Exodus Mandate Encourages Removal of Christian Children from Public School

by Lori Arnold

from Northwest Christian Times, September 2002

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The way E. Ray Moore sees it, the ABCs of public education stand for Avoid Bad Curriculum. As a result, he believes all Christians are mandated to remove their children from public school. Just as Moses led his people out of captivity in Egypt, Moore hopes his Exodus Mandate campaign (see URL link below) will yield a return to the educational Promised Land.

"Being salt and light is a valuable theology, but it is misapplied here," said Moore, a pastor. "You are putting your children at harm." The harm, he said, comes from anti-Christian, anti-family values that are being thrust on children, while basic educational principles such as reading, writing and math, are being sacrificed.

"The schools are getting much worse," he said, describing them as a nationalized model that, through federal funding requirements, has squelched local control. He said children are not trained missionaries and are ill-equipped to fight such cultural demons as homosexuality, abortion, humanism and moral relativism. Such topics and philosophies, he said, are false doctrines that are poisoning America's youngest Christians at a time when they are most vulnerable.

Moore launched his campaign nearly five years ago and won support a year later from Dr. D. James Kennedy, president of Coral Ridge Ministries. For most of its five years, however, Moore's project languished in relative obscurity until this spring, when Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, began publicizing Moore's campaign on his national radio program. "We were swimming against the stream, against the current, even against the Christian community," Moore said.

|| Propelling the Movement ||

Since Dobson took up the torch, however, interest in the Exodus movement has seeped into the Christian landscape, prompting debate among Christians. In May 2002, Moore released _Let My Children Go: Why Parents Must Remove Their Children from Public Schools Now_, a 352-page book (see URL link below) of Moore's personal experiences and his research into the issue of what he calls government schools. This summer, Moore said he distributed more than 250 copies of his book to some of America's most prominent Christian leaders.

Moore said he hopes to instigate a public debate on the issue among "people of good will," creating a discussion that will bear Exodus fruit. He likens the movement to what transpired after the Titanic rammed an iceberg, rendering the floating city useless. No doubt, he said, the crew and passengers heatedly debated the merits of trying to scoop out the water and save the vessel or grabbing life vests to abandon ship.

"Christians are not doing right;" said Moore of the enrollment of their children in government schools, "they are not being obedient to the expressed will of God." He said the Scriptures clearly state that God gave education to the family, with the assistance of the church.

He cites Deuteronomy 6:1-9, Proverbs 22:6 and Ephesians 6:1-4. Nowhere in Scripture, he said, does God suggest delegating the educational role to the state. Even America's early educational system was based through the church, with the state system developing during the 20th century under the influence of Horace Mann, a Unitarian, and John Dewey, a humanist.

|| Making Waves ||

While Moore is clearly ready to abandon ship, Forrest L. Turpen, executive director of the Christian Education Association, is looking for the life vests. The goal of Turpen's association, which represents 7,500 members (95-percent of whom are public school teachers), is to encourage, equip and empower Christian educators.

"If you believe that God works through relationships, and I do, and if you were to remove the salt and light, students as well as teachers, you are removing a significant witness for Christ in the student movement, which has been tremendously significant," Turpen said. The administrator calls the Exodus movement troublesome on several fronts.

Turpen said that, for him, the biggest issue is not what is happening politically through the legislature and curricula, but what parents are doing to train their children. "If we are training our children as the way they should go as it says in Proverbs, it matters not significantly what is being taught in that school setting, recognizing that teachers have tremendous influence."

A more appropriate solution, he said, is for Christian leaders and parents to invest their time and energy into bolstering the public schools. "What has the church done to impact schools?" he asked, adding that most churches are located within blocks of a public school. "Have they adopted that school? Do they know the teachers? Does the pastor know the principal?"

Turpen said another aspect to the puzzle is the role student ministries play on campuses. He said new networks of youth ministries, more sophisticated para-church organizations and invigorated crop of youth pastors and leaders have created an impressive mission field, particularly on high school campuses.

"There are a significant number of Christians who are salt in the public schools," he said. "They are a haven of safety. If you remove them, you remove God's opportunity to work in that environment. God is alive and well and probably more significant than when I was in school."

Doug Tegner, executive director of the National Network of Youth Ministries, agrees with Turpen, saying that although he is sensitive to the argument of sending children in as missionaries when they are not equipped, he believes significant ministry is in fact making public schools a better place. "We see it as a very serious, needy mission field," Tegner said.

According to the most recent statistics he has, half-a-million Christians are involved in public schools as either teachers, staff or coaches. "They have a commission," he said. "They are right in the middle of a missionary effort." Much of the effort is orchestrated through Campus Alliance, a network of more than 61 para-church organizations representing 100,000 churches and 250,000 paid and volunteer youth workers.

"We are working, partnering with public schools," Tigner said. "We want to be an ally, an asset they look to for help." In addition to staff and volunteers, another estimated three million Christian teenagers are enrolled in public schools, the executive director said. Of the 56,000 junior and senior high campuses in America, both public and private, at least 33,000 have some form of Christian presence such as Bible studies, Moms in Touch, Christian clubs, outreach training and evangelism. "There is a Christian community to reach out and stay involved," he said.

Those figures, he said, do not include Christians who are serving on school boards, helping to influence curricula selection and assessment. "There are Christian parents right there in the middle of that standing guard," he said. "If Christian adults leave public schools where is the source of truth, justice and godly values?"

|| A Matter of Economics? ||

A final problem, Turpen and Tegner said, is the cost factor, something they believe that many families -- especially those with stay-at-home moms or single-parent families -- simply cannot afford.

Moore nixes the notion that private schooling is a luxury that Christian cannot afford. Besides quality private schools, Moore also advocates homeschooling, an approach he and his wife, Gail, used in tandem with private schooling. "It [homeschooling] is growing at 7- to 15-percent per year," he said. "This could be the big religious movement in our lifetime, if it continues to develop at the current pace."

Moore said he believes 75- to 80-percent of the population can afford private schools merely by reprioritizing their expenses such as eliminating pricey vacations. "If people saw Christian schooling as a necessity and a commandment in Scripture, they would find a way to do it," he said.

As for the 20- to 25-percent who truly cannot afford private school, Moore said there's another option he pushing. "We want to challenge the church to pick up that mission and provide charity education," he said.

Los Angeles public school teacher, Rob Downs, believes Moore is on the right track. Downs has become a vocal critic of both public schools and a curriculum that's becoming increasingly pro-homosexual.

"Given the indoctrination that is going on, there is nothing we can give our children to protect them," Downs said. That said, the teacher said he fears any major Exodus will be met with counter moves from the establishment.

"Christians need to take a stand to protect their kids," he said. "We need to leave the system because it 's so bad... But if enough of them did, I think they would come after the kids. Why don't they take care of their own business first, clean up their own mess?" he said.

|| Related URL Addresses ||

_Northwest Christian Times_:
http://www.christiantimes.com

Exodus Mandate Project:
http://www.exodusmandate.org/

_Let My Children Go_ by E. Ray Moore, Jr.:
http://www2.whidbey.net/jmboyes/LMCG-C.htm

The Alliance for the Separation of School & State:
http://www.sepschool.org/

Rescue 2010:
http://www.nace-cee.org/rescue2010.htm

The Nehemiah Institute, Inc.:
http://www.nehemiahinstitute.com/

Christian Education Awareness Network (CEANet):
http://www2.whidbey.net/jmboyes

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