Part 9: The Legality of Parental Freedoms

First of all, parental rights in our country stand on clear tradition from even before the founding of our nation. These are Judeo-Christian Biblical values and traditions brought to America by our forefathers from Europe. Parental rights in our country also stand on many precedents and legal facts.

First, the Tenth Amendment protects parental rights by setting limits on federal government from intruding on rights reserved to the people and to the states. Therefore the federal government only has powers delegated to it and power over non-criminal family activity has not been so delegated by the Constitution.

From this basis, Supreme Court precedents have followed this reasoning. Multiple cases beginning in 1925 have upheld parent’s rights to raise and educate their own children. You can study them on the Parental Rights.Org website. This has been unquestionably upheld until 2000 Troxel v. Granville. Only a plurality, not a majority opinion, upheld parental rights as being constitutionally protected in that case. The plurality opinion means that 4 or less justices voted that parental rights are constitutionally protected. They rule in favor of the parents in the actual case, but the lower courts are left to decide for themselves about the extent of parental rights since not all justices agreed.

More on this important arena of the parental rights battle will come later.

So, besides a Biblical duty, we also have a constitutional and historical foundation for parental rights which reiterate the Biblical understanding that parenting belongs to parents.

Part 6: Biblical Basis For Parenting, Section Two

If that is not clear enough, read Deuteronomy 6:6-7 “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Obviously, being from the Old Testament, it was directed at the Israelites. Can we then just ignore it today? Jesus said that He did not come to abolish the law, but to uphold it in Matthew 5:17-20. I believe that the principle of this command is still binding on parents based on Ephesians 6 and numerous other verses in the Bible. Therefore, parents today are still bound to teach the next generation born into their family. These scripture references clearly indicate that God’s commands include religious instruction as we see in these verses. By the description given, this is more than just sending them to Sunday School or vacation Bible School, but the responsibility of parents in the midst of daily life. Sunday School and VBS are not inherently wrong, just inadequate for obedience if parents ignore actively participating in the religious education of their children.

In order to provide more New Testament scripture, read I Timothy 3:2,4,and 5 “Therefore an overseer must be above reproach … He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?” Unless we are willing to read this as saying that only deacons and elders must know how to manage their own household, we are bound to strive for obedience to this command. Digging deeper into the original working is once again helpful. “Managing his own household” comes from prostEnai, or to “preside over”. The definition of “preside” is “to exercise guidance, direction, or control” (Merriam Webster Free Dictionary). There are other verses I could mention to further solidify the claim that parents are commanded to nurture, train, teach, and to preside over their children. I hope that these are enough to convince you of your Biblical duty.

Part 5 Biblical Basis for Parenting Part 1

Any argument needs a sturdy foundation, something we can all agree on wholeheartedly. Before I can convince you to gather into an army, I must convince you that it is your responsibility. Hopefully, the majority of you can be convinced (if you are not already) with sound Biblical exegesis and without too much debate. While there are many scripture texts that illustrate the principle that parents are responsible for their children’s upbringing, I will focus on three that are the most direct in the commands. These three are Ephesians 6:4, Deuteronomy 6:6-9, and I Timothy 3:5.

Ephesians 6:4 reads “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (ESV). While fathers are named directly, both parents will likely be held accountable for their contribution to children’s upbringing. In this verse, parents are told to “bring them up” or ektrephete auta in Greek, in the “discipline” paideia of the Lord and the “instruction”, or nouthesia of the Lord. The Greek word ektrephete auta translated as “bring them up” means to be nurturing. What does it mean to nurture? I believe it is safe to say that feeding, clothing, protecting are included in the concept of nurturing among many other such tasks. Then the Greek word paideia is translated as “training”. Earlier in 2 Timothy, teaching in mentioned, so this word for discipline probably is intended to say more than just teaching. It appears to indicate a more active, involved, and interactive training process for children by their parents. Finally, the Greek word nouthesia, translated as instruction, is a word with more of an admonishment connotation than just the concept of teaching. With this connotation, we are commanded to warn our children of morally wrong behavior, sinful choices, and other potentially self damaging behavior. Nurturing, training, and admonishment are therefore central tasks assigned to parents by God, even commanded.

Even the bare conscience of man knows that parents have a duty to carry out these tasks as well as protect their children. We instinctively abhor the parent who neglects their child to the point of that child being harmed. However, this function of conscience is not sufficient as it can be seared and shrugged off, or justified as simple cultural differences in child rearing. Therefore, the Bible speaks loudly and clearly in these verses. It really leaves no doubt on the matter. Considering God’s clarity and boldness, neither our sloth, nor our ignorance, nor any early power’s stand against our duty is a sufficient excuse for us to not obey this command. I will return to this though of earthly powers standing in our way a little later.

Part 1 of Many, Transcript of Recent Lecture on Parental Rights

On August 7th I delivered an hour’s worth of education on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to a group of homeschoolers here in Tennessee. I want to share that talk with you in bite sized portions over the coming weeks in order to deepen your understanding of this crucial issue, to challenge you to join our effort, and to equip you in many ways for this battle. Below is part 1 of that talk.

For those of you unfamiliar with me or my involvement in this issue, permit me to introduce myself and to provide some credibility for what follows. I am a physician in Tennessee who trained in both adult and pediatric medicine. After practicing both areas of medicine for 5 years, I moved into adult medicine alone for the sake of being a father to 2 wonderful children whom we are homeschooling. It is through homeschooling connections that I learned of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in February of 2009. A fateful e-mail alert, which I will never forget, led me down a trail of research that even today continues to startle me. In this process, I have strategically researched the issue from multiple angles and debated others from the variety of perspectives weighing in on this issue. As a final ingredient, I have begun studying the Biblical responsibility of parents to direct the care and upbringing of their children.

I offer the accumulation of the past year and a half of study to you with the sincere hope that you will arouse as parents from your slumber with a clear call to gather into an army for the sake of your children and mine.