Latest / Voices Of Life / When Freedom Dies Series — Episode 10: The Family vs. the State | Who Shapes the Next Generation?

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When Freedom Dies Series — Episode 10: The Family vs. the State | Who Shapes the Next Generation? · Voices Of Life

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This is the Voices of Life podcast, where truth,
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courage, and faith meet the challenges of our
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generation. Today, we continue our series, When
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Freedom Dies, with Episode 10. The family versus
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the state who shapes the next generation, who
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carries the first responsibility for raising
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a child. These questions matter now more than
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ever, and guiding us through this vital conversation
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is your host, Pastor David. Welcome to Voices
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of Life, a ministry of the Church for Life. I'm
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Pastor David. And today, as we get into episode
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10 of the When Freedom Dies series, we enter
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into one of the most important chapters of the
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series because this deals with home. We've already
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traveled through Nicaragua, China, Spain, watching
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what happens when governments try to control
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faith, silence churches, reshape... society through
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ideology. But now we arrive at a deeper question,
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one that touches every home, every community,
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and every generation. Who has the first and greatest
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responsibility for raising children? The family
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or the state? Because whoever shapes the next
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generation shapes the future. So we'll start
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with human rights. The international human rights
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law begins With clear principle, parents have
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the primary responsibility for raising their
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children. The Universal Declaration of Human
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Rights says parents have a prior right to choose
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the kind of education that shall be given to
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their children. That's not accidental. It's foundational.
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The Convention on the Rights of a Child goes
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even further. Parents have the primary responsibility
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for upbringing and development. of the child.
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The state's role is to assist parents, not replace
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them. This is the balance the world's human rights
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framework tries to protect. The child has a right
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to an education, parents have the prior right
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to choose what kind of education, and the state
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ensures education is available. That three -way
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relationship is the heart of this episode. The
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child is not property. Here's a big thing here.
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One of the most important truths in the international
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law is this. A child is not the possession of
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the parents and not the possession of the state.
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A child is a human person with dignity, rights,
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and a future. Parents are entrusted with the
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primary responsibility to prepare the child for
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adulthood. The state protects the child's safety
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and rights, but neither institution owns the
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child. This principle is essential for understanding
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the conflict we see today. Parents, by default
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and by right, are the first educators of the
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child. The UN Committee on the Rights of Child
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called parents the first educators. And that's
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because they're there from the beginning. Before
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schools, before governments, before institutions,
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children learn language. Morality, relationships,
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responsibility, culture, religion, compassion,
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and probably the most important one, identity.
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Schools can supplement these things. They cannot
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replace the family. There's no way. The state's
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legitimate role here is to help. They're an assistant.
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This episode is not parents good, government
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bad. Government has a real responsibility. Sometimes
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some of the parents think they have more of a
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responsibility than they do, and sometimes the
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government thinks they have more of a responsibility
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than they really do. But the government does
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have the responsibility to protect children from
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abuse, ensuring access to education, regulating
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schools, providing medical care. Intervening
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when children are endangered. Now, you know,
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the one thing I have to say about, and this is,
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again, this is what the UN says, the providing
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medical care, okay, I think the medical care
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needs to be available. But just like medical
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care, psychological care, I believe that's the
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responsibility of the parent. Because the parent
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knows how that child is. That parent knows. When
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the child gets hurt. Now I'm not saying the child
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gets hurt. Of course the government is going
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to do some medical care. But a lot of times parents
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send their kids to school sick. So what does
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that do? It makes the whole classroom sick. Because
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they didn't want to take the time off of work
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and stay with their child at home or take them
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to a doctor. See that to me, that's neglect.
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I mean, that's one thing I will draw the line
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and I will say that is neglect on the parents
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part. And parents should be held accountable
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for that. If they send a child to school knowingly,
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they should be held accountable for that. Because
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that's just wrong. It's not fair to all the other
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children and then the other children's parents.
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You know, it's like you tell one person and they
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tell two people and so on. So anyway, let's get
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back to this part. The question is not whether
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government should act. The question is where.
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Legitimate protection ends and the family's autonomy
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begins. The American constitutional tradition
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is the U .S. Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed
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parental rights. Meyer v. Nebraska, 1923. Parents
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have liberty to establish a home, bring up children,
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and direct their education. Pierce v. Society
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of Sisters, 1925. The court struck down mandatory
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public school attendance laws and declared the
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child is not the mere creature of the state.
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Kind of a funny word, but that's what they wrote.
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That's 1925. Troxel v. Granville, 2000. Parental
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authority is one of the oldest fundamental liberty
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interests. American law is clear. Parents have
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a protected liberty interest. Government cannot...
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casually override it. But parental rights are
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not unlimited. Cases like Prince v. Massachusetts
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show government can intervene to protect the
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child from harm. And that's abuse, neglect, anything
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like that. The balance remains. Parents lead.
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Government protects. Children possess rights.
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So let's talk about education in the modern battlefield.
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And yes, I hate to say it, but school these days
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is a battlefield. for a lot of different reasons.
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And I speak with authority, having been a school
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resource or DARE officer for 20 of my 25 years
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in law enforcement. So education is where the
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conflict becomes visible. Who decides what children
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are taught? There are three models. Model A,
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parent -centered. Parents choose the school,
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the curriculum, the worldview. The government
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sets the minimum academic standards. Sounds pretty
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easy. Then there's Model B, the state -centered
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one. Government determines the curriculum, the
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values, the accepted ideas, and parents have
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limited ability to opt out. Not such a good one.
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And then the one that probably makes the most
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sense, Model C partnership. Parents remain primary
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educators. Government provides schools, standards,
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and support. It's always better when you do things
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together. That does work well. International
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human rights law leans toward Model C, partnership,
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not replacing. Because replacement is just the
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wrong thing. And I know a lot of laws say loca
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parente, meaning in the absence of the parent,
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the school acts as the parent. And again, that's
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for the welfare of the child, not for changing
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curriculum, ideology, and all these other things
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that go on in some schools today going on. politically
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motivated field trips to indoctrinate children.
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I mean, there's so much stuff that goes on. And
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it makes no sense. School should be about reading,
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writing, arithmetic. Hey, if it's a magnet school,
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if it's special arts or something, they're learning
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to do music and this and that, great. But it
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should be non -ideological based, whatever that
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extracurricular activity. It could be physical
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ed, it could be sports, whatever it is. But not
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ideological and not political. When government
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tries to become the parent, this is what happens.
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History shows what happens when governments try
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to shape the child's belief. Look at Nazi Germany.
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The Hitler youth enrolled 90 % of the German
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children. 90 %! Imagine that! It's purpose, indoctrination,
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and weakening parental influence. The stake came
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first. I mean, even when Boy Scouts of America
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and Girl Scouts of America started, they didn't
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get 90 % enrollment. That just didn't happen.
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Then let's talk about communist regimes. No,
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no, no, they don't do it that way. They have
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a different way of doing this. Marxist -Leninist
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education sought to create the new socialist
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person. Religious families become obstacles to
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the ideological control. So they build everything
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into the school. Parent has no control over anything.
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And this is what their children are going to
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get. And if the parents want to bring religion
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into it, they're going to teach the kids that,
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no, you got to resist. And that's exactly what
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they do. And then there's the totalitarian governments.
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And they understand something profound. If you
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control the child, you control the future. Because
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however you shape that child, like so many Americans,
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children over the last 30 years or more have
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been i'm going to use the word radicalized by
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these ideological teachers and professors mostly
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in the colleges but but in some of the some of
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the k -12 and it really hurt the generation because
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For example, where everybody got a certificate
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of attendance or a trophy for attendance. Even,
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you know, they're competing in a sport. Oh, you
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were here, so here's a trophy. So they always
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believe that no matter what, they're always going
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to win. But that's not the way it works. You
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have to work hard to do better. And not everybody
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can win. And it's okay. It really is. Because
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what you may not be strong in, you may be strong
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in something else. That person isn't. You have
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to find your strength. You have to find what
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you're really good at. Anyway, moving on. Now,
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what happens when the parents fail? And I saw
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a lot of that. There is an opposite danger because
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parents can abuse. They can neglect. They can
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even exploit their own children. That endangers
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them. And they can even deny them education.
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I had parents say, oh, I've tried everything.
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I can't get them to go to school. and there were
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different tactics that we used to get the children
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to go to school. I think one of the best ones
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I found was arresting the parent. You arrested
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the parent, and after they spent a day in jail,
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all of a sudden that child is there in school.
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Boy, you must have learned something new that
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one night in jail. But yeah, that was a really
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good inducer. So denying education is not a good
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thing, and then refusing medical care. That's
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even worse. A child gets sick, hurt, and they
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don't get the medical care they need, and it
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could handicap them for life, or they could die
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from pneumonia or something like that. So that
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is why government intervention exists to protect
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vulnerable children. That's where your Department
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of Children's Services comes in and does things.
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So the principle cannot be... Government must
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never interfere. The principle must be government
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intervenes to protect, not to replace. Here's
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the best interest problem. Best interest of a
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child sounds so simple, but it raises a hard
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question. Who defines best? Parents, government,
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courts, schools? If government alone defines
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best, parental authority becomes symbolic. If
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parents alone define best, children's rights
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may be ignored. The real challenge is... Parental
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responsibility, children's rights, and government
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protection without allowing any one institution
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to dominate. That's that partnership we talked
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about. Now, that doesn't mean that the child
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is going to say, well, I don't want to go to
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school, so I'm not going to school, and overrides
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the parents and the government. It doesn't work
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that way either, so I just want to say that.
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Now, here for me is the pastor of the church,
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the Christian perspective. Scripture places responsibility
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for teaching children on parents. So, Deuteronomy
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6 teaches God's commands daily. Proverbs 22,
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train up a child. Ephesians 6, bring children
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up in the instruction of the Lord. And Psalm
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78, tell the next generation the works of God.
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Christianity affirms legitimate civil authority.
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Romans 13, but warns against any authority claiming
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what God entrusted to the family. The conflict
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begins when one institution tries to absorb the
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rightful authority of the other. So, subsidiarity
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is a guiding principle. Subsidiarity teaches
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that responsibilities should be handled by the
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smallest competent authority. Child to family,
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family to community, school to local government,
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local government to state. Higher levels should
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assist, not replace lower levels. This principle
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appears in both Christian social teaching and
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UN interpretations of the CRC. Back to the fundamental
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question. Who has primary responsibility for
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raising children? Not the state alone, not parents
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alone, and not schools alone. The answer is,
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parents have primary responsibility for raising
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their children. Children possess inherent dignity
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and rights. Government protects and assists,
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but not replace the family. When government begins
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deciding a child's worldview, morality, religion,
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or identity, while excluding parents, the issue
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is no longer education. It becomes a question
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of liberty. Remember I said earlier that identity,
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the child's self -identity is so important. They
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have to understand that they're meaningful, they're
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valuable, and they're an individual. That means
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that, yes, they're going to learn from the parents.
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They're going to learn from the schools. They're
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going to learn from their friends. They're going
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to learn some bad things from things they watch.
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All these electronic games, things like that.
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But at the end of the day, they have to grow
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up to be the person they are. And that's also
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what's important too. But parents that model
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good moral values end up having great kids. And
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they have to be involved in their lives. You
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can't just drop them off at a babysitter. You
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can't just drop them off at school. You can't
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just not be involved. You have to be involved.
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You need to go to the parent -teacher meetings.
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You need to have a say of what goes on at the
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school and to their athletic program or whatever
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it is going to be. But music. sports, whatever
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it's going to be, but you have to have a voice
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too. And you need to speak up positively, not
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adversarily, but positively. And you'd be amazed
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on how many things can happen. Well, who teaches
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freedom? A child is not the property of the parents
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and not the property of the state. A child is
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a human being entrusted to a family. Parents
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nurture, protect, teach, and prepare that child
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for adulthood. Government helps, and when necessary,
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protects. But when does help become control?
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When does protection become power? And when does
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education become indoctrination? Because if freedom
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is going to survive into the next generation,
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someone has to teach the generation what freedom
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means. And you are the ones to do it. This is
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Voices of Life, When Freedom Dies series. I'm
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Pastor David. Thank you for listening. This has
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been episode 10, and we'll be returning with
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episode 11 next week. Until then, may wisdom
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guide you, may courage strengthen you, and may
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God bless your life. We'll see you next time.
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You've been listening to the Voices of Life podcast
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and our series, When Freedom Dies. If today's
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message strengthened your understanding, share
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it with someone who needs clarity and hope. Join
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us next week as Pastor David continues this journey
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into the forces shaping our future with episode
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11, Property, Charity, and Christianity. Until
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then, stand firm, stay free, and may God bless
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your life.