The State vs The Parents

It was Vladimir Lenin who said, "Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted."

Like an alarm ringing in your ears, a warning is going out to parents in two blue states where legislators are working hard to make moms and dads an enemy of the state.

What is the basis of parental authority?

And why is the State so committed to excluding parents from their children's education?

Be informed, not misled.

In two states, liberal legislators plan to redefine parents' rights.

Many parents have learned by now their children are being groomed and indoctrinated by liberal school teachers, who view parents as a distrusted enemy, but even worse is learning your state legislators are pushing new laws to separate parents and children, too. 

David Smith of the Illinois Family Institute says his organization was alarmed by a bill that criminalizes parents who block their daughter from undergoing an abortion.

The bill, HB 4876, seeks to amend the Abuse and Neglected Child Act by redefining “abused child” to include a minor who is denied an abortion or denied so-called “gender-affirming” medical treatment.

“They're usurping parental rights by proposing this bill criminalizing parents as abusive,” Smith warns, “if they choose to deny their child so-called services for abortions and transgender treatments, and that could include of course chemical hormone treatments.”

HB 4876 was introduced by Rep. Anne Stava-Murray, a radical Democrat with "she-her" pronouns who is also a mother of three. 

In blue-state New Jersey, the state legislature is considering a bill that would allow young teens to seek out mental health services without the consent of their parents. That bill, Senate Bill 1970, states its goal is to permit minors, 13 years old and over, to consent to “behavioral health services.”

Greg Quinlan of the Center for Garden State Families says current state law sets the minimum age at 16 to seek medical help without parents' approval.

That age is typically a high school sophomore, so Senate Bill 1970 wants to expand it to a middle school eighth grader.

“In an adolescent's life,” Quinlan says, “that is a huge jump in emotional and mental maturity.”

What is really happening, Quinlan warns, is children are being “groomed” in public schools to accept the LGBT lifestyle, including the pronoun-choosing transgender movement. So the new state law would allow those same children to take that indoctrination a step further with professional counseling that often includes body-altering hormones and even surgery. 

“And this is what's extremely dangerous about it,” he says of Senate Bill 1970.  

A senate committee ignored public testimony denouncing the bill and voted for it 5-1, sending it to the full Senate for consideration.  

The operative word is "ignored."

Parents should not have to be the 24/7 watchman of public education, but we do. What was once a generally trusted institution--- has now lost the trust of millions of parents. And for good reasons. 

Parents’ rights to direct the upbringing and education of their children are fundamental rights protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) says, "During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when almost all students were at home, parents learned that many public schools are indoctrinating students into divisive ideologies. Students are being subjected to unequal treatment based on race, ethnicity, and religion, among other things."

Not only that, but schools are promoting a destructive gender ideology that tells confused children they can adopt a different gender identity. Boys are told they can become girls and vice versa. And these decisions and mental health struggles are kept secret from their parents.

Some government officials seemed to forget who would care deeply about what’s happening in public schools: parents.

Although the law recognizes the rights of parents, parental rights are clearly under increasing attack today. Alliance Defending Freedom is taking on precedent-setting legal cases to protect parents’ rights and enshrine them as fundamental in every state.

Parental Rights are fundamental to society and God's plan for humanity.

Here's the problem.

But, you may be asking, what are parental rights? What’s the history behind the issue? And why should they matter to every American? We will answer these and other pressing questions about parental rights below.

ADF says, "Parents’ rights to direct the upbringing and education of their children are fundamental rights protected by the U.S. Constitution. In fact, these rights are “pre-political.” What does that mean? Parental rights are natural rights that exist before the state. They cannot be given or taken away by a government."

Parental rights include but are not limited to, making decisions regarding children’s education and health care in a manner consistent with their family’s values. Parents must do so to promote their children’s general health and well-being.

As the adage goes, every right comes with a responsibility.

Like all fundamental rights, parental rights must be vigilantly defended.

Two main areas parents should watch closely. 

1.  Politicized public education.  

More and more school boards across the nation are adopting policies that endanger children’s minds, bodies, and family relationships. Now is the time for concerned parents, educators, and school board members to speak.

The controversies arising in K-12 education today over critical race theory (CRT) are rooted in critical theory and postmodernism.

Critical theory is a social theory and philosophy that views everyone and everything through the lens of race and instructs that society is fundamentally corrupted by race-based power dynamics. These power dynamics enable certain groups to oppress other groups (based on race, class, sexual orientation, or gender identity).

The only solution to oppression advanced by proponents of CRT is a complete overhaul of society, including our government, communities, and even family relationships. To overhaul these so-called dominant power structures, traditional values and institutions, such as the nuclear family, religion, and even classical liberalism, must first be “dismantled.”

Let’s be clear: racism is evil. Every person is created in the image of God, deserving of equal treatment and respect. But CRT is not the solution to racism in America. And it should not be injected into public school classrooms and taught as truth.

Students should learn about the evil of race-based slavery and Jim Crow laws. But they shouldn’t be indoctrinated in politicized narratives about American history, such as the 1619 Project’s assertion that America is a fundamentally racist country in which our freedoms are tools of oppression.

When a CRT-influenced curriculum is introduced in schools, children are taught not to view their classmates as potential friends and playmates but as separate and suspicious people.

Today, many schools introduce the tenets of critical theory by promoting it as the means to achieving “social justice” and “equity.”

In one of the first cases of its kind, ADF is challenging a Virginia school district policy based on CRT that discriminates against students and violates their civil rights. The Albemarle County School Board’s “Anti-Racism Policy” was adopted with the stated purpose of eliminating “all forms of racism.” Instead, it fosters racial hostility.

Racism is not eliminated with more racism. As U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts once wrote, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”

2. Gender identity politics and hidden ‘health care.’

Just as obviously, public schools should not be promoting politicized views about sexual orientation and gender identity to their students. However, with the introduction of gender theory into the classroom and public school policies, this is happening in many school districts across the country.

In fact, policies that ignore biological reality threaten student health and safety and undermine the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children.

Contrary to what children may be taught in some public schools, no one is born in the wrong body. Studies show that most children who experience gender confusion will come to accept their sex if allowed to go through a normal puberty.

Instead, some public schools are socially “transitioning” students at school without telling parents, maintaining “secret files” about gender-confused students, and forcing school employees to address students in ways that are inconsistent with their sex. Practices like these not only violate the rights of teachers and force them to lie to parents; they also harm students and clearly ignore the fundamental rights of the parents.

Takeaway

How you can protect parental rights

ADF says, "Parents have every right to seek accountability, choice, and transparency in their children’s education. Government officials must be held accountable for what’s promoted to children. Parents should be offered choices in education and health care for their children. And there must be transparency to know what children are being taught and how they’re being treated while they are a captive audience at school each day."

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant, Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.