Do you know what your child is reading in school?

In one Fairfax County public high school, reading books with graphic depictions of gang rape, molestation, bestiality, and violence toward children without notifying parents is normal operating procedure. Laura Murphy, a parent of students at Lake Braddock Secondary School, was outraged when she found out what her son was being required to read for his AP English class. Toni Morrison’s book Beloved contains many scenes and references that most would consider inappropriate for a high school class. Ironically, when Murphy attempted to email direct quotes from the book to the State Board of Education, the firewall blocked the email due to its graphic content. Nevertheless, high school students are required to read it.

But Lake Braddock Secondary School is not the only school with inappropriate required reading. A New Jersey school district required, until outraged parents demanded otherwise recently, that high school sophomores read a book that contained graphic lesbian sex scenes. In Knoxville, Tennessee, high school freshmen are expected to read a book that encourages risqué sexual behavior. And in Fayetteville, Arkansas, third graders are being required to read the book It’s Perfectly Normal, which contains explicit sexual images. Clearly, this is not an isolated problem. But whenever books such as these are challenged by parents, the American Library Association cries that removing these books from required reading lists is equal to censorship.

However, Murphy and other parents are not seeking to have these books banned although that is often how the media reports it; they merely would like students to be given an opt-out to such books and for parents to be given advanced notification if books with mature content are to be read in the class. Opt-outs are offered for Family Life Education and teachers must send home permission slips if an R-rated movie is to be shown in a class. Books should not be treated differently.

Although her attempts over the past year to make the curriculum more family-friendly have so far been denied, Murphy has pointed out that SB 908 (a recently passed law going into effect on July 1, 2013) gives parents the fundamental right to direct their child’s education. After her case was rejected by the school, local school board, and the superintendent, eight members of the County Board of Education read the book and chose to let it remain a part of the curriculum, according to The Washington Examiner. Laura Murphy’s next step is to take her case to the State Board of Education. Right now, the Board is gathering other opinions on the issue and will discuss this at their next meeting on June 27^th. Email them today and ask the Board of Education to provide transparency, consistency, and choice through their policy decisions.  Ask them, similar to how they handle Family Life Education, to allow alternatives for students so that they are not forced to violate their conscience.  You can email the Board at BOE@doe.virginia.gov.

 

*This post was written as an alert for The Family Foundation

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Who Cares about Beyonce?

Everyone who watched the Super Bowl halftime show (which, is, almost everyone) watched Beyonce sing and dance in front of millions. Or, in my opinion, pretend to sing and strut around in a barely existent outfit while flipping around her voluminous locks. Afterward, a heated discussion on Facebook took place over whether her performance was good or not. People on both sides, myself included, passionately defended their opinion. That is the great thing about America. We can have opinions. And each opinion is valid until it is examined. 

But imagine if Christians were as passionate about defending biblical truth as they are in arguments about useless matters such as Beyonce. Imagine how different our country would be if The Church was not silent about issues that actually matter. Would homosexuality be as socially acceptable as it is now? I doubt it. What about abortion? Would political correctness have such a strangling a grip on our nation? (Since when was it a crime to call a Christmas tree just that, a Christmas tree?) Would the government be writing laws that purposely infringe on religious liberties and break down the wall between church and state by telling churches what they can and cannot do? No, I think our country would be very different. Christians have God on their side. The problem is, we choose to not acknowledge that. We choose to watch performances like Beyonce's and instead of criticizing the culture from which it springs, we shrug our shoulders and say "Well, she can sing and dance. Who cares that she looked like she was a Victoria's Secret advertisement?"

I have a few theories as to why we as Christians aren't speaking out as we should. First, we want to love people. God calls us to show love to everyone around us and we think that if we criticize, we aren't being loving. However, is continuing to let someone live in the sin of a homosexual relationship really being loving? Isn't that the same as accepting and loving the sinner and the sin? Tolerance and love are not the same things. Beyonce's performance may have been targeted to the mainly male audience, but should we tolerate it or love the men in our lives and want better for them than that? Second, we are afraid of offending people. We want to be the nice guys. Well, Neville Chamberlain just wanted to make Hitler happy and guess what happened? Just a little thing called World War II. Besides,the nice guy thing isn't really working. Everyday, the secular left accuses Christians of being hate-mongers, bigots, anti-woman, etc., etc. If those are the reactions we are getting from not speaking out, why are we risking our liberty by staying silent? The third theory: some feel like voicing their opinion is equivalent to forcing their opinion onto others. Like I said earlier, it's OK to have an opinion in America. And if that opinion lines up with Biblical teaching, then it should be heard! How can other people be truly "open-minded" if they can't hear our opinions? 

I recently had the opportunity to hear Tony Perkins from the Family Research Council talk about this very issue. His point was that America is never going to change unless our churches start acting. Until we start doing what we are called to do, until we stand up and defend Biblical principles in our culture and in our government, everything will simply continue getting worse. The hope is that there were 90 pastors in attendance that day and the Family Foundation hosts this event every year. (By the way, if you know of a pastor talking about the issues in Fredericksburg, I would love to know about them! I mean that sincerely.) Just because the rest of society approves of something does not mean that it's acceptable. Just because Beyonce may be able to hold a tune does not mean she should be held up as a role model. 

Our government wants to silence us. Now is not a time for complacency about the issues that actually matter. Wake up.