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World Congress of Families President Condemns EU Ban on Home Schooling

Carlson charges “ban was instituted by the Nazis and it’s a device worthy of the Nazis”

By Gudrun Schultz

ROCKFORD, Illinois, October 13, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The European Human Rights Court decision to uphold a German ban on home schooling illustrates the growing threat anti-family bureaucracy and court systems pose to European families, warned Dr. Allan Carlson, president of the World Congress of Families, in a press release Wednesday.

“The ban was instituted by the Nazis and it’s a device worthy of the Nazis,” Dr. Carlson stated. “The European Convention on Human Rights notwithstanding, the court specifically held that parents do not have a right to direct their children’s education.”

German parents filed the human rights complaint with the EU court, saying the German Government’s ban on home schooling violated their parental rights under the European Convention. Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 of the Convention says the State is required to “respect the right of parents to ensure such (public) education and teachings is in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions.”

Dr. Carson said the German court’s decision gave the state greater say in the education and development of children than their parents.

“Despite this clear mandate, the German courts ruled that it was in the children’s best interests to be indoctrinated in the prevailing social order - in other words, to be imbued with what the state considers the correct social values.”

The EU Court supported that decision, stating, “Not only the acquisition of knowledge, but also the integration into and first experience with society are important goals of primary school education.”

Although the EU Court admitted that “it cannot be formally said that the applicant parents are seeking to impose their religious convictions against their children’s will,” the Court upheld the German court findings that “the applicant children were unable to foresee the consequences of their parents’ decision for home education because of their young age.”

Dr. Carlson said the ruling was appalling, saying, “Hitler himself said that only the state had the right to direct children’s education so that youth would be taught the ideology of National Socialism. How ironic that a Europe which prides itself on tolerance and diversity has embraced an instrument for social control devised by the Nazis.”

See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:

European Human Rights Court Rules State May Deny Parents Right to Home School Their Children
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/06092708.html

Germany Uses Nazi Era Law to Imprison Mom for Homeschooling; Family Flees to Austria
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/06091407.html

German School Official Declares "Homeschooling Illegal"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jan/05011203.html

POLICE CRACKDOWN ON HOME-SCHOOLING IN GERMANY
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2000/jul/00072604.html

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