Home schooling German family gets asylum in US
Apparently the Obama administration is appealing this decision.
In America, another fascinating home-education tussle has been going on. Uwe and Hannelore Romeike have been granted asylum because, they say, they face persecution in Germany for home-educating their children (they have been fined and say they feared losing custody of their five offspring, who are aged between 2 and 12). The judge in their case agreed, saying not only that there was a "well-founded fear of persecution," due to their educational philosophies, but also that that the German policy was "utterly repellent to everything we believe as Americans." . . .
The Romeikes told Time magazinethat it was their "fundamental right to decide how we want to teach our children." Uwe Romeike is an evangelical Christian (yes, this is relevant) and he added that their main objection involved what was being taught in the classroom. "The curriculum goes against our Christian values," he said "German schools use textbooks that force inappropriate subject matter onto young children and tell stories with characters that promote profanity and disrespect. . . .
Labels: Homeschooling
posted by John Lott at 11:23 AM
3 Comments:
If the Obama administration is going to appeal this decision, I wouldn't be surprised if the the judges comment:
but also that that the German policy was "utterly repellent to everything we believe as Americans."
made it inevitable.
That comment would be "utterly repellent" to every thing Obama believes in; I.E. the absolute right of the State to dictate every part of your lives.
He doesn't even pretend otherwise anymore.
For sheer narcissistic insanity, this administration has no peers.
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My biggest concern is that it appears that part of their problem is that they didn't want their children exposed to different world views... While i believe it's a parent's right to run their lives how they feel, I worry that not being exposed to the acceptability of ideas such as "Evolution" or "racial acceptance" or other things that don't mesh Perfectly with your religion would be unhealthy for the children and society in general
I would point out, in counter to Raven, that nowhere in the article is it suggested that the parents are fleeing a State mandamus to teach " Racial Acceptance" or Evolution Theory.
Since there are described as "evangelical Christians", I would suspect that " racial issues" are not even in question, indeed , true evangelical Christians follow the Bible dictum " in Christ there is no Greek nor Jew, no slave nor free" - the ultimate "non-discrimination" prescription.
The German public school curriculum, like those of other enlightened west European espouses a post-Christian worldview, is statist and humanist - rights and liberties are limited gifts from a gracious State, not birthrights granted by a loving Creator. In such a worldview, a person belongs first and foremost to the State, and such a concept is counter to orthodox Christianity of any stripe.
I'll bet, at the root of the issue, THAT's the problem.
The German government, bent on creating a society based on this modernist, secular worldview, will brook no opposition. Even in a "kinder, gentler" Deutschland, folks better get in step and conform or face the overweaning power of state action.
" Utterly repellant" is an excellent and concise description. I hope they get to stay, after all,( if I can slide into some Wilsonian idealism) the US is the last best hope of mankind, and if people persecuted for their religious scruples cannot find refuge here, where will they go?
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