Each month, we will profile individuals who have signed the Proclamation for the Separation of School & State.

All Signs Point to Separation

Some people support Separation for reasons economic: free markets are demonstrably superior to socialism, and education is too important to be left to an industry that is owned and run by the government. Some support Separation for reasons political: government's job is to secure our rights and punish criminals, not to educate the young. Still others support Separation for reasons religious: parents are responsible before God to oversee the education of their children, a responsibility which cannot be delegated to a system indifferent or hostile to the God in whom "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

For R.C. Sproul Jr. and his wife Denise, just mark "all of the above." R.C. Jr. was 14 when he first heard the celebrated economist Hans Sennholz. "It was love at first sight with free market economics," he says, "and it didn't take long for me to apply that to the world's largest monopoly." Now the editor of Tabletalk magazine, Sproul is also the author of Dollarsigns of the Times, a 1994 book on biblical principles of economics. Denise, a full time homeworker and mother to Darby (2 years old) and Campbell (6 months), is a "School Sakharov"* who taught high school English for four years in a public school and saw firsthand the pernicious impact government had on education. Above all, the Sprouls' desire to apply their Christian faith to all areas of life is what convinced them that Separation is the answer.

Says R.C. Jr., a graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary and the son of renowned theologian R.C. Sproul, "The Bible is clear in laying out for parents their responsibility to educate their children." This is one reason he is "deeply opposed" to tax funded vouchers, "an enticing solution to so many people" but one which he believes misses the point: parents (not taxpayers) are responsible for paying for the education of their own children. "It's not government's job to maintain an educational system or to provide for the education of the young," he says. "Parents are responsible."

* Andrei Sakharov won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975. From his position of eminence within the Soviet Union, Sakharov courageously denounced the failures of communism within his own country. School Sakharovs are educators who have worked within our educational system, have witnessed its failures first hand, and are willing to speak out (see "The Cement Canoe" Sept. '95).

This article is copyrighted by the Alliance for the Separation of School & State. Permission is granted to freely distribute this article as long as this copyright notice is included in its entirety.

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