Children’s Education: Is Politics the Answer?

Well, the midterm elections are behind us now and we congratulate our elected officials for their victories. And now we continue in the fight over the conscience of our community.

A major issue in this past election cycle has been the public education of our children. You have no doubt heard story after story of drag queen story hour or obscenities in the books of the school libraries and other moral deviances establishing residence in the public school system. While this issue can easily and understandably take on a political tone, as ambassadors for Jesus Christ (2. Cor. 5:20), the Church has its own voice in this issue.

In Tulsa County, we are seeing more and more parents and citizens attending school board meetings. These meetings are an opportunity to learn what is going on within specific districts and it’s also a time for public comment. At several board meetings in Oklahoma this year parents have shared concerns about books available to children at public school libraries. There are books in our school libraries filled with obscene materials, including pornographic sexual descriptions, rape, incest, pedophilia, and more. Parents have read excerpts aloud and have shared why this material is inappropriate.

Unfortunately, we now live in a culture where we have to defend the idea that these things are not only immoral according to God’s authoritative word, but completely inappropriate for children. The Bible is clear that parents have a responsibility to steward the minds of their children according that which is true and honorable, pure and lovely, commendable and excellent (Phil. 4:8).  Are we then able to define these terms however we wish? Do we have the authority to tell God what is true or pure or honorable as the culture attempts on a regular basis?

These parents have offered solutions and ideas for how to better vet which books are sitting on shelves of our public school libraries. This has been going on for over a year with little to no desire for change.

At most school board meetings, citizens are allowed between 3-5 minutes to share a concern and the school board members cannot respond per policy. This policy creates frustration on the part of the citizen because it is a one-way conversation with no follow-up or response from the board members This lack of dialogue shuts out the community and creates a wedge between the school district and the parents and leaves parents frustrated feeling unheard. Without the ability to discuss a legitimate concern, true change is next to impossible and creates a groupthink mentality in each school district.

Let us be clear, the goal for any Christian should never be to shut out all dissenting voices. Such is our accusation against some of these school boards (though not in all school districts). No, we do not seek to quench conversation, but precisely the opposite. We wish to create communities where all voices can be heard and where reason, wisdom, and love can reign supreme.

This is why elections are so important as you saw this week. School board members are voted in by their respective communities and those elections are often overlooked leading to low voter turnout. Voting in each election is critical and school board voting (February and/or April each year) is no different. Just as we see Paul taking full advantage of his rights as a Roman citizen at times, so we should take advantage of our right to vote and affect real change in our communities.

This isn’t about kicking out all of the liberals and voting in all conservatives. This is not about Republican vs. Democrat. This is about finding representatives who will uphold the objective moral law set in place by God from the beginning of time.

As Christians, we are called to be bold. Boldness is the courage to act or speak fearlessly, despite real or imminent dangers. We know in Acts 2 the followers of Jesus were afraid and hiding, however, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they were no longer terrified but instead, became fearless preachers. Just like these disciples from the scriptures, today we are being called to do the same. Jesus tells us in Matthew that “…whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea (Matt 18:6).” Any adult, whether  a community member, parent, teacher, or school administrator who knows a child is being led astray and doesn’t stand up and protect them is committing a millstone offense. Children tend to be trusting, open, and eager to learn, traits parents are called to steward according to the wisdom of the Creator. Because of these beautiful characteristics they can also be easily manipulated and indoctrinated. The more people who stand up and speak up, the easier it will be to move our schools back onto the solid foundation of Biblical morality.

As you pray about how you can defend our children from “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like” (Gal. 5:19-20) here are some resources to help you think through this issue on a deeper level:

• Join the fight for parental rights: momsforliberty.org
• Resource for actionable tools and strategies for parents: courageisahabit.org
• Advocacy for health and parental rights as well as a voter guide for elections: okhpr.com
• Ratings of candidates for all elected positions: ivoterguide.com
• Site to look up books in your child’s school: gofollett.com
• Excerpts and ratings of certain books: booklook.info
• Information and resources regarding K-12 education: Noleftturn.us

To share a concern you may have encountered in the education system or if you have the desire to help fight this battle, feel free to reach out to Janice Danforth, the Tulsa County Chapter Chair of Moms for Liberty at moms4libertytulsa@gmail.com.