Before and during World War II, hundreds of thousands of German Jews seeking safe harbor in the U.S. were unceremoniously turned away and returned to certain death in the Nazi Holocaust.
"Never again," has been the popular refrain for Jews ever since.
Jews had to found a well-defended state of their own to protect themselves against similar horrors.
Maybe the next time it will be Christians.
They are unquestionably the most persecuted group in the world today – chased and murdered in the Middle East, living like third-class citizens in much of the Muslim world, oppressed and tortured in Stalinist hellholes like North Korea.
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So how is the U.S. responding to today's most persecuted class?
With a close shave.
Until 48 hours ago, the Christian, homeschooling Romeike family, fleeing Nazi-era laws still on the books in Germany, was about to be sent back to Germany to face persecution. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, after the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of their case, the Department of Homeland Security offered a reprieve.
In 2008 the Romeike family fled Germany to the U.S. Their only other choice was losing their children to the state due to the illegality of homeschooling. In 2010 they were granted asylum – through the federal court system – by a judge who determined they would be persecuted if returned to Germany.
The Obama administration was unhappy with the result and appealed, obtaining a ruling from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the family should be sent back – persecution or not.
It wasn't exactly a surprising position, since Attorney General Eric Holder has argued in the case that homeschooling is a "mutable choice," meaning that the government can force parents to do as it wishes without violating any rights. (Take note, America. The Obama administration approves of Hitler's coercive education laws.)
The Supreme Court's decision not to take the case seemed like the end of the road for the family in the U.S. court system.
Michael Farris, founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association, was planning to work with members of Congress to introduce legislation to save the day.
That's how close it came for the Romeikes to be sent back to Germany to face persecution for their faith and the right to educate their children as they saw fit.
It's a great victory that they will be allowed to stay indefinitely. But the battle is far from over for the rest of us who support education choices – not the one-size-fits-all approach of Big Government.
"When the United States government says that homeschooling is a mutable choice, it is saying that a government can legitimately coerce you to change this choice," Farris said. "In other words, you have no protected right to choose what type of education your children will receive. We should understand that in these arguments, something very concerning is being said about the liberties of all Americans. I'm glad Obama wasn't in charge in 1620. The government's arguments in this case confuse equal persecution with equal protection and demonstrate a serious disregard for individual religious liberty. I really wonder what would've happened to the Pilgrims under this administration."
Keep in mind, the Romeikes are victims of a Nazi-era law that has never been overturned. The 1938 law passed under the leadership of Adolf Hitler eliminated exemptions that would provide an open door for homeschoolers under the nation's compulsory education laws.
It was in 1937 when Hitler himself said, "The youth of today is ever the people of tomorrow. For this reason we have set before ourselves the task of inoculating our youth with the spirit of this community of the people at a very early age, at an age when human beings are still unperverted and therefore unspoiled. This Reich stands, and it is building itself up for the future, upon its youth. And this new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing."
A society that could even think about turning people like the Romeikes away to face certain persecution is one short step away from becoming the persecutor.
Media wishing to interview Joseph Farah, please contact [email protected].
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