SBC might take second look at public schools

From staff reports

Messengers to the 2005 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) meeting might once again deal with the issue of whether Christians should allow their children to attend public schools.

Several resolutions dealing with the issue have been submitted to the SBC Resolutions Committee.

Last year, a resolution asked Southern Baptists to remove their children from "godless" and "anti-Christian" public schools. The SBC Resolutions Committee did not endorse the resolution, but instead brought to the meeting a resolution calling on Baptists to "aggressively engage the culture by speaking the truth in love concerning every aspect of life, public and private."

That resolution was adopted after a proposed amendment to add the anti-public school language failed.

This year the group that promoted last year's resolution wants the SBC to urge churches to investigate whether their local school systems support homosexuality.

The resolution also:

Exodus Mandate, which promotes home schooling and Christian schools, is backing the resolution proposed by Voddie Baucham, Jr., a Southern Baptist lecturer, preacher, and author; and Bruce N. Shortt, a lawyer, home-schooling father and author, according to a statement on the group's web site.

Shortt and T.C. Pinckney of Virginia proposed last year's motion.

Another anti-public school group, GetTheKidsOut.org, is supporting a resolution similar to the one Shortt and Pinckney introduced last year. Grady Arnold, executive director of the group and pastor of a Southern Baptist church in Texas, and David Scarbrough, a minister of education at an SBC church in Tennessee, submitted the new resolution, according to a statement on the group's web site.

The resolution calls on Southern Baptist churches "to lovingly warn all of their members concerning the toxic spiritual nature of the government school system." It applauds "courageous teachers in government schools who disregard the law and bring their Christian faith into the classroom," but says "having Christian teachers in the classroom should not lead anyone to believe the public schools are regularly giving children a truly Christian education."

Arnold said in the statement that Southern Baptists have been like an 'ostrich with it's head in the sand' on the issue.

"The time is way over due that we acknowledge the devastating effects public school is having on the faith of our children," he said.

Arnold cited an SBC Council on Family Life Report of 2002 that found that 88 percent of Southern Baptist children leave the church and never return after graduating from public school.

"According to many in the SBC leadership, sending kids to government schools to get a thoroughly secular education is equivalent to being salt and light in the schools," he said. "But according to their own data, just the opposite is happening."

The resolution also applauds Christians working in the government schools as missionaries and calls on churches to become aggressive and pro-active in starting Christian schools and in supporting home schooling.

The GetTheKidsOut web site said two other resolutions dealing with public schools have also been submitted to the Resolutions Committee.

One calls on churches to investigate and evaluate whether Christian schools and home schooling are better assisting parents and grandparents with raising children and grandchildren to be followers of Christ.

Another would affirm the public education system and encourage Baptists to participate actively in the life of society.

The Resolutions Committee will decide whether or not to present the resolutions to messengers for a vote at the SBC annual meeting June 21-22 in Nashville, Tenn. The committee could combine or change the resolutions or decide to not bring any of them before messengers.