blueollie

What a Dilemma!

Question: when does one’s freedom to raise a child as they see fit end and when does the welfare of the child begin? Sure this is in Canada, but it is still of interest to me.

Nikki’s Nest has a story about a Neo-Nazi couple that lost parental rights due to their beliefs. Ok, how about parents who were, say, CCC members? Or, what about parents to thought that the book The Bell Curve was a good book?

What about parents who teach their kids that the universe is only 6000 years old? What about those who teach Nation of Islam beliefs?

Does the government have a role in the approval or disapproval of a philosophy?

I am not taking a side as yet; I’ll have to think about it some more.

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February 14, 2010 - Posted by | civil liberties, politics/social, racism

1 Comment »

  1. Good questions, but it really seems to me that the government shouldn’t be approving or disapproving of anyone’s philosophy. I think that sets dangerous precedent. Whose philosophy is correct? What if the philosophy the government deems suitable is at odds with your own?

    Living in Utah there is a lot of noise about parental rights, and here it does go too far sometimes; last week the legislature wanted to alter child car seat laws (relax them) to give parents more choice. This will result in direct physical harm to children, and clearly this is wrong. Parents refusing life-saving medical treatment for philosophical reasons is also a case where government ought to get involved.

    But it really is a violation of freedom of speech and freedom of religion for the government to tell parents they cannot teach their children a philosophy of their choice, even if science says it is wrong. I am no 6-day creationist (shudder), but I defend the right of my neighbors to teach young earth creationism to their children if they so choose.

    Comment by Tammy | February 14, 2010 | Reply


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