Sunday, September 11, 2005
German Homeschoolers to Flee to America?
Please take a moment to read and say a prayer for these
families. Thank you.
**********************************************
German Homeschoolers to Flee to America?
---------------------------------------------------------------
Lee Duigon
September 1, 2005
Immigrants fleeing Europe to escape religious persecution, coming to
America to find religious freedom - we think of that as an image
from our past: the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock, William Penn,
Lord Calvert.
But it's happening today. German Christians are trying to find a way
to emigrate to the United States to preserve their faith and their
families from persecution by an aggressively secular German
government.
"We probably can't get political asylum, so we'll have to find
another way," said Richard Guenther, director of "Schulunterricht zu
Hause," a German homeschooling association. "Regular immigration
isn't so easy, either. One application to immigrate can mean two
years of paperwork, and we need something a lot faster. But we're
working on it."
Why?
Persecution
Claims of anti-Christian persecution in our country usually involve
such matters as discrimination in the workplace, court-ordered
removal of religious symbols, or bigoted TV shows.
In Germany, persecution means fathers and mothers jailed for trying
to homeschool their children, Christian children taken into custody
by the state and placed in orphanages, and government officials
telling "fundamentalists" to get out of Germany.
But even getting out of Germany sometimes isn't enough. Germans who
have fled to France and Austria - where homeschooling is legal -
remain under pressure to send their children to secular schools.
Although living in foreign countries, they are still coerced to obey
German compulsory schooling laws.
"Germany is the financial power in the European Union," Guenther
said. "France and Austria are anxious to please the German
government."
To Americans, some of the goings-on in German public schools may
seem incredible.
"I can only assure you that the content of much of the curriculum is
of a pornographic nature," Guenther said. "School authorities are
encouraging the parents of two- or three-year-olds to sexually
stimulate their children and to have the children touch them in a
sexual way. They have children touch each other's private parts
during nap time in the classroom. This aggressive emancipatory
sexual education without norms . is against human dignity."
Naturally, Christian parents try to remove their children from this
environment. But when they do, the state steps in to punish them.
Guenther, American-born and raised, moved to Germany in 1995 with
his German wife, Ingrid. The problem with Germany, he said, is that
it's been a socialist country for two generations.
"German culture was already subservient to state authority, and
socialism reinforces this," he said. "Socialism makes people think
in a box: everyone has to be the same. If you think differently,
you're not accepted."
Christian children are not accepted by their socialist schoolmates,
he said - leading to ostracism, mockery, even beatings, and school
phobia.
Russian Germans: Victims
The main target of the German state's anti-Christian campaign,
Guenther said, is a population of some 3 million recent immigrants
from Russia - Germans from Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Siberia, and
elsewhere. Many of those from Kazakhstan are Baptists.
"We don't know how many of these families have already fled to other
European countries or to Canada," he said. "Here in Paderborn [where
he and Ingrid live], there are eight Russian German families who
have been threatened with imprisonment and loss of their children. A
few parents have already been jailed for trying to homeschool their
children."
The county administrator of Paderborn, Sven Adenauer - grandson of
West Germany's first postwar chancellor, Konrad Adenauer - recently
said, publicly, "fundamentalist Christians should leave the
country." Grandfather Konrad Adenauer was imprisoned in a
concentration camp by the Nazis for his beliefs.
"Sven Adenauer is a very wicked man," Guenther said, "but he's only
one of many German government officials who say things like this."
Can They Get to America?
Fueling Germany's new anti-religious policies is fear of Islam.
Turkish and other Muslim immigrants to Germany now number in the
millions and have been slow to assimilate into the German culture.
Indeed, many Muslims vehemently reject European secularism. The
government's policy, Guenther said, is aimed at
forcibly "integrating" Muslims into Germany society - and Christians
who reject secularism.
As one of America's major foreign allies against Muslim terrorists,
Germany's political relationship with the United States is an
obstacle to the German Christians being granted political asylum
here.
Another obstacle to immigration, he said, is the large size of some
of the German Russian families: "Some of them have 12 children. It's
not easy to find an American sponsor for such a large family."
Guenther praised Houston, Texas, attorney Bruce Shortt for his
ongoing research into the immigration laws and his search for a way
to bring the German Christians to America. The aspiring immigrants
have also received support in America from the Home School Legal
Defense Association.
"America is vital to the preservation of Christianity," Guenther
said. "The fight in Germany is pretty much over; we don't think
there's anything more we can do in Germany. But America has resisted
socialism and secularism. It's still a country of religious freedom."
"I and many others have tried over the last year to bring pressure
on the German government to get them to respect the rights of
Christian parents in Germany," Shortt said. His efforts included an
email campaign directed at the German Embassy. He told Guenther in
an email that "there are various strategies on immigration . I think
there may be some families here [in Houston] who would be willing to
provide temporary help to immigrating Germans."
The experience of the German Christians, he said, "ought to be a
cautionary tale for all Christians and homeschoolers."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Lee Duigon is a Christian free-lance writer and contributing editor
for the Chalcedon Report. He has been a newspaper editor and
reporter and a published novelist.
families. Thank you.
**********************************************
German Homeschoolers to Flee to America?
---------------------------------------------------------------
Lee Duigon
September 1, 2005
Immigrants fleeing Europe to escape religious persecution, coming to
America to find religious freedom - we think of that as an image
from our past: the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock, William Penn,
Lord Calvert.
But it's happening today. German Christians are trying to find a way
to emigrate to the United States to preserve their faith and their
families from persecution by an aggressively secular German
government.
"We probably can't get political asylum, so we'll have to find
another way," said Richard Guenther, director of "Schulunterricht zu
Hause," a German homeschooling association. "Regular immigration
isn't so easy, either. One application to immigrate can mean two
years of paperwork, and we need something a lot faster. But we're
working on it."
Why?
Persecution
Claims of anti-Christian persecution in our country usually involve
such matters as discrimination in the workplace, court-ordered
removal of religious symbols, or bigoted TV shows.
In Germany, persecution means fathers and mothers jailed for trying
to homeschool their children, Christian children taken into custody
by the state and placed in orphanages, and government officials
telling "fundamentalists" to get out of Germany.
But even getting out of Germany sometimes isn't enough. Germans who
have fled to France and Austria - where homeschooling is legal -
remain under pressure to send their children to secular schools.
Although living in foreign countries, they are still coerced to obey
German compulsory schooling laws.
"Germany is the financial power in the European Union," Guenther
said. "France and Austria are anxious to please the German
government."
To Americans, some of the goings-on in German public schools may
seem incredible.
"I can only assure you that the content of much of the curriculum is
of a pornographic nature," Guenther said. "School authorities are
encouraging the parents of two- or three-year-olds to sexually
stimulate their children and to have the children touch them in a
sexual way. They have children touch each other's private parts
during nap time in the classroom. This aggressive emancipatory
sexual education without norms . is against human dignity."
Naturally, Christian parents try to remove their children from this
environment. But when they do, the state steps in to punish them.
Guenther, American-born and raised, moved to Germany in 1995 with
his German wife, Ingrid. The problem with Germany, he said, is that
it's been a socialist country for two generations.
"German culture was already subservient to state authority, and
socialism reinforces this," he said. "Socialism makes people think
in a box: everyone has to be the same. If you think differently,
you're not accepted."
Christian children are not accepted by their socialist schoolmates,
he said - leading to ostracism, mockery, even beatings, and school
phobia.
Russian Germans: Victims
The main target of the German state's anti-Christian campaign,
Guenther said, is a population of some 3 million recent immigrants
from Russia - Germans from Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Siberia, and
elsewhere. Many of those from Kazakhstan are Baptists.
"We don't know how many of these families have already fled to other
European countries or to Canada," he said. "Here in Paderborn [where
he and Ingrid live], there are eight Russian German families who
have been threatened with imprisonment and loss of their children. A
few parents have already been jailed for trying to homeschool their
children."
The county administrator of Paderborn, Sven Adenauer - grandson of
West Germany's first postwar chancellor, Konrad Adenauer - recently
said, publicly, "fundamentalist Christians should leave the
country." Grandfather Konrad Adenauer was imprisoned in a
concentration camp by the Nazis for his beliefs.
"Sven Adenauer is a very wicked man," Guenther said, "but he's only
one of many German government officials who say things like this."
Can They Get to America?
Fueling Germany's new anti-religious policies is fear of Islam.
Turkish and other Muslim immigrants to Germany now number in the
millions and have been slow to assimilate into the German culture.
Indeed, many Muslims vehemently reject European secularism. The
government's policy, Guenther said, is aimed at
forcibly "integrating" Muslims into Germany society - and Christians
who reject secularism.
As one of America's major foreign allies against Muslim terrorists,
Germany's political relationship with the United States is an
obstacle to the German Christians being granted political asylum
here.
Another obstacle to immigration, he said, is the large size of some
of the German Russian families: "Some of them have 12 children. It's
not easy to find an American sponsor for such a large family."
Guenther praised Houston, Texas, attorney Bruce Shortt for his
ongoing research into the immigration laws and his search for a way
to bring the German Christians to America. The aspiring immigrants
have also received support in America from the Home School Legal
Defense Association.
"America is vital to the preservation of Christianity," Guenther
said. "The fight in Germany is pretty much over; we don't think
there's anything more we can do in Germany. But America has resisted
socialism and secularism. It's still a country of religious freedom."
"I and many others have tried over the last year to bring pressure
on the German government to get them to respect the rights of
Christian parents in Germany," Shortt said. His efforts included an
email campaign directed at the German Embassy. He told Guenther in
an email that "there are various strategies on immigration . I think
there may be some families here [in Houston] who would be willing to
provide temporary help to immigrating Germans."
The experience of the German Christians, he said, "ought to be a
cautionary tale for all Christians and homeschoolers."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Lee Duigon is a Christian free-lance writer and contributing editor
for the Chalcedon Report. He has been a newspaper editor and
reporter and a published novelist.
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