You mean you're a Christian and you're actually different?

Ah, the BBC, flagship of impartiality and balance... ahem, sorry, got a bit dizzy there.

Last night, on the current affairs programme Newsnight, there was an article about American homeschooling, and specifically those doing it for a religious reason, and those who were politically active in the movement. The tone was generally veering towards the negative, but that was largely because the BBC tend to be a wee bit snooty about Americans anyway. Perhaps a too common trait of the English as a whole. Apologies..

What they really didn't like was that these people are actually training their children to be pro-life, born again believers who smack their children and don't 'take advantage of the free schooling the state offers' FREE SCHOOLING??? I thought these poor unfortunate homeschooling families were actually the ones who pay for the state schooling without seeing any benefit, because they pay their taxes...

What really pushed the button on my ear-steam valve was the censorious tone in which we were informed that '25 years ago, homeschooling was illegal in all but a handful of states. Now, mostly through aggressive lobbying the government, it's about to be given the same recognition as the state system' *Gasp* that horror! What a dangerous and subversive thing this is...

Of course, these are the same people that talk about the aggressive lobbying by left wing groups, like the homosexual lobby, or the pro-death bunch, in wholly approving tones and soundbites.

I'm with Michael Farris, who said that although tolerance was the buzzword for the modern generation, Liberty was a much more important concept. Amen to that.

On a side note, I was amused to see that the reporter telling us that the family interviewed believed in their girls dressing modestly... I have to say that was either a blatant fabrication or the family has some very wierd standards for what constitutes modest. Skinny-rib t-shirts with slogans and shorts don't seem all that modest to me. It was an amusing thing to realize that we are even more conservative than the 'extreme' examples the Beeb found, roflol.