As a homeschooling, Methodist parent, I think this is quite the radical proposal from the Southern Baptist's - and I fully support it. It will be very interesting to see if it's approved and adopted.

I think they can also go a bit further. When we decided to homeschool - it was very tough for us to learn everything we needed to know legally and academically. Eventually we found great support group here in Rutherford county - but getting here wasn't easy. The Southern Baptist Church should make sure the foundation to educate parents is there and infrastructure is in place to help parent's make the transition. After all - it is indeed a worthy one despite the struggles.

20 years ago, what the SBC is calling for would have been nigh impossible for most parents. But today, with low-cost PCs, the Internet and the vast array of online and CD-ROM learning programs and curriculums, it is easier than ever to give a kid an education that is better than public schools.

Like every other centralized big institution, the public edu-acracy will be disintermediated by the 'Net. I suspect the future of education is online virtual private schools with individually customized curriculum supplemented by homeschooling parents and/or small ad hoc "academies" run by parents. "Socialization" will revolve more around church and family/community activities - rather than the unrealistically age-segregated public schools.

It will be the little red schoolhouse enhanced by the internet.

I have dreams of offering online journalism courses to home-schooled or private-schooled students, though not the capital or technical expertise to do it.

I'm not sure it's clear from your post, but do you believe children should be taught in school that there is only one ultimate truth?

Wow! That would have the possiblilty of having a huge affect on Tennessee's stuggling Charter School program. I say go Southern Baptist and make sure you back it up by using your politcal clout to give teeth to the Charter school concept.

Personal disclousure: I pony up the expense of having my children in a "Christian'friendly" private school. Best money I spend.

My daughter is only four but I have decided that she will not attend public school. Even if our local schools are good, I will not send her to a school that is forbidden from teaching her the most important truth of all.

Further, I feel it is morally wrong to ask others to be forced to pay (through taxes with the threat of imprisonment if they don't) for my children's education when I can afford it.

My parents had ten children, only my Dad worked a blue collar job, and they were able to send all of us to parochial school because they knew what was important (not vacations, new cars, bigger house, etc.).

"...anti-Christian worldview that leaves no room for God and teaches children that there is no ultimate truth, only equally valid religious cultures and equally valid lifestyle choices. "

First, what exactly is "anti-Christian" about it? Or do you consider it anti-Christian simply because it doesn't explicitly endorse and promote Christianity as the one true religion? If that's the case, it's also anti-Judaeism, anti-Islam, anti-Hinduism, etc. Far as I know, public schools don't promote any one religion, nor should they.

As far as equally valid religious cultures and lifestyle choices go, I wouldn't want government-run schools teaching kids that some religions and lifestyles are more valid than others. (the word mullacracy comes to mind) I can personally think of few things more un-American than that. Such teaching is the role of parents and churches, not government run schools.

If you want religion and lifestyle values mixed in with your kids' education, you need to put them in religious schools that fit your beliefs, or homeschool them, but don't criticize government-run schools for doing exactly what they should be doing, which is leaving religion out of it.

For the record, I think public education is a bad idea for other reasons- namely the poor quality of the teaching, or in some cases the complete lack thereof. Public schools in my area are nothing but giant, state-funded daycare centers. There's nothing resembling eductation happening there, and my kids won't be going anywhere near that nonsense, even if I have to work 5 jobs to keep them away from it.

CJ - I do not think the public schools have any business teaching children anything about religion with regards to whether it is true or not. Historical facts, yes. But the public schools should neither teach that Christianity or Islam or Rastafarianism is the "ultimate truth" NOR should the public schools teach children that all religions are equally valid "truths." If a public school teaches that concept to my daughter, they are interfering in my right to raise my child with certain religious beliefs and values.

The compromise is the schools should teach basic "tolerance," as in, even if you believe a certain religion or lifestyle is wrong, you must treat the person with civility.

Bill -

I think that it is impossible for the public schools to both educate students and value the beliefs of Christian fundamentalists.

In teaching students tolerance, critical thinking skills and the basic of science, public schools MUST teach counter to the beliefs of a variety of groups - these include fundamentalist Baptists as well as fundamentalist Muslim groups. Thus, I support the SBC's policy. It is not fair to people who want their children to believe that the earth is only 5,000 years old for the rest of us to force ALL children to look at dinosaur bones. In a way, it violates the separation of church and state for the state to forcefully educate children AGAINST the religious views of their parents.

So – I think it is a great idea that fundamentalists of all stripes withdraw from the system. That way, fundamentalists do not need to ever be exposed to any threatening outside ideas and the rest of us do not need to attempt to explain the last three hundred years to them.

As a public school student, I was quite capable of defending myself from Southern Baptist students and teachers alike. No need to remove Baptist kids from the schools. I'm sure todays kids can endure them, too. ;-)

Dinosaur bones are not in conflict with a Christian worldview. This is not an issue of teaching evolution vs. creation. It is an issue of values. Public schools should stay out of the business of teaching moral values that are not universally shared across religious traditions. For example, the schools should teach tolerance of gays, but should NOT teach that the gay lifestyle is morally acceptable - nor should they teach that it is morally UNacceptable. They should teach NOTHING on that subject. If my children are taught in public schools that the gay lifestyle is just another lifestyle choice and that it is "intolerant" and "wrong" to believe the gay lifestyle is morally wrong, the school is teaching my child a religious value that I do not share - the school is working against my religion. That is wrong.

Tolerance is an American value - the melting pot, freedom from persecution and all that. But tolerance these days has become a euphemism for acceptance/embrace/celebration of something.

Okay, Bill... just checking. That would probably be close to my view. I can't imagine a school promoting one religion or another, but they certainly shouldn't be making any judgements about any religion in anything they teach. Just my view...

Bill -

Questions about your response:

1) How do Dinosaur bones NOT conflict with a fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible? How do you reconcile bones that show that the earth is at least millions of years old with a book that indicates that it was created around 5,000 years ago? How does carbon dating fit in with a fundamentalist world view? Do you suggest that public schools should refrain from mentioning dinosaurs? Should schools teach that, although we have bones from millions of years ago, the earth may really have been created only 5,000 years ago? OR should schools just refrain from discussing science at all and leave to parents to explain what happened to Barney? Remember that Christians used to believe that the earth was the center of the universe until Galileo showed us otherwise… Should Galileo also be excluded – should we give equal time to people who think the earth is flat?

2) How do you teach "tolerance" for people without teaching that their lifestyle is acceptable? Doesn’t tolerance include a kind of acceptance? Are you suggesting that schools say that "gays are sick, and wrong but you must be nice to them?" Are you suggesting that schools teach that homosexuality is an aberration? Should teachers acknowledge it at all - or just pretend that they don't hear when asked about it? I don't get it...

You are insisting that there is a middle ground where one does not exist – there is no way to take children to the Museum of Natural History without crossing what creationist fundamentalists believe.

That is why I think it’s a good idea for fundamentalists to leave the public schools. We should not force them to acknowledge the existence of dinosaurs… I want my child to go to the museum and see the dinosaurs without having to hear disclaimers from every group of medieval naysayers out there …