I'm a baptist but not a Baptist, so I don't have a dog in this year's Southern Baptist debate over kids and schools--but I think it's about time the debate was had. Win, lose, or draw, I think this debate will be good for homeschooling.
So far, however, the debate is falling into familiar Baptist patterns. It was Will Rogers who said, "I don't belong to any organized religion. I am a Baptist!" The Baptist battle cry is "no creed but the Bible." Telling Baptists what to do--even if it's obviously good for them!--is an uphill fight.
I think it would be good for Baptists to raise children who love the Lord, and I haven't seen much evidence that public schools are good at that. But, since this is a Baptist debate, there won't be a lot of time spent on that issue. The big argument will be, "Who are you to tell us what we should do with our kids?"
It's ironic, really, that it should come to this. For decades now, Baptist homeschoolers have had to put up with fellow Baptists who say it's wrong to pull their children out of public school. "You need to keep them there!" they say. "They need to be salt and light!" Put the shoe on the other foot, however, and they start screaming, "No creed but the Bible!"
I'd be satisfied with a Baptist resolution that says, "If anyone causes one of these Baptist children to stumble, we will put a millstone around his neck and cast him into the sea."
