> Subject: Re: [ZION] Nehors - Humanism > > Kent Francis responds with a personal example:
I think if I'm ever adrift in a 5 man lifeboat and 9 other people I want one of them to be you! We could find a way to make it work. Thanks for sharing your letter and experiences with us. Are you new to the list or a long time lurker? Tom > > Let me introduce myself. My name is Kent Francis and I currently > live in West Jordan, Utah. I grew up in the Bay Area of California and > graduated with a Masters Degree in Cybernetics from San Jose State. I > worked for IBM and Control Data for 18 years and in 1984 established my > own computer software company. I have 5 children (the youngest is now 28 > and so the fight has moved on to others). I offer my experiences in the > hope that they may be useful to you in your attempt to teach your > children proper principles, and your fight to protect them from people > in the world who might do them harm. Sixteen years ago I wrote the > following letter to all my children's teachers as a result of the > pervasive influence of Humanism in their schools, and the destructive > techniques that were being used to destroy the value system that we had > tried so very hard to teach them. > > > Dear Teacher, > > When we lived in California and Connecticut we were exposed to a > new religion called Humanism. I say "Religion" because on at least two > occasions the Supreme Court of the United States has judged it as such. > It has a "Manifesto" I and II (what we would call "Articles of Faith" > which states that there is no such thing as "God", the soul, or immortal > salvation, and that the "Judeo-Christian" religions and ethic systems > are obstacles to human progress. In the areas of sexuality, they believe > that intolerant attitudes cultivated by orthodox religions unduly > repress sexual conduct. The right to birth control, abortion, and > divorce should be recognized. Mankind is the result of animal evolution > and the ethic system which serves him best is one created by the > principles of "scientific method"; there is no right or wrong, life is > situational. > > In order to spread the concepts of their religion, they have > turned to the secular channels of information; especially the > educational system. Their champions are well known. John Dewey and > Horace Mann, the "fathers" of modern education, B.F. Skinner of operant > conditioning fame, J.L. Moreno who designed socioprogams, role playing > and psychodrama, Maslow who created the Third Force Psychology, Dr. > Carl Rogers of sensitivity training fame, Dr. Lester Kirkendall of > SIECUS, Dr. Albert Ellis a leading champion of pre-marital sex, Dr. > William Glasser of Reality Therapy and "Schools Without Failure" > programs, Jerome Bruner author of the M:ACOS program, and Louis Raths > and Dr. Sidney Simon - designers and promoters of Values Clarification > and Values Changing curriculum. Lately the darling of educational > circles is Lawrence Kohlberg of Harvard and the Center for Moral > Education who calls for "cognitive moral development". > > Because our children couldn't cope with the "brainwashing", we > gave up our career and retreated to the religious and conservative Utah, > only to find that the local emphasis on education had allowed this > atheistic religion and its values modification techniques to ingratiate > itself with many of the unsuspecting educators. We were, however, > pleased to learn that the Utah education code 53-14-4 and 10 > specifically prohibits the teaching of atheistic religion and requires > teachers to teach honesty, morality, courtesy, obedience to law, respect > for parents and homes, respect for the constitutions of the US and Utah, > the value of honest labor, and upright citizenship. > > Also it states that "the importance and necessity of good manners, > truthfulness, temperance, purity, patriotism and industry shall be > given as instruction in connection with regular schoolwork". In > addition the Hatch amendment to the US educational code specifically > prohibits the use of these psychological testing techniques and > practices without the express written permission of parents. > > Because you might not be aware of these things being a part of > the curriculum or teaching materials you are using, we would welcome > an opportunity to discuss them with you at your convenience. In the > meantime, please do not expose our children to psychodramas, role > playing, the values clarification program where they are asked to write > journals which are made public, or class discussions on the values of > our home and family. Especially to be avoided are moral dilemmas on > who is to be chosen in life or death situations (10 people in a life > boat with only room for 5...), advocacy of the new morality, and the > supposed "rights" of students to govern their own lives without the > interference of parents or other authority figures. My children are > generally depressed and distressed by the whole tone of this religion, > which dwells in excruciating detail on the dark side of life. Often in > the name of examining the great questions of life, they emphasize > inhumanity, immorality, deviation, death, disease and disfigurement. > Although life is not easy, its more positive aspects have much to > recommend them. > > We appreciate your dedication to the teaching of our children, > and honor you for your choice of profession. If you would like to > discuss our children or any of these things we have mentioned, please > give us a call. > > Sincerely, > > Kent Francis > > ++++++++++++++++ > > > Although I had been exposed to Humanism in college (along with > many other challenges to my ethics system), I dismissed it as a harmless > exposure to "other" systems of thought which broadened my view of the > world. It was not until we saw the advanced stages of its re-educational > techniques in the lives of our children in Connecticut that we became > really alarmed. > > One evening we were having a family meeting to assign jobs for > the coming week. My 8 year old offered us the following dialogue. > "I don't have to do what you say. I am my own person. I have rights > too. If you beat me, I'll tell the school and they'll arrest you for > child abuse. I have friends who will take care of me. I don't have to > believe all this stupid stuff you tell us; you can't make me go to > church..." and so on for 5 minutes; he only slowed down when his sisters > started to cry. We just sat there with our mouths open. Then next > morning on Donahue we saw a teenager spout almost the same speech and > learned for the first time that there was a national problem much larger > than what we thought was a local problem with our son. > > Naturally, we got involved. At school we found the teachers using > a "Values Clarification" manual and every class meeting daily in a > "Magic Circle" group encounter therapy program to help the children > "clarify their values". When we discussed the program with the > administration we were told that most parents were not giving their > children the proper training in ethics, and so the school had taken upon > itself the role of instructing the children in a "universal set" of > values. They had to do this in self defense since the schools were full > of drugs, vandalism, and violence. They felt that if they started in > Kindergarten with an "ethics reeducation" program, they could solve > these destructive social problems they were seeing. We attended some of > the sessions and we were shocked at what we saw. Children arriving at > their own ethics system after being exposed to a catalogue of all the > ills "caused" by the Judeo-Christian ethics system. What was this new > system? Situational ethics. Everyone decides what is right for them. > To help sensitize the children to the "modern world", homosexuals of > both sexes were invited to present their alternate life styles. > Abortion and Euthanasia were discussed and the children were asked to > make life and death decisions. Witchcraft and "ecological science" > were offered as alternatives to structured religion. Hypnotism was > used in 3rd grade art classes to "liberate" the children's creativity. > The Junior Great Books program was used to supplement their reading > program. Who could object to "Great Books" and classics like "Little > Red Riding Hood"? Everyone! when you realized that the stories had > been re-written so that they discussed alternate life styles and > children's rights. "The woodsman cut some faggots. Look up in your > dictionary the meaning of the word. Why do people use that term to > describe other people? and so on..." > > We got our neighbors together, we found there were people all over > the U.S. fighting the same problem we were seeing. We educated ourselves > through books and outside speakers. We thought we were making some > progress in city-wide PTA to do something about the problem when > Connecticut passed an Academic Freedom Law. Non-Professionals (i.e. > parents) were no longer allowed to interfere in the choice of > curriculum or the hiring of teachers; we were shut out. We found out > that most of our neighbors agreed with the schools; we were trouble > makers (the administrators even had a manual on how to handle irate > parents) and education of children should be left to the professionals. > We gave up our career and moved back to the West where we could be among > people who shared our ethical and religious beliefs. > > The first day of school in Utah, my high school student brought > me her English writing assignment. They had discussed the following > situation: You and your best friend are hiking in the mountains and she > falls over the cliff. You climb down and find that her back is broken. > She realizes that she will be an invalid the rest of her life and begs > you as her friend to push her on over the cliff. What do you do? The > kids in the class said they would push her over the cliff. Isn't that > murder my confused daughter asked me? At school we found that the > teacher had spent the summer in Connecticut with Lawrence Kohlberg > learning the latest "educational" techniques. We decided that the > problem had gotten here before us; but we felt that we could probably > have an influence here so we went to work. We found that the teacher > felt that she had a moral obligation to disobey the law if she disagreed > with it. We were teaching our children that they had an obligation to > obey the law and use their rights to change it through constitutional > means if they disagreed. When the teacher was unwilling to see our > viewpoint we found that she transferred our student to another English > class. > > We drafted the above letter to all the teachers, and got to work. > We met with the school board and asked that another program of reading > supplement be chosen rather than the "Junior Great Books" which was also > in place here. After some highly publicized debate the board agreed > and the program was replaced. We talked to the teachers and pointed out > the problems of their using the "national" values clarification manual. > They agreed with us and stopped using the manual. We found that there > were groups involved in trying to influence the legislature at a state > level and got involved. Luckily, the state education code had provisions > that prohibited the teaching of "atheistic religion" and mandated the > teaching of positive values. We read all the text books being used in > our educational system and made recommendation to the appropriate state > educational committees on the least objectionable. We found out that in > order to change the establishment, you cannot appeal to emotionalism; you > have to understand the law, demonstrate where the program is not in > conformance, and then work hard to change it or make it better. > > > > Ron Scott wrote: > > > So for the moment I will abide your claims above. Meantime, please > answer > > the key question I asked earlier: Give us specific examples of > ... > how > > secular humanism and athiesm are bigger threats to us today than they > were, > > say, a couple of hundred years ago.< Church membership is up. Ditto > church > > attendance. Ditto people who identify themselves as a member of a > church. > > > > Ron > > > > > //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // > //// > > /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// > > /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// > > > //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // > /// > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // > //// > /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// > /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// > //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // > /// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// --^---------------------------------------------------------------- This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aaP9AU.bWix1n.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. 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