(10/11/206)

World Congress of Families Blasts European Homeschooling Ban

Compares ban to Nazi practice

Oct. 11 /Christian Newswire/ -- World Congress of Families President Dr. Allan Carlson said he was appalled by the decision of the European Human Rights Court in Strasburg which upheld a German ban on home- schooling.

“The ban was instituted by the Nazis and it’s a device worthy of the Nazis,” Carlson declared. “The European Convention on Human Rights notwithstanding, the court specifically held that parents do not have a right to direct their children’s education.”

The case concerned German Christian families who objected to life-style indoctrination in public schools, in the guise of sex education.

The European Convention acknowledges that “the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such (public) education and teachings is in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions.”

Said Carlson: “Despite this clear mandate, the German courts ruled that it was in the children’s best interests to be indoctrinated in the prevailing social order – in other words, to be imbued with what the state considers the correct social values.”

The Human Rights Court confirmed that, holding: “Not only the acquisition of knowledge, but also the integration into and first experience with society are important goals of primary school education.”

Carlson charged: “Hitler himself said that only the state had the right to direct children’s education so that youth would be taught the ideology of National Socialism. How ironic that a Europe which prides itself on tolerance and diversity has embraced an instrument for social control devised by the Nazis.”

The U.S.-based Home School Legal Defense Fund has confirmed that almost 40 home-schooling German families are resisting the ban.

World Congress of Families IV – which will be held in Warsaw, Poland, May 11-13, 2007 – is expected to draw thousands of pro-family activists from Europe and around the world.

“This confirms the wisdom of the planning committee in situating the fourth Congress in Central Europe,” Carlson commented. “European families are increasingly threatened by an anti-family bureaucracy and court system. We promise to rally activists, scholars and parliamentarians from across the globe for a renewal of the natural family.”

The World Congress of Families (WCF) is an international network of pro-family organizations, scholars, and leaders that seeks to restore the natural family as the fundamental social unit and the ‘seed bed’ of civil society. The WCF was founded by Allan Carlson, president of The Howard Center, in 1997. To date, there have been three World Congresses of Families – Prague (1997), Geneva (1999) and Mexico City (2004). WCF IV will be in Warsaw, Poland, May 11-13, 2007.