Recently I read an article about a situation in New York's government school system that caught my interest. It seems that, in New York, at least in New York City, celebration of religious holidays in government schools can not include having Nativity scenes up at Christmas because, according to New York officials, you can not claim that the Nativity scene reflects a historic event.

A recent article from the Thomas More Law Center has noted: "Pursuant to the policy, City schools display the Jewish Menorah and the Islamic star and crescent during Hanukkah and Ramadan, but not the Nativity scene during Christmas. One public school principal issued a memo encouraging teachers to bring to school 'religious symbols' that represent the Islamic and Jewish religions. No mention of Christianity was made in the memo." The article went on to mention that there were times when the teachers had students make Jewish Menorahs that would be hung in the hallways of the schools, and these were "authorized" displays. The article further stated: "However the students were not allowed to make and similarly display Nativity scenes. When a parent wrote to her son's teacher to complain about this, the teacher responded by sending the parent a copy of the school's 'Holidays Displays' policy." Somehow I don't think that was much comfort.

There has even been a lawsuit filed over this by the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Robert Muise, who is handling the case for the Law Center has observed: "This case will decide whether public school officials can enforce a policy that shows preference for Judaism and Islam, but disfavors Christianity. Can Christianity be erased from the public schools?" Yes it can, Mr. Muise, and government school officials have been working at that for over 150 years now in one way or another. A hearing was scheduled for November 13th in Brooklyn, New York, in the federal court to deal with this case. Don't look for the media to tell you too much about it, they probably feel you are better off not knowing some of this stuff.

Lest you be tempted to think this is one isolated instance, let me assure you it is not. It is the norm for government schools. In a recent Ann Coulter column it was noted that: "In a public school in St. Louis, a teacher spotted the suspect, fourth grader Raymond Barnes, bowing his head in prayer before lunch. The teacher stormed Raymond's table, ordering him to stop immediately and sent him to the principal's office. The principal informed the young malefactor that praying was not allowed in school." A little Kingergarten student in Saratoga Springs, New York suffered the same treatment when she prayed with two of her little friends. She was severely reprimanded and reported to the school administration. The principal, gentle soul that he was, sent a warning home to the little girl's parents advising them that she was not allowed to pray in school, aloud, or with others.

And Miss Coulter further stated that: "Thanks to the vigilance of an alert teacher at Lynn Lucas Middle School outside of Houston, two sisters carrying Bibles were prevented from bringing their vile material into a classroom. The teacher stopped the students at the classroom door and marched them to the principal's office." At this same school three students had book covers which displayed The Ten Commandments. These were duly seized by the school's administation and thrown in the garbage, and the students were dutifully informed that The Ten Commandments constituted "hate speech." Ahh, now we know why that loving, compassionate Left-wing federal judge made that hate-monger, Roy Moore, take The Ten Commandments monument down in Alabama--they really constitute "hate speech" and the caring, concerned federal judge didn't want and of the pagans or apostates to feel "intimidated." How considerate of him! And then, there was the case in Tupelo, Mississippi, where school administrators purged all Christmas carols of their religious contents and then led the children in a "celebrate Kwanza" chant. I could continue with pages more of such horror stories, but I think this much has made the point. These are not isolated occurances, but are rather a part of overall government school policy--everything is permissable and even encouraged except Jesus Christ--and He is to be purged from the memories and the minds of all government school students in any and every way possible.

Lest you think this is only a recent problem and could be corrected if we just "got back to the good old days" let me pass along a few comments from the late theologian, R. J. Rushdoony. In his book "The Nature of the American System" Rushdoony wrote of the foundations of the public, or government, school system in the United States. He told us that: "The public school' movement, or statist education did not exist until the 1830s. Statist education began as a subversive movement, and its bitter, savage struggle has not yet been written." He noted that the "father of the common schools" (government schools) was a Unitarian, and that the Unitarians were in the forefront of the battle to promote state, or government schools. Rushdoony noted of Horace Mann that "For Mann, Unitarianism was true Christianity, and with humorless zeal, he fought for his holy faith." Mann and his Unitarian and socialist friends saw Christian education as backward and not capable of dealing with the issues of their day--and so they sought to promote a government-run school system, mandated by compulsory attendance--with Christ totally out of the picture. That didn't happen all at once, but that it has happend and is happening is pretty hard to deny. It should also be noted that Unitarians were those that did not accept the Divinity of Jesus Christ. To them He was just a good teacher, like He is to many of the religious liberals of today, who are, in effect, nothing more than Unitarians but don't have the guts to admit that.

The fact that we now have government schools that are busily purging anything remotely Christian out, while encouraging the promotion of Judaism and Islam should be proof of where this "educational" system has really been headed since the first day. These schools are doing nothing more than continuing the same policies and trend started by Horace Mann back in the 1830s. These institutions of "learning" can hardly be described as anything but anti-Christ, and hence, they do not deserve, and should not have, the support of Christians. Christians should move their children out of these schools and either enroll them in Christian schools or, better yet, teach them at home. It is not a matter of "taking our public schools back." That is utter foolishness and folly--these institutions were never "ours" to begin with.

And it should again be noted, as has been in the past, that government schools in the South, after the War of Northern Aggression, were an integral part of the "reconstruction" plans of the Northern establishment. In light of all this, people really need to begin to rethink their utopian visions of what they think public, or government, schools really are. Sober reflection in this area is a vital necessity, and I can guarantee that if some concerned parents are willing to begin to do this, they won't like what they see.