By Brittany Jones, Esq., policy manager for Family Policy Alliance®

Who is giving educators, school officials, legislators, and parents advice on teaching kids about sex these days? The answer:  college students at some of America’s most liberal universities.

This is actually happening in states like California. Students barely out of high school at the University of California, Santa Barbara are making suggestions to our school administrators and parents about how to teach children as young as toddlers about sex. Even more terrifying—they are suggesting that parents and teachers allow students to engage in activities that would be considered abuse in any other context.

In fact, the Sociology Department’s website, run by college students, encourages parents to let children engage in “sex play.” The website encourages parents to react positively when kids engage in this “perfectly normal” form of play. The students on the website equate a child’s natural curiosity about everything with sexual curiosity. They even say, “[S]ex play in children [is] not cause for panic; many children engage in these behaviors.”

They even go so far as to encourage parents to allow children to touch other children’s genitals as long as it is consensual for both parties. This is clearly allowing child abuse and even grooming children to abused by adults.   The recommendations are horrifying because parents are discouraged from teaching their children healthy and appropriate boundaries that protect children from abuse.

To make matters worse, parents are encouraged to be ok with their children watching pornography and to “just talk to their kids about it” because they believe children will  see it anyway. Yet, we know pornography leads to multiple harmful health, relational, and psychological effects later in life.

These are the experts and ideas that are advising our teachers and our decisionmakers.

The philosophies espoused by these college students at the University of California have become the underlying principles guiding California sex ed. Parents in California have been so horrified over what is happening in their schools they have begun to pull their children out of school!

Sadly, these ideas aren’t isolated to California. Even states like Idaho with laws that only permit basic anatomy & physiology to be taught in the classroom are facing sex ed curriculum changes that clearly go outside the bounds of their law. Often, state Departments of Education are swayed by the liberal sexual agenda put forward by public university “experts,” and they too will recommend disturbing curriculum changes for schools in even conservative states.

What can you do about this? It is vital that parents be involved in their children’s school so they can be aware of what is being taught in the classroom. In fact, most states require that parents be given access upon request to the sex ed curriculum. And, believers can work together to promote good public policy that protects parents’ rights and ultimately protects children from harm.

Ultimately, we believe that God has given parents the responsibility to guide their children’s education—especially about how God designed our sexuality. Family Policy Alliance works to advance policies that protect parents’ rights to guide their children’s upbringing and education—and to support lawmakers who will do the same. With your partnership as parents and grandparents, we can restore our states to a nation where God is honored, religious freedom flourishes, families thrive, and life is cherished.

by Stuart Shepard

It was just a rather sizable, but otherwise plain-looking, plaque on the wall of the Spiller Elementary lunchroom.

It’s been at the Wytheville, Virginia, school for so long, no one remembers who put it there.

Here’s what it says – or rather – said:

Our Father:
We thank thee for this food.
Bless it to the nourishment
of our bodies and our lives
to Thy service. Amen.

That humble prayer is now in storage.

What’s that?

You say even you think there might be a problem with such a bold Christian expression in a public school? Especially the “Thy service” part? Because the courts have ruled this or that or something else?

Okay. That’s essentially the argument made by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, which sent one of its threatening, copy-and-paste letters to school officials after hearing from (this is a quote) “a local member of the district.”

Umm, yeah, okay. We’ll go with that.

They said, “the display existed purely for the sake of proselytizing” and that “students should not have to view materials promoting a Christian message.”

Now, I could point out that for most of our Nation’s existence, prayer and study of the Bible was a regular part of the public-school curriculum.

Or how the famous Virginian, George Washington, proclaimed “… it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor.”

(Seems like such a Christian message from a president would be a bigger deal than a plaque on the wall.)

Or how another famous Virginian and author of the First Amendment, Thomas Jefferson, did some audacious proselytizing when he signed a Thanksgiving Proclamation that praised the “glorious light of the Gospel” and explained how “through the merits of our gracious Redeemer, we may become the heirs of his eternal glory.”

(Yikes! Time for “a local member of the district” to call Wisconsin!)

I could do all that. But, instead, in these challenging times in 2017, here’s what I suggest:

Remind the young people in your life that they have a right to pray every day in the school lunchroom.

That they have a right to pray before school with their friends, and after school with their classmates, and quietly before the Algebra test.

That if their school allows non-curricular clubs, they can start a group to pray together and study the Bible.

That they can, if it fits the assignment, write about prayer and their faith in their school work and share it with their classmates.

And share the words of our Founders with them. And teach them a proper understanding of the First Amendment. And the importance of prayer.

Because, a prayer on a student’s lips is far more valuable than a prayer on a plaque on a wall.

 

Thanks to Gateways to Better Education for alerting us to this story.

Family Policy Alliance is proud to work alongside our ally, Pennsylvania Family Council.

by Dan Bartkowiak

I hope you join me and everyone in the pro-life community in celebrating great news out of Reading, Pennsylvania. Not only are teens better off this school year but Planned Parenthood is really mad.

Let me explain:

Planned Parenthood made a push this summer to gain direct access to thousands of high school students in Reading – and to have you pay for it. But, after this proposal was brought to our attention from residents, we were able to rally together with other groups such as Students for Life of America, Berks Republican Women and Pro-Life Berks to show the school board that this was not the right choice for Reading.

I’m happy to tell you that the Reading School Board, in a 5-4 decision, voted against the proposal and to keep Planned Parenthood OUT of Reading High School.

Looking back, here are a few highlights:

1) Shocking statements from newspaper editor.

Ahead of the meeting, I received an email in response to a media advisory about this upcoming board vote, which included the following:

 “At Planned Parenthood women can get free mammograms… very little abortions are performed.”

You can watch a short clip highlighting my response which points out:

• Planned Parenthood isn’t even licensed to perform mammograms in Pennsylvania
• Over half of all abortions in Pennsylvania are from Planned Parenthood.

2) Diversity of the residents speaking out against this proposal.

People from both sides of this issue gathered at the door of the administration building where the vote was to take place. The school board meets in a small room and an overflow crowd spread out into the hallway.

What was striking is the first four residents to speak out; were all against the proposal: a mom who works for a teen organization in Reading, a high-school teenager, a former pregnancy center employee and a pastor.

Many of their comments were helpful, from the teenager pointing out how Planned Parenthood Keystone in Allentown failed three straight inspections – including the gruesome practice of disposing aborted babies down the sink – as well as the pastor pointing out the big business of abortion for Planned Parenthood and that the school should “stick to the business of education.”

3) Overwhelming majority against the proposal.

When it was time for the board members to discuss the proposal, several concerns were mentioned. One board member stated he counted all the emails he had received on this issue, totaling 585. He said the overwhelming majority were against the proposal.

Board members had other concerns such as the fact that no other proposal was considered, that Planned Parenthood is so close to the school (just two miles away) with no other school having such a program and that the board was never presented with evidence that showed Planned Parenthood’s proposal would actually work.

With all of these concerns, the board narrowly voted down the proposal by a 5-4 decision.

Watch this clip for more reaction after the board’s vote.

4) Statement by Planned Parenthood Keystone after the vote.

It appears that Planned Parenthood is fuming. Just read part of the statement they gave to WFMZ after the vote:

“These protesters don’t care about our children… They’re out-of-town bullies who used this vote to pursue a narrow political agenda without any care in the world for the young lives their actions affect.”

I’m not sure if anyone from Planned Parenthood was at the meeting, but I was there. I saw dozens of Reading residents holding signs outside against the proposal. The first four people to offer public comment were all from Reading and against this proposal.

There were also protesters yelling out in support of the proposal. Police were on the scene and the only time they had to yell to the crowd was when someone in support of the proposal was screaming at a pro-life supporter.

And if Planned Parenthood was there, they are the one’s proudly stating they are a political organization that gives millions of dollars to pro-abortion candidates.

But bottom line – thanks to this vote Planned Parenthood is not starting the school year in Reading High School being paid for by taxpayers.

Learn more about Pennsylvania Family Council.

 

Do you believe that boys should have access to girls’ locker rooms, showers and bathrooms? President Obama does. His “bathroom mandate” is using Title IX federal funding to force public schools to allow just that.

 Autumn Leva, policy director for Family Policy Alliance, tells us why we’ve formed an unusual alliance to make our voice heard at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Download a copy of the amicus brief as filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.