We addressed in the last part of our series the agenda of those who would destroy the nuclear family. It is an attack on parents and children and an attack on God’s design for the family.
Some of the most outspoken opponents of the nuclear (traditional) family are well known to us. I met and interviewed many of them during my years as a journalist beginning in the 1960s. Many of the radicals and revolutionaries of the 60s and 70s went on to become leaders in community and labor organizing and in academia. Many of the voices of opposition to the family you read and hear today were trained by the activists of the 60s and 70s.
Godless Marxism
One of the loudest and best-known organizations currently opposing the nuclear family is one example of people trained by the activists of the 60s:
We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.
We foster a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise). Black Lives Matter – What We Believe
The founders of BLM are self-avowed Marxists:
The first thing, I think, is that we actually do have an ideological frame. Myself and Alicia in particular are trained organizers. We are trained Marxists. We are super-versed on, sort of, ideological theories. And I think that what we really tried to do is build a movement that could be utilized by many, many black folk. Patrisse Cullors, The Real News
As I mentioned in the previous part of this series, Cullors was trained by Eric Mann of the violent Weather Underground. He was sentenced in 1969 to two years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit murder after firing two bullets through a window of a police headquarters. Mann was also a leader of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS New England coordinator) and continued as a community, civil rights and labor organizer after release from prison. Mann also became involved in the environmental justice movement and wrote several books.
It’s important for Christians to understand that Marxism is “godless,” meaning that it a system or worldview that does not see the existence of God as having any value to humans. Many Marxists are atheists or agnostics. Their personal and corporate view is humanistic. They believe that belief in God is a burden to the populace.
Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.
The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo. Karl Marx, A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, 1843
War on the Education of Children
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels wrote Manifesto of the Communist Party in 1847 and published it the following year. As we’ve seen, one of their stated goals was the abolition of the family. Look at this quote again and keep your eyes out for what they say about the education of children:
Abolition [Aufhebung] of the family! Even the most radical flare up at this infamous proposal of the Communists. On what foundation is the present family, the bourgeois family, based? On capital, on private gain. In its completely developed form, this family exists only among the bourgeoisie. But this state of things finds its complement in the practical absence of the family among the proletarians, and in public prostitution. The bourgeois family will vanish as a matter of course when its complement vanishes, and both will vanish with the vanishing of capital. Do you charge us with wanting to stop the exploitation of children by their parents? To this crime we plead guilty. But, you say, we destroy the most hallowed of relations, when we replace home education by social. And your education! Is not that also social, and determined by the social conditions under which you educate, by the intervention direct or indirect, of society, by means of schools, &c.? The Communists have not invented the intervention of society in education; they do but seek to alter the character of that intervention, and to rescue education from the influence of the ruling class. The bourgeois clap-trap about the family and education, about the hallowed co-relation of parents and child, becomes all the more disgusting, the more, by the action of Modern Industry, all the family ties among the proletarians are torn asunder, and their children transformed into simple articles of commerce and instruments of labour.
We might call this Marxist Educational Theory. Notice how Marx and Engels wanted to “rescue education from the influence of the ruling class.” They wanted to replace “home education,” meaning education directed by parents. That’s why the destruction of the nuclear family is so important to the Marxist ambition. With parents out of the way, Marxists can do as they please with children. They can train them to become good little Marxists who will do the bidding of Marxist beliefs and purpose.
In bourgeois society the school has three principal tasks to fulfil. First, it inspires the coming generation of workers with devotion and respect for the capitalist régime. Secondly, it creates from the young of the ruling classes ‘cultured’ controllers of the working population. Thirdly, it assists capitalist production in the application of sciences to technique, thus increasing capitalist profits.
In the matter of education, as in all other matters, the Communist Party is not merely faced by constructive tasks, for in the opening phases of its activity it is likewise faced by destructive tasks. In the educational system bequeathed to it by capitalist society, it must hasten to destroy everything which has made of the school an instrument of capitalist class rule. Communism and Education
A trained Marxist, like the founders of BLM, will follow the guidance of the principles and directives of Marxism. That’s what it means to be a Marxist. Even as Christians follow Christ, Marxists follow Marx. That means today’s Marxists will also have the education of children in their sights. Their stated goal is to rescue education from the influence of the ruling class and destroy the capitalist education system. How do Marxists do that? By becoming involved in public education. As I mentioned earlier, some radical revolutionaries of the 60s and 70s went into academia to spread their Marxist beliefs. They became teachers, professors and lecturers. They also started organizations like Eric Mann’s Labor/Community Strategy Center where Patrisse Cullors received her training in Marxism. Marxist education was vital for the growth in influence and power for what we are witnessing today in the war on children and family.
Marxists target education because of the principle of “reproduction.” They believe that when capitalists are in charge of educating children the result is a reproduction of capitalist beliefs from one generation to another. Marxists have long viewed the takeover of education as a powerful way to undermine capitalism and indoctrinate children in Marxist dogma. It’s a long-game plan that started almost two hundred years ago with Marx and Engels and is now bearing fruit in American society. That game plan is more complex and nuanced than we can address in this brief series, so you may want to do your own research into Marxism to better understand what’s happening today and where it will probably take us. We can also look to the history of other countries that adopted Marxism (e.g. USSR, China, North Korea, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam) to see what may be coming to the U.S. one day soon.
The Christian Response
As discipled representatives of Jesus Christ on earth we want to present a reasoned (logical), informed (fact-based), and thoughtful (loving-kind) response to those who have opposing points of view. We are reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul as he addressed some in the Corinthian church who opposed him:
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. 2 Corinthians 10:3-6
Paul wrote this to Ephesian Christians several years later:
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Ephesians 6:10-13
Our battle is primarily spiritual in nature. Our opponents will appear before us as flesh and blood, but there are extraordinary powers of darkness behind them – powers that are invisible to us, but absolutely real. That means we need to armed properly for this warfare. We need to take up the whole armor of God and use the weapons God has given us for pulling down strongholds and casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.
Christian parents have had a variety of choices for their children’s education. Here are four of the primary methods:
- Public School
- Private School
- Christian School
- Home School
My mother was involved in public education in the 1950s and 60s. Her mother had been involved in pubic education from the 1920s to 1950s. They both saw how teachers’ unions were moving the public school system away from belief in God. My grandmother retired in the 50s and my mother left her position in a public school in the 60s. She told me that the desire of the unions to move toward a godless system and the problems it was causing Christians in education was a primary reason. I stayed in the public school system, went to a public college, and became an atheist. Thanks to God’s grace, I became a Christian years later after investigating the truth claims of Christianity.
Christians have played a huge role in public education in America since the 17th century. Christian colleges and universities were some of the first schools of higher education in the country. The beginning of what we might call the Christian school movement began in the early part of the 20th century and eventually became known as the National Association of Christian Schools in the 1940s (later changed to the National Christian School Education Association).
Many Christian parents began moving their children away from public schools and into private Christian schools in the 60s and 70s. Some Christians have argued that so many Christian parents moving out of public schools actually helped Marxists take over the agenda of the public school system. Would it have been better for Christians to stay and fight for their children in public schools? We’ll never know because it didn’t happen.
Next Time
Christian parents with children in public schools today face a similar challenge. Do they stay and fight for their children’s rights or move to private Christian schooling or homeschooling? If they do, what will happen to public education? We’ll begin looking at that challenge and how Christians can respond in the next part of our series – The War On Children: A Christian Response.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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