Homeschooling is a liberty issue and not exclusively a religious issue. Christians make a big mistake when they argue that because of their religious beliefs they should be exempt from what amounts to government tyranny for everybody.

This happened in the Hobby lobby contraception case. Nobody should be forced to pay for contraceptives for other people. Religion shouldn’t have anything to do with it.

“One religious group could opt out of this, and another religious group could opt out of that, and everything would be piecemeal, and nothing would be uniform,” Justice Elena Kagan argued.

The simple response to Justice Kagan’s logic is that businesses should do what they want without any interference from the government. They shouldn’t have to pay for any woman’s birth control devices.

If current and future employees don’t like the health plan of a company, they can do one of three things: (1) look for a company that offers a healthcare plan that includes contraception coverage, (2) start their own business and set up their own health plans, or (3) follow the freedom road and pay for their own contraception. No one is denying women access to birth control

What’s true of healthcare care coverage is equally or even more true of education. It’s ironic that liberals give women the freedom to kill their children before birth – with no questions asked — but once they are born they are property of the State.

Here’s the latest in tyranny from the state whose motto is Sic semper tyrannis, “Thus always to tyrants,” that appears on the seal and flag of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Here’s the story from Goochland County where a “Virginia school board has passed a policy allowing the government education system to demand prospective home schoolers to appear before the board to explain their religious beliefs.”

Parents shouldn’t have to give any reason as to why they are not sending their children to a government school, religious or otherwise.

“A policy of the Goochland County ‘requires children ages 14 and up who want to be home schooled to provide a statement about their religious beliefs to the school system.’”

Here’s Article I, Section 16 of Virginia’s Constitution:

“That religion or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and, therefore, all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other. . . . [A]ll men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain their opinions in matters of religion, and the same shall in nowise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities. And the General Assembly shall not prescribe any religious test whatever, . . .”

Note this phrase: “the General Assembly shall not prescribe any religious test whatever.” It seems to me that this particular school board is imposing a “religious test” on parents and students.

School board chairman Michael Payne said “that the system’s legal advisor tells them the policy is ‘legally sound.’ Payne says the board will take the issue up at its Tuesday meeting and ‘welcomes comments from the public.’”

Based on what? If children are forced to attend a government institution, it becomes a form of imprisonment.

“Kevin and Katrina Hoeft, Goochland County parents, decided not to send their children to the government school system for religious reasons. We believe the public schools have really departed from teaching kids about the role of God in life, Kevin Hoeft says.”

This is the wrong strategy. It shouldn’t matter why parents aren’t sending their children to a government indoctrination center and why they are homeschooling.

What if non-religious parents want to drop out of the government school system? Education is a freedom issue. You don’t have to be religious to enjoy God-given rights even if you don’t believe in God. The last thing you want to have is a system where rights are the domain of the State.