When your school puts God in a closet and shuts the door

Kimberly Ells
August 26, 2024 20 Reactions

I recently stumbled across Harvard’s mission statement issued in the year 1642: “Everyone shall consider as the main end of his life and studies, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life.”

This, of course, is based on a scripture from the gospel of John: “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” Harvard’s original purpose — grounded in scripture — was to help students know God and thereby obtain eternal life.

My, how things have changed.

And, of course, it’s not just Harvard that’s changed. It’s essentially every public university and public school everywhere. God has been escorted out the door in the name of “separating church and state.” And therefore, the rising generation is growing up with the prime purpose of education — and the prime purpose of life — omitted from the whole of their educational experience from age five upwards.

A thundering message

In considering his educational upbringing, professor Chris Schlect said,

“In not mentioning God, my public school teachers preached a thundering message daily. By implication, they taught that God is not relevant to most areas of life… [W]ith every lesson, in every class period, all day every day for 12 years, I was being taught to think like an atheist in the academic realm and didn’t even know that I was being indoctrinated.”

Centuries before kindergartners and preschoolers were subjected to sexual debauchery and high schoolers were instructed to take pride in sexual deviance, reformer and revolutionary Martin Luther foresaw the end of the road for schools in which belief in God was divorced from education. In 1537, he wrote:

“I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the gates of hell unless they diligently labour in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place their child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt.”

And by and large, they have. The idea of the Scriptures reigning paramount in schools is laughable today, even to people who believe in them.

Close to home

Near the end of the last school year, I had a conversation with my young son about remembering God and making good choices every day at school. He looked at me and said, “I don’t think about Jesus ever while I’m at school.”

This hit me hard: My kid doesn’t think about Jesus all day long.

But then again, what is there in the typical school environment that would lead my son’s mind to God? Almost nothing. It could be argued that he should carry God with him wherever he goes, but is it really fair for me to talk to my seven-year-old for a few minutes every day about God and then send him into a godless environment for seven hours a day and expect him to keep God close to his heart?

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I don’t need school to be just like Sunday school, but I need my son to spend his days in a place that builds faith while teaching him to build things. I need him to stand in awe alongside awestruck teachers who acknowledge the grandeur of God in everything — the symmetry of flowers, the masterful design of the human body, the curling of the planets through space. I need an educational paradigm that understands that all truth belongs to God and that our quest is to discover it and live according to it.

Aristotle said, “The fate of empires depends on the education of youth.” Is our current system of educating youth leading to the rise of moral empires erected by moral people who are grounded in the celestial reality of God? Or is it leading to the fall of empires that celebrate and advocate every form of selfishness and godlessness?

If you’re increasingly feeling like you’re sending your children through a prelude to the gates of hell — or at least the gates of confusion, doubt, and despair — when you send them off to school, perhaps you should send them somewhere else. Start looking for alternatives. I did. If you cannot find a teacher who lets God prevail in his own soul and inspires his students to let God prevail in their souls, keep looking.

Making changes

As you explore education options for your child:

  • Consider what is most important to you regarding your child’s immediate and long-term well-being.
  • Consider all your options — your strengths, your assets, your current limitations, and what your gut is telling you to do. Options could include a greater focus on the things of God at home, switching schools, joining an education co-op of like-minded people, educating your child yourself at home, finding tutors or mentors for your child, banding together with a couple of families in your neighbourhood, or something else you feel driven to do.
  • Read articles and books about education philosophies, including A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille. Here is a short list of resources to get you started. And here’s a beautiful curriculum that might be useful.
  • Finally, begin to act. You don’t have to plan your child’s entire educational journey right now. Decide where to start, and start! Even small steps can lead to momentous changes for your child, your family, and for the world.

Our children may choose heaven or hell in the end, but our job is to point them toward heaven.

We are up to the task.

What do you think of the educational options available to families nowadays? Comment below.

Kimberly Ells is the author of The Invincible Family. Follow her at Invincible Family Substack.

Image credit: Pexels

 

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  • Emberson Fedders
    commented 2024-09-05 16:53:25 +1000
    Mr Siemer doesn’t understand atheism.
  • mrscracker
    I believe Mr. Jurgen that school-provided lunches, television, electronic devices, the curtailing of recess & Physical Education in schools all came about in the same couple generations.
    More children did farm chores before & after school back in the day. They also walked to school. Cokes were an occasional treat, not an everyday beverage. It’s a combination of things.
    I don’t believe that many US children eat a whole lot better at home today than they do at school but that’s another conversation.
  • Jürgen Siemer
    commented 2024-08-29 15:35:37 +1000
    Mrscracker, I have read a study a few years ago, the author I do not recall, in which a statistical analysis showed a clear correlation between the introduction of all day schooling with lunches provided at school and overweight children.

    The underlying cause is obvious: too much french fries and burgers. This meal, which saves Labor in preparing it, contains too much carbs and makes you tired after an hour. So what do the children do,? Get a coke from the vending machine the nice and benevolent companies Coca Cola and Pepsi had set up on the school ground.

    Add too much sitting on a chair learning or not learning useless things.

    And you havr a Recipe for obesity.
  • mrscracker
    I hear you Mr. Jurgen. I believe most parents are capable of providing lunches from home. That’s the way it used to be back in the day. But I fear a great many US children eat no better quality foods at home then they do at school.
    And sitting in classes for hours on end with no recess or outdoor exercise is pretty unhealthy. Especially when children return home & sit for additional hours on their phones. I keep reading about the increasing number of young people who aren’t fit enough to join the armed forces.
  • Jürgen Siemer
    commented 2024-08-28 03:47:43 +1000
    Government schools providing lunch and afternoon school hours have made a full generation of children obese for life.
  • Susan Rohrbach
    commented 2024-08-28 02:40:51 +1000
    Government schools should be treated like soup kitchen, reserved only for those in most need. There are many affluent double job couples using schools as baby sitters, which the taxpayer should not have to fund. Means testing government schools should afford a great diminution of taxes for everyone.
  • mrscracker
    It’s true Mrs. Susan, government funds can come with strings attached. However parents still should have the right to decide where their tax dollars go if those are being collected locally to fund education.
    Not every family is religious & they should have the option of choosing whichever charter or private school they believe is best. Or use those funds for homeschooling/virtual schooling resources. Our state & others provide free virtual schooling.
  • Susan Rohrbach
    commented 2024-08-27 20:28:14 +1000
    School choice puts hidden government strings on parents and as a taxpayer I’m not interested in subsidizing Adam and Steve’s procured child to attend Harvey Milk charter school. When parents make the beneficial choice to withdraw kids from government schools, that money should be returned to the back broken taxpayers. School choice only keeps the public debt gargantuan, which our great great great grandchildren will have to pay

    Let each denomination fund it’s own schools.

    Those who can, homeschool.
  • Jürgen Siemer
    commented 2024-08-27 15:54:39 +1000
    Anon, you know that God exists, like almost all atheists. But you reject him, like all atheists.

    I do not want people like you educate my children or govern my country.

    But people like you educate and govern. You can judge them by their lies, failures, debt and corruption they leave behind. And they leave a lot of that mess behind.

    Yes, God punishes the collective, he did it during the times of the old testament and he does it today.

    Original sin is if course not the sin Ezekiel was talking about, who by the way, seem to talk in financial terms, where guilt = debt.

    There can be only one God and therefore only one true religion, other religions often contain some truths, but the wrongs they also contain make them wrong.

    You can only be for Jesus or against him.
  • mrscracker
    US public schools don’t even have public prayer much less proselytizing. It’s not an issue today.
    Religious schools are where parents can send their children with education vouchers if that’s their desire. But unfortunately that’s not an option for every state.
  • Anon Emouse
    commented 2024-08-27 10:25:03 +1000
    Comparative religion is an academic exercise, mrscracker, and does not give weight to one over the other. However, that is not what is discussed in this article (and I have a feeling you know that, too).
    And you also did a not-so-good-job of avoiding my question – how would you feel about someone else giving religious instruction to your child that is counter to your religion? Don’t give me this “Freedom of choice” argument. For many parents and children, they don’t have that choice and have to go to the public school in the district where they live.

    Jurgen – one true religion?" Oh boy. So. “All things are possible with God” (Matthew 19:26) but “The LORD was…unable to drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron” (Judges 1:19). Which one is true, Jurgen? I feel like God should have been able to drive those chariots, iron or no iron.

    The Ten Commandments tell us to honor thy mother and father, but Christ tells us in Luke that said that His disciples must hate their mother and father (Luke 14:26). Does hating your parents qualify as honoring them?

    God is jealous (Exodus 20:5) and simultaneously void of jealousy (Proverbs 6:34)

    But perhaps the biggest one is the concept of “original sin”. This is DIRECTLY contradicted Ezekiel 18:20 (Child will not share guilt of parent, nor parent share guilt of child). Doing this from memory, but as I recall Christians believe that baptism is necessary due to the “original sin” of Adam and Eve (i.e. God punishing us for something we didn’t do).

    Guess it is pretty easy to be “one true religion” when it plays both side of the argument.
  • mrscracker
    Mr. Mouse, I’m a believer in the freedom of choice in education. If I take my religion seriously enough I would want to send my child to a school that provided a proper atmosphere for that foundation.
    Public schools are secular & comparative religion classes are perfectly ok. If a parent takes offense at that they should have the option of using their tax money to send there child elsewhere.
  • Jürgen Siemer
    commented 2024-08-27 03:03:55 +1000
    … Those who do not.
  • Jürgen Siemer
    commented 2024-08-27 03:01:31 +1000
    Anon, you are in error because there is no freedom from religion. That freedom does not exist, because atheism and agnosticism are also religions!

    Atheism is a system of faith-statements coming with dogmas, high-priests and the sometimes violent persecution of heretics. Atheism is built of faith-statements, for instance, that there is only matter, that has accidentally jumped out of nothing, or that you are a collection of molecules put together by random processes and so-called Natural Selection.

    It is a system of faith, it is a wrong and stupid religion.

    There is only the true religion and there are many wrong religions, but nothing in between. And then there is the stupid arrogance of people.

    Darwin and scientists, no matter how often they failed in their analyses and projections, are the priests and we Catholics are the heretics that need to be pushed out of the public discourse.

    I want Catholic schools, and I agree that there should be a preference in life and society for the only true religion, meaning other religions should be tolerated but not more. So yes, I am against the equality of rights for all religions.

    Nevertheless, I am at the same time against forcing people into the only true religion, as God gave Adam the right to reject him.

    The true religion has to be accepted freely. Those who do, have to be tolerated, but not more.
  • Anon Emouse
    commented 2024-08-27 01:45:53 +1000
    mrscracker,

    Perhaps I should give you more credit. But I’ll ask anyway – if your child went to public school and was forced to hear about the greatness of Allah during the day (also, throw in that Jesus was NOT the son of God, for good measure) – would you be okay with it? What if someone from the Satanic Temple wanted to bring any of their religious instruction into the classroom?

    We live in a country where we have both freedom of religion and freedom from religion. Unfortunately, it seems as though many people forget the latter.
  • mrscracker
    Why would you assume that Mr. Mouse? It seems a shame to presume things about anonymous posters in comment boxes. I’d like to believe most of us would enjoy conversation & a glass of sweet tea together face to face.
    I respect Muslims & see no reason why they shouldn’t have school vouchers to educate their children in the same way my Jewish & Catholic friends should.
    Canada has Muslim Montessori schools. Perhaps we have those in the States also. Why not?
  • Anon Emouse
    commented 2024-08-26 22:00:52 +1000
    mrscracker,

    That’s very disingenuous of you and you know it. If this article were about introducing Islam into schools, you’d be livid.
  • mrscracker
    Mr. Mouse, you don’t think other faith communities have Heaven as a final destination?
  • Anon Emouse
    commented 2024-08-26 20:59:17 +1000
    Tell me, Kimberly -

    Why are you so eager to point Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists towards heaven? Why can’t you accept their religion and not force yours upon them? It’s gross
  • Kimberly Ells
    published this page in The Latest 2024-08-26 14:39:34 +1000

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