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A New Hampshire court recently ordered 10-year old homeschooler, Amanda Kurowski, to public school because she defended her Christian faith too vigorously. According to a recent WorldNetDaily report, a court official said Amanda "appeared to reflect her mother's rigidity on questions of faith" during negotiations of a parenting plan, and that the girl's interests "would be best served by exposure to a public school setting . . . ."
The article states that Amanda has been homeschooled by her mother since first grade with texts that meet all state requirements. Amanda attends supplementary classes at public schools and participates in extracurricular sports.
"The court is essentially saying that the evidence shows that, socially and academically, this girl is doing great, but her religious beliefs are a bit too sincerely held and must be sifted, tested by, and mixed among other worldviews," said ADF-allied attorney John Anthony Simmons. "This is a step too far for any court to take."
"It is not the proper role of the court to insist that Amanda be 'exposed to different points of view' if the primary residential parent has determined that it is in Amanda's best interest not to be exposed to secular influences that would undermine Amanda's faith, schooling, social development, etc.," explained the Alliance Defense Fund. "The court is not permitted to demonstrate hostility toward religion, and particularly the faith of Amanda and Mother, by removing Amanda from the home and thrusting her into an environment that the custodial parent deems detrimental to Amanda."
The ADF confirmed last week that it has filed motions with the court "seeking reconsideration of the order and a stay of the decision" to send Amanda to public schools.
For more info:
- Homeschooled girl ordered to attend public school over her 'rigid' faith
- Court orders Christian child into government education
Comments
I don't think christains should take this sitting down. what business does a judge or goverment have over th rights of a child!
some of those people might even be into witch craft or stainism too.
Very challenging. On the one hand, this seems a high-handed act by a secular society against someone's religious beliefs. What gives a court the right to decide how and where a child gets a well-rounded view on life? But on the other hand, Ally has a point. The original story seems quite one-sided. Where is the father in all this? Was the court case actually a tug of war between parents? Was this an effort by the father to exercise his rights, which don't go away because the girl lis living with her mother?
The father was on the other side of this case pushing for the daughter to get more public school time.
Why didn't the parents just work it out privately? This event is an embarrassment to the Christian community on multiple levels. 1) The wife is alledgedyly a devout a Christian role model for her daughter, but she is divorced... 2) The husband and wife aren't working out issues together as they raise a christian daughter. 3) They take a family issue like raising their children to the secular courts for settling.
Of course, as the country becomes less Christian based, the government and courts will follow suit and rule with a secular perspective.
For all of us Christians, it is important now more than ever to resolve our differences amongst ourselves using the model that Christ teaches us (Mathew 5:25) or as we are taught in 1 Corinthians 6:1-7.
This case is an embarrassment and the parents have made a mess out of the situation.
Homeschooling is a good/bad sort of thing. My sisters, both public school teachers, have had to deal with homeschoolers returning to the system. They were way behind in math, science, and social skills.
And homeschooling can be crazy. I remember a recent talk with a man who had been homeschooled, who, in all seriousness, told me the world was 6,000 years old, because the Bible told him so. This means he resolutely closes his mind to mountains of science and common sense. I showed him a million year-old fossil leaf I had dug out of the ground, and he said it was the work of the devil. That guy was not living in the real world. Should a law demand that he hear more than his parents' narrow point of view?
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