WASHINGTON — Parental rights are increasingly intersecting with religious freedom, particularly the right to direct the education of ones children, defenders of religious freedom say, as the U.S. government emphasized international religious freedom last week.
Assembled at the Museum of the Bible Thursday, several religious freedom and longtime family advocates spoke of the growing hostility around the world toward religious families in a panel sponsored by the James Dobson Family Institute. The panel took place as the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom was happening concurrently across town at the State Department.
Michael Farris, president of Alliance Defending Freedom, speaking on behalf of the group’s international branch, noted that parental rights are violated whenever governments go beyond listing the required subject matters to demand the teaching of state curriculum.
“Moreover, if a parent believes, as my wife and I believe, that God requires us to directly teach our own children, the government’s international obligations require them to teach in conformity with our own religious and moral beliefs,” Farris said.
When any government does go beyond that they violate the rights of parents, and it is a violation of international law for any state to enforce a total ban on home education, he added, explaining that “any nation that seeks…
… Read More
Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – The Christian Post.