The McIntyres are accused of failing to teach their children educational basics because they were waiting to be transported to heaven with the second coming of Jesus Christ. At issue: Where do religious liberty and parental rights to educate one’s own children stop and obligations to ensure home-schooled students ever actually learn something begin?…. “Parents should be allowed to decide how to educate their children, not whether to educate their children,” said Rachel Coleman, executive director of the Massachusetts-based Coalition for Responsible Home Education…. Michael’s twin brother, Tracy, reported never seeing the children reading, working on math, using computers or doing much of anything educational except singing and playing instruments. He said he heard one of them say learning was unnecessary since “they were going to be raptured.”
Not being a Christian, my personal bias on this story probably won’t be difficult for my gentle reader to discern. Yes, waiting for the Rapture is the theological version of Waiting for Godot…and every bit as much characteristic of Ionesco’s Theater of the Absurd. Faith can be a powerful thing; of that’s there’s little question…but the nature of Scripture surrounding the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is that the time of its occurrence is and can be known to no one. Believers have been predicting, preparing for, and been disappointed by the passing of the appointed time of an alleged Rapture for hundreds of years. With that in mind, the odds of Christians being whisked away to their celestial Shining City on the Hill any time soon seems…slim.
Given that the time said Rapture will (or, given my cynical disbelieving nature, IF it will even) occur is a mystery. The idea that parents would decline to put their children in school because they’re expecting the Second Coming of Jesus Christ ANY TIME NOW!!! seems…irresponsible. As Ms. Coleman stated, parents should certainly have a voice in HOW their children are educated, but we’re not talking about IF. Education should be- and is- a societal expectation, because stupid comes with a cost to society.
Here’s something to seriously consider: If you believe it to be within your rights as a parent to determine whether or not your child is educated, you have no business being a parent. I may not have children, but I think I know enough to understand that among the primary responsibilities of a parent is to prepare their progeny for life after they leave home. If your idea of preparing a child for the future is keeping them at home while you wait for The Second Coming, how about doing society a favor and agreeding to be sterilized? The last thing this country needs is more willfully ignorant people. That will save taxpayers the time and expense of having the State take your children and putting them in a home where responsible adults actually take care of children.
As America’s greatest president taught us, “Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?” And the McIntyres would like to KEEP IT THAT WAY.
Because for real, do you really think our lord and savior is going to be in the mood to deal with smarty pants children asking all kinds of physics questions about velocity and displacement while He’s trying to do the Rapture? We think not.
Apparently, the family was allowed to go on its merry idiot way for quite a while, until Michael McIntyre’s brother noticed the kids were dumbasses:
Michael’s twin brother, Tracy, reported never seeing the children reading, working on math, using computers or doing much of anything educational except singing and playing instruments. He said he heard one of them say learning was unnecessary since “they were going to be raptured.”
Yes, education isn’t just a good idea; it’s the law…even in Texas, where edumication is largely an exercise in producing reflexively obedient Christian soldiers who vote reliably Republican and believe Liberals to be OF THE DEVIL. Education shouldn’t be optional, because children will, with any luck, eventually grow into adults and have to make their own way in the world. If little Johnny grows up believing 1+1=3 and that Jesus wrote the Constitution…well, you’ve probably sentenced your offspring to a brilliant career digging ditches or pumping gas for minimum wage.
IS our children learning? The answer to that shouldn’t be dependent on one’s religious faith. Hey, if Jesus comes back, the little urchins can leave their book bags at home for the kids of sinners who get left behind. Until and unless that happens, though, children need to be prepared to function as adults. If their parents refuse to allow them to be educated…well, to say they don’t deserve to be parents would be something of an understatement.
