4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. ~ Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Like me, I know many of you are concerned about the state of our education system. Education is near and dear to my heart. Although the Lord has called me to be a minister of his Word and Sacrament, and to pastor his people, another of the things I love is to teach young people. And it was of interest to me when I read in the news yesterday that one of the items of candidate Joe Cunningham’s campaign platform is education. Here is the quote from ABC News 15:
“It’s past time for South Carolina to have an education governor,” Cunningham said. “For too long, Governor McMaster has abandoned our schools and ignored our teachers. I will never turn my back on our teachers because you are worth everything, we can give you and then some. Last spring, my campaign released a plan to end the teacher shortage by making historic investments in South Carolina’s education system, starting with raising teacher pay.”[1]
Let me state upfront that what candidate Cunningham proposes is noble. If I were still teaching in the public school system, these would be words that I would want to hear. For far too long, teachers have been promised many things by politicians that never come to fruition. For seven of my ten years teaching, I had to deal with a pay raise freeze due to the politicians. Each year they would tell us it would end, which took seven years. So, I can see why candidate Cunningham has gained the support of the South Carolina Education Association (SCEA).
What I want to bring out in this post does not concern so much about teacher investments but rather the education of our children. I believe the discussion of who oversees children’s education needs to be brought to the table. Christians in our country and state have given too much wiggle room to politicians and those in charge of setting classroom curricula. We have allowed the precedent of social agendas over and against reading, writing, and arithmetic. And when I say “we,” I mean Christian parents.
Let me give you two examples. Betsy McCaughey reported in the New York Post this past December about an issue at the Spreckels Union School District in California. At one of their schools, teachers were allowed to coach a 12-year-old daughter on becoming a boy, choosing a boy’s name, and then hiding this from the family. The article also says that Maine’s Department of Education reports between 13% and 18% of public high school students say they are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or unsure of their sexual identity. And therefore, the teachers explore the achievements of LGBTQ+ plus individuals, not just in health class but also in history and social studies.[2]
The second recent example in the news informs about drag queen story hour. If you’re unfamiliar with this, you can put it in your search engines and find plenty of news articles, but the one I read comes from the Washington Post on June 23rd. This report suggests there is nothing inherently sexual about defying traditional gender norms. Monica Hesse, the columnist, defended drag queens reading to children as young as the pre-K ages.[3] And NBC News reported that the attempts to shut down the drag queen story hour had been challenged. Their report states that these attempts attack freedom of expression and imagination.[4] And if you think this isn’t happening in South Carolina, I’m sorry to tell you it is.[5]
It is on this point that we, as Christian parents, even more so as Christian citizens, need to realize our duty concerning the education of our children. We have allowed too much of the world’s influence on our children. I’ve been reading A.A. Hodge’s commentary on The Westminster Confession of Faith. He reminds us that although God has created government as a divine institution, we must obey His commands over and against the government when they are in opposition to what his Word teaches. He states:
“Civil government is a divine institution, and hence the duty of obedience to our legitimate rulers is a duty owed to God as well as to our fellow-men. Some have supposed that the right or legitimate authority of human government has its foundation ultimately in “the consent of the governed,” “the will of the majority,” or in some imaginary “social compact” entered into by the forefathers of the race at the origin of social life. It is self-evident, however, that the divine will is the source of all government; and the obligation to obey that will, resting upon all moral agents, is the ultimate ground of all obligation to obey human governments.”[6]
Indeed, it is good to obey human governments when government laws follow God’s commands. However, we must stand up for what the Lord teaches in his Word when they don’t. That is especially true when it involves the education of our children. Candidate Joe Cunningham may have virtuous and biblical ideas about investing resources into the education system. I hope that is authentic. Still, as Christians, we must keep watch and research what our politicians say they will do. Will we take charge of our children’s education, or will we continue to pass the responsibility to the politicians? I believe this is one topic Christian parents must be aware of concerning their children. God has given us the responsibility to guard not only the hearts but also the minds of our children. We must take charge and stop allowing the government, school districts, and liberal educators to impress upon our children’s minds things that are unholy and immoral.
[1] https://wpde.com/news/local/joe-cunningham-receives-south-carolina-education-association-endorsement-in-governors-rac. Accessed on 09/28/2022 at 11:40 AM.
[2] https://nypost.com/2021/12/22/how-public-schools-brainwash-young-kids-with-harmful-transgender-ideology/. Accessed on 09/28/2022 at 11:49 AM.
[3] https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/06/23/drag-queen-story-hour/. Accessed on 09/28/2022 at 11:56 AM.
[4] https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/drag-queens-story-hour-goes-on-rcna34169. Accessed on 09/28/2022 at 11:59 AM.
[5] https://www.cbsnews.com/dfw/news/drag-queen-reading-hour-at-library-draws-controversy/. Accessed on 09/28/2022 at 12:02 PM.
[6] https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/aahodge/The_Westminster_Confession_of_Faith_A_C_-_A_A_Hodg.pdf Accessed on 09/28/2022 at 12:12 AM.
Andrews PCA 