The U.S. Justice Department says home-schooling is not a fundamental right.
That was the argument the Obama administration made in federal court against an evangelical Christian family from Germany seeking asylum in the United States. Over the last 250 plus years the United States of America was the country people could immigrate to for freedom of religion because when we declared our independence as free Americans, we cited rights given to us by our Creator.These rights included life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This implied the right to the free exercise of religion including the right to teach our children without government interference. These rights were later spelled out directly in the US Constitution. Now, we must struggle with the federal and state governments for even these inalienable rights just as others must do around the world.
Germany broadly forbids home-schooling. So the Romeike family was forced to flee the country or risk losing their five children to the German government, which was trying to force them to put their children in public schools.
The Homeschool Legal Defense Association is working on the Romeike family’s behalf.
Michael Farris, founder and chairman of HSLDA, wrote about Germany’s home-school ban in his blog saying, “It is thought control. It is belief control. It is totalitarianism dressed up in politically correct lingo.”
