Secular education now conveys a worldview that is at odds in crucial ways with Christian faith and very different to the education that is part of the traditions in Scotland, the UK as a whole and the Anglosphere as a whole. This creates a dilemma for Christians and for anyone who sees contemporary woke ideology as confusing, harmful or simply flawed.
Pastor John William Noble The pastor of Aberdeen's Grace Baptist Church and David Scott examine this issue, looking back at the history of education and how this situation came about. Their discussion is particularly interesting: Education in ScotlandBut similar patterns can be seen in English-speaking countries and elsewhere.
Noble reviews the history of education, including the influence of American education reformers. Horace Mannhe transferred responsibility for education from parents and the church to the state. The education system then underwent slow changes that ultimately resulted in a system quite different in purpose and values from the system the state inherited.
Is the end of education godliness or material success? When absolute biblical standards are replaced with relativism, how does that affect children? If the rules of life can no longer be enunciated or the boundaries drawn, are children now being let down by an education system that does not teach them the areas most important to developing character and preparing them for adulthood?
Noble details his view that the evil trajectory of the state, combined with the loss of authority of the church, is depriving children of sound knowledge with which to navigate life. Instead, children are being indoctrinated with shifting definitions, Gnostic religious beliefs, and Cultural Marxism. This is all done in secrecy, the nature of the beliefs being taught is never acknowledged, and the value of these doctrines is never critically examined.
David and John William are discussing the founding of a new school in Aberdeen. Founded against the backdrop of lockdown and Covid-19 restrictions, the school would be based on a biblical worldview that was once common, almost universal, in Scotland, but which has now become so radical. So radical, in fact, that the pastor, looking at the cultural conflict unfolding, concluded: “We are at war here.”
Ultimately, this interview is a call for a counterattack, an intellectual and spiritual resistance to the evils of the state. The question at hand is whether the people will oppose public education, whether they will act to adopt alternatives, or whether caution and uncertainty, inertia and sloth will allow the state to remain unchallenged.
That is, people are aware of the problem, but will they cross the line to demand an alternative? Will they abandon their faith in the state?
Pastor Noble This passage Another person spoke about how little support they received from the church.
