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
=======================================
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107,
this material is distributed without profit or payment
to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving this information for non-profit research and
educational purposes only.
=======================================
###
________________________________________________________________
GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/
|
