We recently received the following question from a reader:
I was raised Christian and have been in the Church my whole life and to be honest, I have not heard any of my pastors talk about ‘parental rights’ before. Is this biblical, and if so, please provide supporting scripture. Thanks.
EFC’s Don Hutchinson responds:
In the instance of the SL case, we have two concepts that are paired one with another; religious freedom and parental rights/responsibility. Neither of these can be fully developed in a brief answer, but here are some thoughts in answer to your question.
At law, perhaps most succinctly summarized in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, there is a “right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion” (Article 18) and “parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children” (Article 26). Both of these concepts have been recognized in Canadian law either legislatively or through decisions of the court system.
In Scripture we find not so much rights as responsibilities. So that it is the responsibility of parents to steward the gift of children – who belong to Him (Psalm 139:13-16; Isaiah 29:23; Ezekiel 16:20-21) – by training/educating their children (Deuteronomy 4:9; Proverbs 22:6; Ephesians 6:4), particularly educating them about God and what he has done. While the education of children may be delegated to another, the responsibility remains with the parents. Some parents have accepted this responsibility to include homeschooling rather than having their children enter either the private or public education systems.
In SL, the parents were prepared to delegate their authority in education only to the point at which it conflicted with their religious beliefs. By the way – the provincial government has the constitutional authority to provide education but not the authority to usurp the parents’ responsibility in doing so. That’s why teachers function at law in loco parentis, i.e. in the place of the parent. It’s also why teachers send home permission slips for field trips.