The Voice Of One Crying Out In Suburbia

The rights of parents versus the authority of the state

A simply outstanding Albert Mohler show last Friday, on parental rights in light of the Texas FLDS compound issue. The show’s title captures the question: Balancing Parental Authority and Government Oversight. It is a frightening propisition to any parent, the idea of some official coming into your home, declaring you an unfit parent and seizing your children.

What should be the default position when it comes to parents? The default position is either that parents have ultimate rights to raise their children unless and until they are shown uncategorically to have abdicated that right by actions or neglect. Unfortunately we see more and more that the state’s reaction is just the opposite, take the kids on the flimsiest of evidence and then we will figure out what happened once the kids are “safe” in our custody. That is the world turned upside down, but it plays into the midset that I continually point out of the self-proclaimed elites in education and government assuming that they know what is best for children, over and above the parents.

Dr. Mohler gave a very sobering warning. There are those who would use the same argument against evangelical Christians that were used on the FLDS parents. Because of how we raise our kids, educational choices, religious upbringing, discipline, all manner of issues that some would find objectionable. If you think that couldn’t happen, that this is overreacting to the situation, then let me assure you of one thing: If they can take their kids, they can take ours.

Are there situations where children should be removed from the home? Of course. I have been closely involved in such a circumstance where the parents had clearly neglected a child before she was even born through substance abuse. Is this situation in Texas with the FLDS one of them? Quite possibly, although the state hasn’t proven that to be the case. But that should always been the last option, after every other avenue has been exhausted and the burden of proof falls entirely on the state.