The Problem
If we lived in a perfect world, our Heavenly Father would be praised in every setting and our Lord Jesus Christ would be honored on every occasion. The education of children would take place in a setting where God’s Word was taught as authoritative, they learned godly character and biblical morality, and they engaged in praise and prayer. Private Christian schools strive towards that goal, and considering all the challenges they face, many of them do an admirable job.
The problem is that there are many families that cannot afford to send their children to Christian schools. Some could afford to and choose not to. That is their right, and in this imperfect world I support the right of parents to make that choice. But others would love to send their children to a private Christian school, but they are already struggling to make ends meet.
Government run schools cannot teach religion and honor God as should be done because we live in a pluralistic society where there are many faiths and even within Christianity there are different denominations. There was a time when Bible reading and prayers were a regular part of public education, but that changed in 1962 and 1963 when a series of Supreme Court decisions severely restricted prayer and Bible reading in government run schools. On the one hand, I can understand how someone from a different faith background might not want their children to be exposed to religious views and practices that are contrary to their own faith. On the other hand, making the public schools “secular” and thus godless (in the most literal meaning of that word) was not neutral with respect to faith. Secularism, while in some ways not a religion, certainly is a worldview and impacts how we think and act.
Many people, including myself, believe that the decision to remove the Bible and prayer from public schools (not in terms of individual student practice, but in terms of being an integrated part of the education program) had dire consequences. I believe that this was one factor, and a major one, that has contributed to the steady decline in the quality of education, the general decline of morality in our society, and many ills that go along with these things. I’m not sure if it can be proved that there is a cause and effect relationship here, but if you view God and His truth as being central to every part of life like I do, it will make sense that making public education godless would have severe negative consequences.
So here are a set of facts that define the problem.
1. In our system, government cannot choose one religion or type of prayer over another. We are more pluralistic now than ever and it is probably not practically possible for government to insert Christian beliefs and practices back into government run schools without violating the valuable freedoms and rights that we have.
2. Not all families can afford to pay for their children’s education on their own. Public funding of education is a huge blessing to children from these families. It at least gives them a chance to develop their gifts and interests and enter fields that require a high level of education. I am in favor of continuing to publicly fund education of children through high school.
3. Schools should teach God’s truth in the Bible and lead children in praising their Creator and worshiping their Savior. Failing to do this is damaging to the children and their society. While parents should not be forced to have their children in schools that teach, model, and practice biblical Christianity, they should certainly have the option of doing so.
Is there a solution that can take into account all of these issues? Yes
The solution is school vouchers that can be used at private schools, including private Christian schools
The way a school voucher system works is that the government uses some of the tax money collected for education and instead of running its own schools with the money offers that money to parents in the form of a voucher that can be used at any private school. This is an elegant and excellent solution. Parents who do not want their children to be educated in a school where Christ is honored as Lord and Savior and the Bible is taught as God’s Word, can choose other options. Parents who do want their children to receive a Christian education, but who cannot afford private schools on their own, can use the vouchers to send their children to private Christian schools.
School voucher systems are currently being used in a number of states. There are of course details that have to be worked out, but in principle school vouchers are the best solution we have.
The Republican Party generally supports school vouchers and the Democratic Party is generally against school vouchers
Joe Biden made his view on school vouchers clear. He tweeted, “. . . I oppose vouchers.”
Donald Trump has made his view equally clear. He tweeted, “I will continue to fight for School Choice and will always defend Religious Freedom!” In the context of his tweet, and his administration, it is clear that “school choice” includes voucher systems. Indeed, the Trump administration has been actively promoting vouchers.
If you spend a couple of hours online researching the voucher issue, you will quickly find that at every level of government, Republicans tend to support school vouchers and Democratic leaders tend to oppose them. I say “Democratic leaders” as opposed to “Democrats” because school vouchers are popular with many poor families who need them the most, even if these families tend to vote for Democrats for other reasons.
This issue demonstrates that it is important to vote for Republicans at every level of government, from the US President, to state Governors, to school board officials. All of these levels of government influence the education of our children.
School vouchers will only solve our problem if they can be used at Christian schools
Just a few months ago an important Supreme Court decision stated the if a state uses a voucher system, it cannot exclude religious schools merely because they are religious. This case reached the Supreme Court because many people (guess what party they tend to affiliate with!) who don’t like vouchers in general don’t want them to be used at Christian schools. Chief Justice Roberts wrote for the majority:
A State need not subsidize private education. But once a State decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious.
This victory of religious freedom was a close, 5 to 4 decision. All the conservative judges appointed by Republicans voted in favor of allowing the vouchers to be used at Christian Schools. All the liberal judges appointed by Democrats voted against allowing the vouchers to be used at Christian schools. Isn’t that reason enough to vote Republican? Yet, there are many other reasons to pray and vote that the Republicans win and Democrats lose.
Other School Issues
Public schools are not going away soon. I thank God for the hard working teachers in these schools who do their best in a flawed system. For now, many families have no realistic alternative, so I am glad that there are good Christians who love the children and work to help these children the best that they can.
In government run schools, Republicans in general are much more likely to support good policies and curriculum than Democrats. For examples, Democrats are more likely to support curriculum that lines up with the radical LGBTQ agenda and presents various types of sexual immorality as morally neutral ways to live. Republicans are more likely to support school curriculum that includes the scientific evidence that points to a powerful intelligent designer as the creator of the universe we live in and of life on earth, while Democrats are more likely to promote the false myth of godless molecules-to-man evolution.
And more . . .
If all else were equal, these education issues alone would make it an easy and clear choice for me to vote for Trump and Pence and Republicans in general over the Democrats. But there are other issues which also lead to the same conclusion. In part 1 of this series, I wrote on problems with the Democrats moving the US towards socialism. If I have time, Lord willing, I might write on some other reasons that I am praying and voting for Republicans to win. Those reasons include:
* The current Democratic ticket is the most proabortion ticket in history. Killing unborn babies is evil. Trump has been consistently prolife.
* Trump has appointed good, conservative judges and justices. The Democrats do the opposite and if they win both the presidency and the Senate they are likely to change the number of justices on the Supreme Court and undo the good work Trump and the Republican Senate have done.
* Voting for democrats will likely reward, encourage, and enable the type of people who have been burning buildings, attacking police, and terrorizing good people in some of our cities. We will likely have more lawlessness under Democrats.
* While neither party has been completely free of corruption, the evidence of severe corruption in the Biden family is more severe and probably rises to the level that he should be impeached if he’s elected. I do not see evidence of the same level of problem with Trump. Yet, the democrats will likely continue to shield and cover for Biden.
* Whoever wins, either Trump or Biden will be the oldest person to be inaugurated as President. Trump has an excellent Vice President, while Biden chose a person who is acknowledged by all sides to be one of the most liberal members of the US Senate (some say THE most liberal, which is saying a lot). Kamala Harris has views and policies that are extreme and would be very damaging.
I pray that God will guide each of us in how to vote and in how to pray. I also pray that God will bless our nation with better government than we deserve. I pray that by His grace He will bless us with government leaders that will work for our good and protect our freedoms and honor our Creator.
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