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by Douglas R. Johnson
July 23, 2007
Independent Christian On-Line Academy (ICOLA) is an on-line tutoring organization that will provide Christian secondary supplementary education (7-12) for students attending public schools in the United States.
We consider Christian Secondary Education to be critical for children of all Christian parents. But even if a Christian school was available and the expense was not too high, removing Christian children from Public School leaves it without an important influence for good.
ICOLA is not intended to be a stand alone provider nor is it intended to supplement students being home schooled nor students of private schools whether Christian or not.
THE NEED
Right now public schools have separated church and state to such a degree to make them defacto Godless institutions.
While they claim to be religious neutral, that is an absolute impossibility.
"Religion" is not a word that just refers to a belief in God but also any belief about God.
Atheism is thus not a lack of religion but rather a religion of its own. Materialism is also a religion and as is witchcraft and the occult.
Children are learning machines. They learn what they see, hear, and do. They also learn what they do not see, what they do not hear, and what they do not do.
In the movie "Star Wars", the robot, C-3-P-O, says: "I am shutting down now". The machine was "off" and stayed that way until it was turned back "on".
Children are not like robots. You cannot turn them "on" nor "off". Neither can you turn their learning "on" nor "off". They will be learning about God and Christian values all of the time, whether in public school or not.
If you take God out of what public school teaches, that does not leave the teaching about God to church and family but affirmatively teaches that God does not have place in public life.
It would be better to not have public education than to have public education to teach students that God has no place in public life.
I remember being in public school at the grammar school level and singing "Silent Night" in a school assembly. I remember thinking then of it being an affirmation of my family's Christian values which were taught both at home and at church.
A full generation has now gone without that affirmation of Christian values. A full generation has been taught that God has no place in public life.
In the Moslem countries and where Moslems have their own schools, they are still affirming their Moslem values. While those values may not cause the murder of innocent Christians and Jews, they certainly have not curtailed such atrocities.
On the other hand, Christian values have promoted religious liberty for all faiths; something unheard of in Moslem controlled countries.
In fact, in the past, there were a few extremists who tried to do violence in the name of Christianity and such individuals were harshly treated to the extent that no such activity is tolerated in this country.
THE DEMOCRACY EXPERIMENT
Our form of government has been called the "American Experiment" because no such form of government existed before 1776.
But the basis and environment of 1776 was a Christian populous where only land owning men voted for representatives who were to act in the best interests of the country. The Christian values of those men kept the government honest.
Now according to scientific principles, whenever an experiment is changed, one is actually starting a new experiment.
That initial experiment lasted and worked for about a hundred years.
But then significant changes occurred.
The vote extended to all people whether land owners or not. While that certainly seems fair, it has a built in fallacy.
Poor people who took government subsidies voted for representatives who promised to give them even more benefits rather than looking out for the best interests of the nation.
That constitutes making a new government "experiment" for America. But that "experiment" failed for the Roman Empire about a thousand years ago when they decided to give "free bread for the Romans".
Clearly what failed 1000 years ago would certainly fail now. We now call it the "welfare state" and already see the escalating costs of "entitlements". The using that word says that there is no turning back the clock.
But then the "American Experiment" changed again. About 50 years ago, the courts of this country illegally changed the Constitution of the United States not by the process that is prescribed by the document itself but by a simple majority of the seven judges who were suppose to only interpret the constitution not make new law.
The court added the law that denies the protection of life to babies still in their mother's womb.
The court added the law that prohibits God from public life.
The court added law granting government the right to take property for whatever reason government sees fit.
The court removed our Declaration of Independence from having the status of law and added laws of other countries which were never enacted by our congress nor were ever part of our Constitution.
The Courts have elevated the Judicial Branch of Government to be superior to not only the Executive and Legislative Branches of Federal Government but also to all State and Local Governments. They also ruled themselves superior to the US Constitution and even all individuals.
In another 50 years there will be none left alive who experienced the Lord's Prayer and Bible reading in Public School. We will be totally Godless in public life. There is no question about that. But how much further will government go to stamp out Christianity altogether is the real question. I hate to speculate.
So now is the time to do something. And that something needs to be bringing Christianity and Public Education back together as it was when this country was founded.
Perhaps ICOLA will help. Perhaps it needs to be something else. But absent better ideas, I believe we should go forward with ICOLA.
HOW IT WORKS
ICOLA will be acting as a tutoring provider except that the tutoring will be done in a group session on line both as a monitored forum and also as a peer self help study group.
The students will be going to Public School classes during the day and then sign on after school hours for a scheduled one hour group session and then informally with a smaller study group as desired and or required.
There will be five one hour sessions each week, one for each of the four main classifications of Math, English, History, and Science plus one specifically for Christianity.
The intention is to have enough faculty staff to duplicate each course offered in public school for grades seven through twelve with a limitation of about 25 students per session.
The object of the program is to enhance learning through mastery and enrichment of subject matter along with providing and supporting Christian values.
DEFINING CHRISTIAN VALUES
When I was a youth, the concept of fundamental in reference Christianity meant one who believed the true basics of Christianity.
Virtually all Christian churches which still believe the Bible to be the Word of God, have a statement of faith which first says the Bible is the sole authority and then contradict that statement by adding other statements which they purport are specified in the Bible.
When I first read the Catechism of the Catholic Church with its thousands of numbered paragraphs, I remember thinking at various points: "I know Protestants groups that disagree with this item and others that agree with it." I would read further and would say the same thing except the groups would change. This happened quite a few times. But the groups did not break down to just groups A and B, but instead, groups A, B, C, D, E .. etc. In other words, the disagreements were not consistent nor were the agreements.
So I came to the conclusion, that if honest men who honestly studied Scripture came up with honest differences of opinion, then why disagree with the "orthodox" position just to be different?
For the first thousand years of Christianity, there was only one "orthodox" position. About 1000 AD, the Eastern and Western Churches split and did not compare doctrine for a full 1000 years. But now, 1000 years later, the differences in doctrine are virtually the same as they were some 1000 years ago. That means to me that neither church doctrine changed significantly in 1000 years. And if there was no significant change in the last 1000 years, why speculate about changes for the first 1000 years? Thus the orthodox position now can be traced back to the time the Bible was first written.
Furthermore my reading of both the Bible and the Catechism has convinced me that the Catechism is based on the Bible and only elaborates on which possible interpretation of a particular passage has been taken to mean when written. Certainly the contemporaries of the authors of Scripture who were clearly inspired and led by the Holy Spirit knew more about what was the intended meaning than anyone living 2000 years removed.
WHAT WE WILL TEACH ABOUT CHRISTIANITY
In addition to teaching church history, we intend to teach three main sections from the Catechism:
The Ten Commandments,
The Apostles' Creed, and
The Lords Prayer.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
The Ten Commandments teaches us how we should act. This defines Christian values in how we behave. We follow the enumeration:
1. I am the LORD your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me.
2. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
3. Remember to keep holy the LORD'S Day.
4. Honor your father and your mother.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.
THE APOSTLES' CREED
The Apostles' Creed teaches us just what Christians believe.
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day He rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
THE LORD'S PRAYER
The Lord's Prayer teaches us how to worship God in prayer.
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. [Matthew 6:9b-13]
STUDENT REQUIREMENTS
There is no requirement for a student to be a Christian.
There is a requirement to pledge to follow and obey all of the Ten Commandments as each is defined by what we will be teaching concerning the meaning and application of each commandment. If the student fails to live up to any part of this requirement, each infraction must be confessed to a clergy at least on a monthly basis.
For youth, the significant commandments require celibacy and weekly church attendance.
The requirement of confession puts the responsibility of accountability concerning the commandments between the student and that student's clergy.
There is a requirement to learn what is taught about Christianity.
But just what a student believes is up to that student.
INSTRUCTOR REQUIREMENTS
All instructors must meet the student requirements plus be practicing Christians believing all that we will be teaching.
All instructors must pass a criminal background check and be cleared by law enforcement for communication with children.
Any past law breaking concerning youth, including even misdemeanors will disqualify any such instructor.
Any association and or use of pornography will also disqualify any such instructor.
Instructors must be qualified to teach the subject matter they will be associated with.
FINANCES
It is anticipated that the costs for the students will be approximately 49.95 per month for the first student in a household and an additional 25.00 per month for each additional student who is a sibling of the first student and resides in the same household for a maximum of 99.95 per household no matter how many sibling students.
This cost is equivalent to the cost of cable TV and or the cost of internet service and or the cost of a telephone line and or the cost of a cell phone account.