The news coming out of California and Minnesota regarding the agenda of educators is not good for parents. The operating assumption on the part of at least two charter schools is that parents do not have the right to be informed of when their children will be exposed to gender transformation instruction. I recommend that you read the CBS news story here, but even better is Rod Dreher’s analysis here.

Two mutually exclusive beliefs are at war here, and they will continue to tear our culture apart:

1. Parents Have the (God-given) Right and Responsibility to Teach Their Children Morality

vs.

2. The State Educational System has the Right and Responsibility to Teach Children Morality

Parents who push back against the state as the primary moral educator will continue to hear responses like this: “We will not exempt your child from classroom instruction on gender identity, and marriage.”

Regardless of your religious beliefs, if you are a parent this should send chills down your spine. What happens when the majority of our culture embraces euthanasia but you don’t? Fear not, the state will teach your child when it’s appropriate to kill off the sick and elderly. It’s a sci-fi nightmare that isn’t sci-fi anymore.

Parents, God Calls You to Be the Spiritual Teacher of Your Children

Looking at the issue as a Christian parent only heightens the sense of urgency. God calls us to instruct our children in the fear of the Lord. The bedrock Bible passage for this truth is Deuteronomy 6:4-8,

Listen, Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. 7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  8 Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead (Christian Standard Bible, emphasis mine).

No matter what a board of education says, issues like gender identity, sexuality, and marriage are all moral issues directly related to faith.  The Bible teaches on these issues, and because of the cultural confusion over them our church recently added clarification on them to our doctrinal statement.  Parents, you are the ones who should instruct your children in these matters based on the Word of God.  This is a responsibility that you cannot and should not outsource.

On the one hand, we can be glad this isn’t policy for most schools. On the other hand, we can see the direct attack on our parental right to moral primacy in the lives of our children. As American citizens, we have the right to pursue other schooling options should the need arise. I can’t believe we have to say this, but a future campaign platform may be whether or not parents have the right to parent their children. Time will tell.

In the meantime, let’s be the parents God has called us to be and teach our children what matters most.