Dobson Again Calls for Parents to Pull Kids Out
July 24, 2002 - 16:40
Dobson Again Calls For Parents To Pull Kids Out
Compiled by Ted Olsen.
Christianity Today
James Dobson says he cried on his last day as a public
school teacher. Now he's crying for others to leave the schools.
In his _Focus on the Family_ radio broadcasts yesterday (audio)
and today (audio), Dobson reiterated a call on his March 28 program
for parents to pull their children out of public schools in some
states.
"What I was saying was that this godless and immoral curriculum
and influence in the public schools is gaining momentum across
the nation in ways that were unheard of just one year ago,"
he said on Monday's program. "It's as though the dam has
now broken and activists representing various causes, including
homosexuality, are rushing through the breach in ways that are
shocking."
Though his March 28 program only mentioned California schools,
on yesterday's show Dobson added several states to the list, especially
those with "safe schools" legislation that prohibit
discrimination against homosexuality: Connecticut, California,
Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Washington, Wisconsin, Vermont,
and Washington, D.C. He also mentioned Rhode Island, Pennsylvania,
Hawaii, and Alaska as promoting homosexuality.
"It isn't just California that has drifted into this dangerous
stuff," he said. "This is where we are, especially on
both coasts, but to some degree throughout the nation."
Much of Dobson's broadcasts emphasized curriculums that encourage
acceptance of homosexuality, but he added, "The shocking
thing is that this threat to kids is much, much broader than the
homosexual movement. It doesn't stop there. It is aimed at the
very core of the Judeo-Christian system of values, the very core
of scriptural values. I'm telling you that is not an overstatement."
As an example, Dobson spent a huge part of his Monday broadcast
reading from _Conversations with God For Teens_, which was brought
to his attention by _World_ magazine's Joel Belz (_World_ criticized
the book in its May 11 issue). "[The book] makes me want
to throw up, pardon my language," Dobson said. In today's
broadcast, he read from another book, _A Child's Book of Blessings_.
Though the theme of the broadcast was pulling kids out of public
schools, his main complaint with _Conversations with God For Teens_
and _A Child's Book of Blessings_ is that they're part of a Scholastic
book club effort targeted at Christian schools and homeschooling
families.
Dobson called on pastors to join the fight. "I wish every
pastor out there believed that, understood it, that it can't be
ignored," he said. "It's not as though 'leave me alone
and I'll do what's right inside the four walls of my church and
my people will be okay.' Your people are going out into that world
and your children are interacting every day with those that want
to teach them contradictory concepts that do go to the very heart
of the message, particularly the notion that there is truth."
Dobson also suggested that Christian teachers might want to leave
public schools. Yesterday, he said:
"I want to say to all my teacher friends that are out there,
I know that you can't help it. In some schools, you have to be
a member of the NEA in order to work there. I don't think I'd
work there. Now I'm talking for myself. Maybe that's easy for
me to say; my livelihood no longer depends on teaching. But I
couldn't be in an organization that's supporting that kind of
anti-Christian nonsense."
Today, he voiced support for public schools teachers:
"What we said yesterday and what we are saying today will
be very frustrating to them because they will feel attacked and
ridiculed. And the implication would be there, I'm afraid, that
we don't respect them or don't stand with them. It's not because
of them, it's in spite of them that we are saying there is a problem
here, and our children might even take priority -- and in my view,
must take priority -- even over our desire to stay and influence
the schools."
Dobson pleaded for parents to contact him on the issue. "The
echo can be deafening sometimes, especially on an issue that's
controversial like this. I like to hear both sides."
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