Christian family granted political asylum in US from ... Germany!?! WTF?

[valkyrie]

Germany has come full circle, if you believe the Romeike family. From persecution of Jews to persecution of Christians.
Read all about it (including the obvious misspellings).

Christian fundamentalists have welcomed the decision by a US court to award a German family political asylum in the United States because the parents were unwilling to subject their children to mandatory school attendance rules in Germany.

Uwe and Hannelore Romeike from the town of Bissingen in the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg wanted to teach their five children at home because they feared that they were being taught an "anti-Christian worldview" in public schools. They pulled their children out of school and in 2008, after fighting the authorities for years, emigrated to the United States, where they applied for political asylum in 2009. On Tuesday night, the evangelical Christian lobbying group Home School Legal Defense Assoication (HSLDA) announced that the Romeikes' asylum application had been approved.

<read more>

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,674492,00.html

 

[ResearchMonkey]

inB4soundofmusic

 

[chcr]

Those poor, oppressed christians...

 

[Winky]

White Christian family granted political asylum in US from ... Germany!?! WTF?

Good to know oppressing and persecuting people based on their religious
preferences hasn’t gone out of style. It’s always been great fun.

 

[Gotholic]

Those poor, oppressed christians...

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out.

.

 

[spike]

Yes Gotholic, they're coming for the christians.

Did you know the majority of Germans are christians?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Germany#Christianity

So that big fat majority is persecuting itself huh?

The real issue here is probably that the Romeike family doesn't think the public school system is christian enough and Germany doesn't like home schoolers.

 

[Altron]

Yes Gotholic, they're coming for the christians.

Did you know the majority of Germans are christians?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Germany#Christianity

So that big fat majority is persecuting itself huh?

The real issue here is probably that the Romeike family doesn't think the public school system is christian enough and Germany doesn't like home schoolers.

You're completely fucking wrong, spike.

Those evil schoolteachers were trying to fill the little kiddies' heads with a bunch of nonsense and lies. Last I heard, they were teaching Satan's curriculum. Evolution instead of creationism? Big Bang Theory instead of Intelligent Design? They might even try to say that the world is round, even tho we all know from the bible that it's flat.

Kudos to this family for standing up and saying "No, we will not just stand here and let you use devil-science to teach our kids facts that contract the bible, not if we can help it"

Good thing they moved to Tennessee, long regarded as one of the states that is most tolerant of other religions, races, and sexual orientations.

 

[MrBishop]

Can't wait for their reaction to their first "Seig Heil"

 

[Gotholic]

Yes Gotholic, they're coming for the christians.

I was addressing chcr's apathy.

Did you know the majority of Germans are christians?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Germany#Christianity

Apparently "Christians" in name only as most are not devout. I would say more Muslims are devout today than Christians. The majority declaring themselves Christian is not really believable today. I would tend to believe a Muslim who says he is a Muslim than a Christian who says he is a Christian.

So that big fat majority is persecuting itself huh?

Well, are those in position of authority Christians? If so, then you might have a point.

The real issue here is probably that the Romeike family doesn't think the public school system is christian enough and Germany doesn't like home schoolers.

Probably a little bit from column A and a little bit from column B.

 

[Gotholic]

You're completely fucking wrong, spike.

Those evil schoolteachers were trying to fill the little kiddies' heads with a bunch of nonsense and lies. Last I heard, they were teaching Satan's curriculum. Evolution instead of creationism? Big Bang Theory instead of Intelligent Design? They might even try to say that the world is round, even tho we all know from the bible that it's flat.

Kudos to this family for standing up and saying "No, we will not just stand here and let you use devil-science to teach our kids facts that contract the bible, not if we can help it"

Good thing they moved to Tennessee, long regarded as one of the states that is most tolerant of other religions, races, and sexual orientations.

That is a beautiful straw man you made there.

 

[spike]

I was addressing chcr's apathy.

Apathy? He was making fun of the idea of the christian majority acting like they were persecuted. I suppose that's apathy. Warranted apathy.

Apparently "Christians" in name only as most are not devout. I would say more Muslims are devout today than Christians. The majority declaring themselves Christian is not really believable today. I would tend to believe a Muslim who says he is a Muslim than a Christian who says he is a Christian.

Considering that is all speculation it's not really worth discussing. Fact is most Germans consider themselves christian. And the majority is not being persecuted.

Well, are those in position of authority Christians? If so, then you might have a point.

The chancellor is the daughter of a minister.

 

[spike]

You're completely fucking wrong, spike.

Those evil schoolteachers were trying to fill the little kiddies' heads with a bunch of nonsense and lies. Last I heard, they were teaching Satan's curriculum. Evolution instead of creationism? Big Bang Theory instead of Intelligent Design? They might even try to say that the world is round, even tho we all know from the bible that it's flat.

Kudos to this family for standing up and saying "No, we will not just stand here and let you use devil-science to teach our kids facts that contract the bible, not if we can help it"

Good thing they moved to Tennessee, long regarded as one of the states that is most tolerant of other religions, races, and sexual orientations.

That was entertaining.

 

[Gotholic]

Apathy? He was making fun of the idea of the christian majority acting like they were persecuted. I suppose that's apathy. Warranted apathy.

He said nothing of the majority. He was making fun of the idea of Christians being persecuted.

Considering that is all speculation it's not really worth discussing. Fact is most Germans consider themselves christian. And the majority is not being persecuted.

It is irrelevant whether most of the German population considers themselves christian. The fact is that the family was being persecuted for wanting to homeschool their children. They wanted to homeschool base on religious grounds. It is unclear if homeschooling based on religious grounds was a factor. I am not saying it is though.

The chancellor is the daughter of a minister.

So? Hitler was born to Catholic parents and was baptized Catholic.

 

[valkyrie]

Seems to me that Germany wants a higher standard of education for the young and has implemented a common way of ensuring that they are able to control that standard to keep the standard high. There is little outside control over the quality of education provided to home schooled children. They can have the highest education or the worst, depending on the instructor and materials.

I think the parents were over reacting and were simply looking for way to keep their children from being exposed to other cultures and religions... which as we know leads to tolerance. And we wouldn't want tolerance... oh, no! not that!

 

[Gotholic]

Seems to me that Germany wants a higher standard of education for the young and has implemented a common way of ensuring that they are able to control that standard to keep the standard high. There is little outside control over the quality of education provided to home schooled children. They can have the highest education or the worst, depending on the instructor and materials.

You learn only what the State approves of. I can't speak for Germany, but in the U.S. the public educational system seems to be designed to make kids stupid. There are plenty of resources you can find on that. I don't believe the State is looking out for your kid's best interest.

I think the parents were over reacting and were simply looking for way to keep their children from being exposed to other cultures and religions... which as we know leads to tolerance. And we wouldn't want tolerance... oh, no! not that!

You are presuming the parent's motives. If you want to homeschool your kids then you should be able to.

 

[valkyrie]

You learn only what the State approves of. I can't speak for Germany, but in the U.S. the public educational system seems to be designed to make kids stupid. There are plenty of resources you can find on that. I don't believe the State is looking out for your kid's best interest.

You learn what The State approves of anywhere. It's called "Standards" and any educational system without them isn't worth shit.

The US public educational system went into the toilet when they forced "inclusion" on public schools. The people who weren't in the classroom created "feel good" curriculum and replaced the system that had created the world's best inventors and scientists. Too much reliance on technology and too little mental practice created a generation of kids that can't do simple math in their heads. ("What is 20% of $10?"; "Can I use a calculator?") Kids are not taught how to study or the value of practicing what is taught by completing homework.

Then again, US citizens are so used to higher standards so I suppose it's cheaper for US companies to hire engineers on an H1B Visa.

You are presuming the parent's motives. If you want to homeschool your kids then you should be able to.

I'm only judging their motives from what I read/hear from the home school crowd in the US. Those that I hear are those that are most vocal and those that are most vocal are intolerant, fearful of other cultures and close minded. ("The nigras are takin' over!" "I don't want my daughter marryin' no Mess'kin and certainly no Jew boy!")

In all honesty, I did know one and only one girl that was home schooled until high school. Her mom and dad took great pains to give her a very good education and taught her the value of her education. But she was the only one.

The rest were Right Wing Christian xenophobes.