God commanded parents and the Church to educate children.

The term, public schools is a misnomer. Since the national school system is controlled by our government, the term, government schools, is more accurate.

Parents no longer control the schools their children attend. The government has usurped parental authority. God gave parents and the Church the mandate to educate their children:

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9, NIV 

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6, KJV

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Matthew 28:18-20, NIV 

God commanded the government to protect its citizens.

God gave the government the mandate to protect the Lives, Liberty and Property of citizens:

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God's servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
Romans 13:1-5, NIV

See also the Declaration of Independence, second paragraph:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights....

This quotation is carried over in our Constitution, Amendments 5 and 14:

AMENDMENT V
No person shall be...be deprived of life, liberty, or property....

AMENDMENT XIV. Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property....

Government control includes selecting the religion our children are taught during school hours. This is a very serious infringement of the freedom of parents and students! you may be thinking. It is a serious charge and it is true!

As every philosophy teacher knows, every philosophy has basic assumptions that lie in the area of metaphysics. Metaphysics is outside the scientific realm. Metaphysics is in the realm of the religious. The United States government schools have replaced Judeo-Christian metaphysics with secular or atheistic metaphysics. The word secular in this context means "without God." As one has said, "If it walks like a duck, and looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is a duck."

Secular Humanism has its roots in the Garden of Eden.

Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods [italics mine], knowing good and evil. 
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Genesis 3:1-6, KJV

Adam and Eve rebelled against God just as Satan had rebelled against God. To rebel against God is an attempt to become one's own god. Secular Humanism replaces God with humanity. Humanity becomes its own god. 

The Supreme Court identified secular humanism as a religion in Torcaso v. Watkins, 367 US 488 (1961). The Secular Humanists also state that they are a religion:

. . .the AHA [American Humanist Association] accredits ministers and counselors who can conduct weddings and funerals, develops Humanist literature, proselytizes (only those in agreement with the doctrines are eligible to join) and raises money as a tax-exempt 'religious' organization.    . . . .   Paul Kurtz, drafter of Humanist Manifesto II and leading Humanist spokesman admits, "There are no Humanist membership organizations that are non-religious in legal status." (Robert K. Skolrood, "Evangelism in the Classroom—Humanist Style," Kappa Delta Pi Record. P O Box A, West Lafayette, IN 47906, Winter 1988, pp. 46-48).

John Dewey made a trip to the USSR probably in 1928 (The USSR existed 1922-1991). He returned, praising their school system.

John Dewey, an atheist, was the chief writer of the 1933 Humanist Manifesto I. In 1932, he was elected honorary president of the National Education Association. Dewey's "progressive" education was a reaction to the disciplined teaching of basic subjects and established rules (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th ed., S.v. "Dewey, John").

Progressive is a misnomer. A more fitting name is Regressive. Instead of Evolution, we experience Devolution.

Charles Francis Potter, another honorary president of the National Education Association, "prophesied" what has now come into being:

Education is thus a most powerful ally of Humanism, and every American public school is a school of Humanism. (Charles Francis Potter, Humanism: A New Religion. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1930, p. 128).

The destructive work of Secular Humanism in our public schools is evident by the (1) Lack of academic skills and the (2) Lack of character training of its graduates. I served as a Christian school principal in four Accelerated Christian Education schools. ACE tested their students and discovered that at the end of the ninth grade, they tested at 12.6, which means that they had scored as having graduated from high school. McGraw-Hill was skeptical, retested them and had the same result.

Our most precious treasures, our children, are being destroyed by our own government! Government schools have become so bad that

"...former U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett[PhD] now publicly exhorts parents on national television to take their children out of the learning institutions over which he once presided—and to homeschool them instead" (World Net Daily, October 26, 2002).

Dr. James Dobson PhD, a nationally-acclaimed child psychologist, made similar statements.

PS: I taught these subjects on a college level which gives me credibility: 

History of Education; Leadership Development; Administering the Preschool; Practicum; Introduction to Church Education; Philosophy of Christian Education; Philosophy of Christian School Education and Philosophy of Education (Plus other areas).

This essay was based on the classic work of Bill Gothard, DMin and Donald Howard, PhD.

Copyright © John E. Russell 1993, 2017, 2018

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In Essentials: Unity; In non-essentials: Liberty; In all things: Charity
—Peter Meiderlin 1626