Getting schooled

My, isn't this interesting?

A Virginia school board has passed a policy allowing the government education system to demand prospective home schoolers to appear before the board to explain their religious beliefs.

A policy of Goochland County "requires children ages 14 and up who want to be home schooled to provide a statement about their religious beliefs to the school system."

As a part of the rule, the board "reserves the right" to hold a hearing that includes the parent and/or the student.

This all stems from Kevin and Katrina Hoeft deciding not to send their children to the public school system for religious reasons.

Kevin Hoeft was quoted as saying, "We believe the public schools have really departed from teaching kids about the role of God in life. For a 14-year-old to be threatened to have to come before the school board to explain or justify his or her religious beliefs..."

The story says the board "thought they were doing the right thing" by following other school boards in the state. School board chairman Michael Payne says that the system's legal advisor tells them the policy is "legally sound." The board will take up the issue next Tuesday. The Home School Legal Defense Association will be represented there.

My take on all this is the board seems perfectly within its rights to ask these types of questions. I pray the 14-year-old in question has been through confirmation and has an idea about his or her religious beliefs. I pray, also, that the family wanting to do the home schooling is doing so for legitimate reasons.

And I pray we understand in the future that the public school system is not there to "teach the kids about the role of God in life."

Really, it's not.

In a world where Sunday Schools are disappearing, where youth programs at churches are doing anything but flourishing, it's certainly time to remember that teaching our kids and grandkids about God's role is the job of the church, not the school. Would I wish it were different? Not really, because one must understand that if the school's job were to be teaching about God, then the schools would have to teach about everyone's God, and I suspect that the Hoeft's wouldn't want that either.

It's time we get this. It's only been a couple hundred years that we've been waging this battle.