of Education in 1947, the first
case to dismiss the Bible from American public schools, the Supreme
Court has stripped Christian principles from the public school
system. Over one dozen cases have been handed down until the recent
Santa Fe case, which restricts student prayers at athletic events.
While many Christians question the validity of these rulings,
they must acknowledge their reality and that the public schools
and society accept them as valid. These rulings are now so embedded
in Supreme Court jurisprudence as to be practically irreversible,
at least in the near future. Christian, it’s the law.
The Christian community is not, however, powerless in the face
of these rulings. What kind of a plan would be best for Christian
churches and families?
It would help to understand the history of state-sponsored public
schools. They were the creation of Horace Mann and the Harvard
Unitarians in the 1840’s. For the first 200 years of American
History, from 1620 to 1840, all schools in America were private,
family or church based, with no involvement by state or federal
government.
Mann promised that a general moral code (i.e., the Ten Commandments)
would be maintained in these state sponsored public schools, but
that doctrines, such as the Trinity and redemption, should be
taken up by the churches. While these new public schools were
never Christian, they served us well for many years. Until the
1960’s and 1970’s, most Christians did not feel discriminated
against in the public school system.
The churches also have a law called the Holy Scriptures. These
govern and rule personal, family and corporate church behavior.
Many Christians compartmentalize their faith; that is they don’t
allow Scriptures to address certain areas; still the scriptural
law is written to be obeyed. One area where Christians have historically
compartmentalized has been the education of the children. But
such texts as Deuteronomy 6:1-9 and Matthew 28:18-20 disallow
compartmentalization in the education of children.
Deuteronomy 6:7 says ”You shall teach God’s word diligently
to your sons.”
The churches and Christian families are not powerless in the
face of such Supreme Court rulings. A protest is not as good as
a plan. And this is the plan: We must now consider leaving public
schools for the Promised Land of Christian schools and home schooling.
After all, Christian, it’s the law.
------------- Mr. Moore, a retired chaplain in the U.S. Army
Reserve, is director of Exodus Mandate, a ministry to encourage
Christian schools and home-schooling. Contact him at www.exodusmandate.org
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