Dispatches from the Creation Wars

A Christian school in California has expelled a 14 year old student because she has two lesbian parents:

Stob wrote that school policy requires that at least one parent may not engage in practices “immoral or inconsistent with a positive Christian life style, such as cohabitating without marriage or in a homosexual relationship,” The Los Angeles Times reported in Friday’s edition.

I dare say they’ll be hard pressed to find any set of parents – or people in general – who do not engage in immoral practices by their standards. The school, of course, is well within their rights to do this. They are a private school and can accept or reject any applicant they wish for any reason they wish. But it’s a good example of why it’s important for public schools to treat children from such families as no different from any other family. A parent in Massachusetts is freaking out over an elementary textbook that treats such families matter of factly. The book says things like:

“Laura and Kyle live with their two moms, Joyce and Emily, and a poodle named Daisy. It takes all four of them to give Daisy her bath.”…

“Robin’s family is made up of her dad, Clifford, her dad’s partner, Henry, and Robin’s cat, Sassy. Clifford and Henry take turns making dinner for their family.”

Two examples out of a book full of examples of more traditional family situations. But the mere fact that they acknowledge the existence of families headed by gay partners is enough to send some people off the deep end. But there were 600,000 such families in the census in 2000, and that is probably an undercount. More realistic counting probably puts the number at over a million such families. That means that statistically speaking, there are likely such families in every school in the nation. Is it really a problem to send a message that those kids are no different than kids from traditional families and should be treated no differently? I dare say Jesus himself would treat such families far better than many who claim to be his followers.

Comments

#1 carpundit
September 23, 2005

Um, why would the parents want their child taught by such a school anyway?
#2 Dean Kimball
September 23, 2005

Once again demonstrating that there are few people as un-Christ-like as a Christian.
#3 Lurker
September 23, 2005

Notice that the superintendent of this school got his degree from Calvin College in your home state of Michigan, Ed. Know anyone else from there in that age bracket?
#4 maurile
September 23, 2005

Statement by the superintendent: link.

Thank you for your inquiry regarding a student that had been enrolled at Ontario Christian School. The student is not attending Ontario Christian, as the family does not meet admissions criteria. The ministry of Ontario Christian is to promote discipleship of Jesus Christ as defined by the Bible and consistent with historical Christianity. The school forms a voluntary partnership with parents who seek the same discipleship. Therefore, the school requires that at least one parent be a confessing Christian and active in the local Christian church. In this case, the parent does not meet the criteria by participating in a homosexual relationship. We regret that this relationship was not disclosed at the time of admission, as that information would have prevented enrollment and the occasion for misunderstanding.

The mission of Ontario Christian School is to provide for the children of Christian parents a Biblically-based, quality education that nurtures students to grow in knowledge, conviction and maturity; therefore, our focus is to equip students with the vision and skills to engage all relationships and culture under the authority of Jesus Christ.

(Emphasis mine.) So I guess a person in a homosexual relationship can’t be a confessing Christian? What about a person in an adulterous relationship? Or a person who drinks, smokes, and eats shellfish? Non-Christians, all of them?
#5 G-Do
September 24, 2005

“The LORD spoke to me, and said ‘What is this proverb people keep repeating in the land of Israel?

The parents ate the sour grapes,
but the children got the sour taste.

As surely as I am the living God,’ says the Almighty LORD, ‘you will not repeat this proverb in Israel any more.’”

Ezekiel 18:1-4 (TEV), the rest of Ezekiel 18 is pretty good, too.
#6 Raging Bee
September 24, 2005

You’d think, if the school were truly concerned about the possible bad effects on a kid of having lesbian parents, they’d want to keep the kid under their watch and make sure he/she got the “help” he/she “needed” to deal with the ungodly ordeal. (And, in the process, collect tuition money from the parents as their reward for doing good work.)
#7 Uber
September 26, 2005

‘So I guess a person in a homosexual relationship can’t be a confessing Christian? What about a person in an adulterous relationship? Or a person who drinks, smokes, and eats shellfish? Non-Christians, all of them’

I would suspect quite a few parents of children in that school, by using basic statistics, are involved with others with whom they are not married.

On the other hand perhaps the parents should have read the rules before sending the child there. The school is nutty but they have a right to their own rules.
#8 OC-er
September 26, 2005

I attend Ontario Christian, and we are one of the few Christian schools that actually stands by our beleifs and core values, and acts upon them. Just because the world has been desensitized to homosexuality,pre-marital sex and other fornications, doesn’t mean we will be too. God is most definately agaisnt what Shay Clarks parents were practicing for 22 years. Anyways, it is the parents fault for sending her to a school thats religion is agaisnt their lifestyle, how confusing would that be to learn one thing at school and a totally opposite beleif at home? It’s just as stupid for a farmer who owns a slaughter house to send his kid to a Hindu school that worships cows. But the school would have the right to be appalled by his parents lifestyle and act accordingly.