# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S1064
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

366 PARISH EDUCATION

of all people the parents should be the best informed and the mo
vocal, since the welfare of their children is at stake. , °
Briefly, parents’ rights are to be deduced from the paren’
authority and responsibility which God has given to fathers and
mothers. The rights of parents are commensurate with the duties
God has laid upon them or with the power and authority He -ha "
conferred. We may therefore say that anything which makes it
difficult or impossible for parents to fulfill their God-given respon
sibility encroaches ‘upon their rights. This is a general rule, an
all instances of apparent. encroachment must be checked against’
this rule. ve
The rights of parents are violated (1) when parents are forced.
to send their children to a school prescribed by the State instead;
of being permitted to send them to a school of their own choice
(2) when the content of textbooks which their children are com. 3
pelled to use is such that it contradicts the religious principles of,
the parents; (3) when children are compelled to attend religious
instruction of which the parents do not approve; (4) when the c
school so monopolizes the child’s time, especially on weekday:
that there is practically no time for the religious instruction of th
child; (5) when the State gives some parents, for example, those
who want non-religious schools, the schools they desire, but
neglects to do anything to meet the desires of a large percentage .
of religious parents for the kind of schools they want. -
It is the obligation of parents to fulfill their duties and defence
their rights in the fear of God. It is the responsibility of the
Church to proclaim the whole counsel of God relative to the _
Christian education of young and old; to instruct parents concern- *
ing their rights and responsibilities; to defend the rights of parents. _
and instruct and prepare them for the defense of their rights. The
leaders of the Church must also awaken parents to the perils i
herent in a school system which is compelled to divorce reli
from the child’s schooling.

Separation of Church and State

Separation of Church and State, always a controversial issue,
being widely discussed in religious and educational periodicaley:
today. The subject has come to the fore in recent years for two.
reasons: (a) conservative Protestants, alarmed over the increase
of juvenile crime and the decline in morals among young and
old, have been requesting permission of school boards to introduce
religious instruction for the benefit of children attending the public’
schools, (b) Roman Catholics are trying to secure public funds
for the support of their parochial schools. In opposing the Romani
Catholic Church, which in principle favors the union of Church’
and State, and in seeking to preserve our public schools from’