jesus

It's not exactly new, but some folks in the Southern Baptist Convention are pushing their leadership to plan an "exit strategy" from the public school system. NPR had an interesting story, which you can listen to here.

I don't know whether to be concerned or think "good riddance."

The man pushing the strategy, Roger Moran, has some baffling quotes, including

It is time for responsible Southern Baptists to develop an exit strategy out of the public schools because the public schools are no longer allowed to train our children in the ways that the scripture commands that we train them. And that is in the ways of the lord, not in the ways of the world.

I must admit I'm not especially godly, but to claim that you want your children not to be taught "the ways of the world" seems a bit goofy to me. But I suppose they are entitled, and better that they take their kids out of school than insist that public schools teach to Baptist ideals.

Another of Moran's statements has some encouraging news:

Evangelical Christianity is losing 88% of it's children. At the age of 18, they're leaving the Church, and they're not coming back. Or at least they're showing no signs of coming back. And if that is even remotely true, then what that says is, we got a serious problem.

The NPR report continues: "Moran says it's not just the public schools, but also movies, popular music, and other cultural influences that pull children away from the biblical Christian perspective."

In an article on The Conservative Voice, Nicholas Jackson has more interesting thoughts on Baptists in public schools. Apparantly

never has there been such a clear antithesis between those who love our God, our country and our children, and those who wish to destroy our God, our country and our children. Nowhere is this battle being fought more aggressively and fiercely than in the halls of our government (public schools).

Even worse, "It is self-evident that secular humanism and its concomitant moral relativism has become the official state sponsored religion in government schools." Not to mention that "we are raising up warriors for homosexual activism rather than warriors for Jesus Christ." and:

The impact of homosexual activism alone has been staggering in my sphere of influence. There are young women in their early twenties, having lesbian affairs on the job, and acting it out on the clock. Women are abandoning their husbands and children for other women, men are abandoning their wives and children for other men, there are countless men who want to be women, and countless women who want to be men.

There are some weird people in this country.