Is it a sin to send our kids to public school?

A slew of research shows that America is losing the conservative Christian youth in massive droves. These studies show a generation being increasingly won over to a socialistic/secular-humanistic worldview in spite of the American church increasing their apologetic courses, children's programs, youth rallies and books and sermon series on child training.

What is happening? Could it be that we are doing something wrong? I would make the case that we are blatantly sinning in sending our kids to places that are, in fact, causing them to fall away. Let me lay out the case in three simple points.

1. Does the Bible make it clear that causing another to "stumble or fall away" in their faith-walk is wrong – a sin?

Matthew 18:5-7: "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin [stumble], it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea."

1 Corinthians 8:9-13: "But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. ..."

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2 Corinthians 6:3: "We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry."

Romans 14:13-21: ".... but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. ... It is good not ... [to] do anything that causes your brother to stumble, or be hindered or be weakened."

The above verses are crystal clear on this topic.

What's the reason young people abandon the Christian faith in such high numbers? Find out in "Already Gone: Why Your Kids Will Quit Church and What You can do to Stop It"

2. Is there any convincing evidence that a secular-humanistic public education is causing kids to stumble and fall away from the church?

• 88 percent of the children raised in evangelical homes leave church at the age of 18;

• 83 percent of children from committed Christian families attending public schools adopt a Marxist-socialist worldview;
• Mounting evidence that the public schools are successfully converting covenant children to secular humanism;
• Nehemiah Institute's graph showing the shocking result of a 20-year study on approximately 60,000 youth in 50 states from churchgoing families.

Is there any other evidence that indirectly substantiates all of the above research?

• Only 4 percent of U.S. teens can be considered evangelicals, and the number is actually trending in the wrong direction;
• Young adults and children being "programmed" to think un-biblically;
• Teens' worldviews are substantially morphing into Christianity's misbegotten step-cousin, Christian Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.

Are children being negatively affected in other ways in these God-forsaken schools?

• 80 percent of Christian families send their children to public schools where their faith is attacked;
• Public schools are increasingly riddled with violence, drugs, promiscuity, emotional disorders, crime, contempt for authority, desperate behavior, illiteracy and peer dependency;

• Parents are seeing reports of fifth-graders having sex in class, school shootings, drugs or condoms in backpacks;
• Every day, 8,000 teenagers in the United States become infected by a sexually transmitted disease. This year, nearly 3 million teens will become infected.
• Millions of kids are being systematically dumbed-down;
• Globally, American public educated kids score near the bottom of the barrel in math and science;
• Reports of hundreds of teachers all over the country sexually abusing their younger, weaker students.

The proof is that there is an obvious link between the falling away of the next generation and years of a Godless public education. In light of this and the fact that the Bible makes it clear that causing another to stumble is a sin, the third and final question is:

3. What has been the response from the conservatives, Christian leaders and the church?

Silence, deafening silence. Why? The No. 1 reason appears to be fear. These weak-kneed Christian leaders avoid speaking the truth because they are afraid of losing support and money from people like you and me. A group of Christians called some of these ministries out recently.

The shocking facts on the falling away of Christian children who are being educated in the public schools are as plain as the nose on one's face. Yet, you still have educational antinomians and pastors, like Joshua Harris, who make nonsensical statements that actually equivocate years of secular-humanistic indoctrination as being morally equivalent to years of a Christian education. Unbelievable!

We also have respected men like Franklin Graham naively telling the church that, "Instead of withdrawing from public schools, Christians should train their children to share the Gospel with their non-Christian classmates." I mean no disrespect toward Mr. Graham, but what was he thinking? The "salt and light myth" died a painful death years ago. The truth is, years of non-Christian curriculum and non-Christian peer pressure are "converting" the kids away from the church.

The answer is definitely not more school reform. Even after decades of trying to "reform" the public schools, they are far worse off today than ever before. Author Bradley Heath puts to bed this nonsense when he writes, "Public schooling is non-sectarian by law, that is non-Christian, non-Muslim, non-Jewish, and so on. Complaining that the public schools are not Christian is like saying that Christian schools are not Muslim. Of course public schools are not Christian; they are not intended to be. Christians are wasting their time, money and children trying to reform public schools."

Please pass this article on to your pastors, elders and Christian leaders. We are losing almost nine out of 10 the next generation and are surely missing the mark in training up our kids. By the way, the word "sin" really does mean to "miss the mark."

I am certain things will continue to get worse for us in America unless we repent from the sin of sending our kids to the local Godless Marxist/socialist public school. Have we forgotten the old adage, "The world marches forth on the feet of little children"?

It is clearly wrong what we are doing. We should not be trying to reform our sin, but to repent from it. We know the right thing to do, so let's do it.

So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. (James 4:17)

David d'Escoto is a teaching elder, the co-author of "The Little Book of Big Reasons to Homeschool" and co-hosted the former radio program "Homeschooling for Life." He and his wife, Kim, have homeschooled their five children for over 10 years. For info on their free webinars, subscribe at their website.