Let this be a warning to private schools, churches, and Christian schools everywhere: never, ever take one dime of government money…

Christian schools teach, incredibly enough, Christianity. It’s well understood that they will be teaching the children who attend all about the Bible. But here’s the thing about biblical religion: it’s central focus is ethics. That means, it establishes rules on how you are supposed to live your life. That means it sets prohibitions against sinful behavior. It has no law against good behavior.

This undoubtedly offends certain people, specifically those who disagree with Christianity. The modern world is becoming more and more enmeshed in battles between political groups over what behavior is allowed, and what behavior isn’t.

OFFENSIVE BIBLE VERSES

One particular verse in the Bible can be extremely offensive to certain people. It reveals how serious the Lord Jesus Christ is about how important our behavior is. The verse can be found in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

And now, this verse has become so odious in the nostrils of the Canadian government that it has stepped into the affairs of a Christian school and ordered it not to be read or studied in school. The local school board believes this verse, as well as many other verses in the Bible, violates the Alberta Human Rights Act:

Apparently, anti-Christian bigots on the local school board do not believe Christians should have freedom of speech or of religion. And the trend is spreading across Canada and the post-Christian West.

The troubles formally began when the K-12 school in question, based in Alberta province and known as Cornerstone Christian Academy (CCA), published a number of Bible Scriptures in its school handbook and its statement of faith.

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In a letter to the Christian school’s leadership by local school board chair Laurie Skori, the school was informed that “any scripture that could be considered offensive to particular individuals should not be read or studied in school.”

MONEY AND AUTHORITY ARE LINKED

So, what’s the source of this problem? Simple: the school is publicly funded. As Gary North would say, when it takes the government nickel, it gets the government noose:

Cornerstone Christian Academy in Kingman, Alberta, receives funds from the province for its 180 students under an agreement with the Battle River School Division. Alberta law allows for faith-based alternative schools as part of a publicly funded education system. Under the contract signed with the school board in 2009 and reaffirmed in 2015, Cornerstone is free to operate as a Christian school based on Biblical teaching.

In other words, the school has been authorized by the government. The government pays for its operation. Since it is authorized by the government and funded by the taxpayers, it is under the control of the government. It is “free” to operate as long as it operates within the bounds established by the government. So, when the government discovered that the school is teaching a message contrary to its humanist principles (which undermines its legitimacy in the impressionable minds of young children), it put its foot down.

Christians haven’t gotten this message yet. They are happy to fund their enemies indefinitely. They verbally protest when their enemies begin using Christian money to fund anti-Christian beliefs. Evidently, they don’t have the stomach to step in and do like the liberals running the government bureaucracies do: issue an ultimatum. Conform, or lose your funding.

Christian institutions of any kind should never accept even a dime from the government, in any form. Whether it be a straight grant, or an indirect subsidy in the form of free books or supplies. To do so brings them under the authority of the government institution. Similar to Esau, they surrender their independence, sometimes for even less than a mess of pottage.

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