Who Do Our Children Belong To?
- Latasha H. Fields
- 3 hours ago
- 13 min read
When Education Becomes Indoctrination, Parents Must Respond
On April 23, I had the honor of speaking at the “Awakening America’s Golden Age” event hosted by The Conservative Caucus. Some of you may have been in attendance; others may have caught the livestream or recording later. It was a powerful gathering, filled with testimony, truth, and a sense of urgency. You can watch my full speech on The Next News Network’s YouTube channel—I’m the first speaker, and my remarks begin at 15:53 and end at 34:21.
As I reflect on that evening, I’m still stirred by a critical question I posed to the audience — a question that must move beyond rhetoric and reach into our decisions and daily lives:
Who do our children belong to?
This question isn't rhetorical or sentimental — it’s foundational. And how we answer it will determine the future of our children, our families, and our nation.
My message was clear: When we fully understand that nothing is more important than the divine family, when we embrace that the family is the first governing institution, then — and only then — can we build a society strong enough to resist tyranny, wise enough to reject deception, and bold enough to honor God.
The Word of God is unmistakably clear: parents, not the state, are the God-ordained stewards of their children’s upbringing and education.
Deuteronomy 6:6–9 commands parents to teach God’s Word “diligently to your children” — at home, on the road, in every part of life.
Proverbs 22:6 promises that training a child in the right way produces fruit that lasts a lifetime.
Ephesians 6:4 exhorts fathers to raise their children in the nurture and instruction of the Lord — not by provoking them with competing ideologies.
These verses weren’t addressed to pastors, school boards, or government agencies. They were written to parents. There is no footnote in Scripture granting authority to a legislative body to override this divine order. Yet today, bills are being introduced that imply parents cannot be trusted, demanding they prove their ability to raise and educate their own children. This is not only unconstitutional — it is unscriptural.
Therefore, the call is clear: He’s calling us to come out and be separate. (2 Corinthians 6:17)
We must recognize that the decline in education and the erosion of parental authority did not happen overnight. There was a shift — a transfer of authority and power from the home and church to the government. Notice I said the home first—because the home is the God-ordained first authority in a child’s life. The real crisis began when that authority was surrendered, and the government stepped in to take the place of both home and church.
Sadly, a great majority of confessing, Bible-believing Christians—particularly within the evangelical church—have abdicated their God-given authority over education, entrusting their children to government schools. This is not just a passing concern but a spiritual crisis: studies show that roughly 70–80% of Christian families still send their children to public schools, where biblical values are often undermined. It reflects a broader trend of the church relinquishing its responsibility to disciple the next generation (Deuteronomy 6:6–7).
For centuries, education was a shared responsibility between family and church, rooted in values of faith, virtue, and responsibility. But in the mid-1800s, Horace Mann led a movement toward compulsory public schooling designed not to honor God, but to produce compliant citizens for the state.
In time, prayer was banned. Scripture was removed. In their place came moral relativism, secular humanism, and cultural confusion — a calculated stripping of biblical truth from the minds of children and society at large.
For Black Americans, this shift had even more profound consequences. During slavery, learning to read was forbidden — yet our ancestors and white abolitionists risked their lives to teach Black children, because literacy meant freedom.
After Emancipation, Black families built their own schools, like the model led by Booker T. Washington, when there were no public options. Yet, as government schools took over, our children were funneled into underfunded institutions with curricula that erased their cultural identity and spiritual foundations. Dr. Carter G. Woodson warned us in The Mis-Education of the Negro — the system was not designed to uplift us, but to assimilate and control us.
History proves what happens when the state controls education: faith erodes, culture weakens, and truth is replaced with perverted ideology. Today's battle is not just about test scores or curriculum choices — it’s a spiritual war for the hearts and minds of our children.
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. -Colossians 2:8
Families — especially Black families — once thrived with unconventional education rooted in faith, family, and freedom. It’s time to return to what works. We must break the monopoly on education, and educate our own, build our own.
And so I ask you again, not as a speaker or advocate, but as a wife, mother, educator, and believer:
Who do your children belong to?
Let our answer be more than words. Let it be action.
We see that growing societal structures often try to limit our collective voice on issues of Spiritual importance. When we are told, both directly and often indirectly, in a manner of speaking, from the powers that be, that we cannot lead with our faith in Christ, engage in the corridors of government with our biblical values, including our God-given parental authority, we must declare even louder that our voice is not, and will not be confined to private or abstract moral ideas—it speaks to nations, rulers, systems, and policies.
When Christ is rejected by those who profess His name—especially in the midst of trials or when war rages and the enemy retreats for a season, let us never be deceived into thinking the battle was won by human strategy or political might. For the battle is the Lord’s (1 Samuel 17:47), and He declares, “It is God who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle” (Psalm 144:1).
Victory belongs to His faithful remnant—those unknown to the world but known in heaven—those like Gideon’s army, reduced in number but mighty in faith, those who walk in the power of Christ’s anointing, who understand that “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16), and who worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).
For “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against... spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). And even when evil seems to prevail, “The LORD is known by His acts of justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands” (Psalm 9:16). God is sanctifying His people in this hour — purging, refining, and preparing a holy remnant (Malachi 3:2-3). Understanding the prophetic times in which we live is critical, because “judgment must begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17).
Therefore, we will not be muzzled by government, school boards, or any entity trying to destroy our children's souls with perverted ideologies. Our children do not belong to the state; they are not state property. We must never allow anyone or anything to forbid us from addressing or upholding those who violate biblical truth, as it strips parents of their divine mandate to train and teach their children diligently. We must never lose our courage to address necessary changes.
When beliefs undermine our God-given parental authority, they become an enemy of God. So, then, how can we remain silent and still claim to be the salt and the light? These rights are inherent and should be protected, as they are vital to our ability to function as a society.
The state of Illinois has positioned itself as an anti-parent, anti-family state- a nanny state. When we examine past dangerous bills, such as SB 818, "Comprehensive Sex Education," and the current HB 2827, the "Homeschool Act," this bill, among many, is the next step in the expansion of state power. It is a power grab, a global takeover.
We didn’t arrive at HB 2827 by happenstance; if it passes, it will force registration, impose strict regulations for noncompliance, which could lead to criminal investigations for educational neglect and truancy interventions. Parents will need a high school diploma to teach their own children and an educational portfolios that meet the Illinois School Code, which now includes sexual depravity, LGBTQ+ and gender ideologies, and abortion rights for minors, which undermines parental authority. This has led many to exit government schools, and rightfully so.
This bill presumes homeschool parents are guilty of educational neglect, yet the government ignores the real crisis: public schools' failure and hypocrisy. If the state truly cared for children, truly sought to protect children, it would fix its own system; it would address the illiteracy crisis within public education and the systemic abuse in DCFS:
Illinois education statistics reveal that only 35% of students read at grade level, and 28% are proficient in math. Despite spending over $9 billion yearly (around $29,000 per student), academic performance and graduation rates remain low. Additionally, over 1,000 allegations of sexual misconduct by staff were recorded in four years, with more reported in DuPage County.
Illinois ranks #5 nationally for child deaths under DCFS supervision, with the agency reporting 171 deaths in fiscal year 2022—up 40 percent from the previous year—and failing to provide required analyses. Black families face disproportionate rates of investigation and removal, suffering the most.
The state has failed to educate, protect, and report. HB 2827 diverts attention by scapegoating homeschool families with threats of increased oversight while ignoring its own failures. We must challenge the government's monopoly on education and demand accountability, rather than criminalizing responsible parents.
Homeschooling stands as a revolution and restoration, a solution. It emerges not only as an alternative but also as a profound, time-tested movement from antiquity, a reclamation of God’s design. It stands as a countermeasure to a failing educational system, rebelling against control, political biases, and secular ideologies, advocating for true empowerment.
With homeschooled students demonstrating unmatched academic performance, higher college graduation rates, and increased civic engagement, this approach underscores the importance of parental authority in education as essential for holistic development.
Therefore, I encourage us to build anew—unconventional schools, microschools, expand church schools that honor God and protect our families, build Arks of safety.
Because the battle isn’t coming… The battle is already here.
Rep Costa-Howard has aligned with the Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE) 2024 "Make Homeschool Safe Act," which questions parental trustworthiness and calls for more government oversight for child safety, framing parental control as extremism. This group of disgruntled homeschool alumni holds that parents "controlling", or better said, protecting their child's life from ungodly exposures, is extremism due to policies banning sexually explicit books, protecting children from LGBTQ+ ideology, and rejecting healthcare that denies biological identity in government schools. CRHE is actively working with Illinois lawmakers on HB 2827 and lobbying other states, claiming existing laws inadequately protect homeschooled children.
Good news, HB 2827 has been stalled in committee for now—technically dead—but Representative Terra Costa Howard is actively working on amendments. In Illinois politics, a “dead” bill can be revived through “gut and replace.”
When elected officials, chosen by the people, begin to serve agendas instead of their constituents, when they bow to unconstitutional philosophies, special interest groups, global ideologies, and partisan platforms, they violate their sacred oath and betray the very foundation of representative government. That is a grave injustice to the office they hold and to the people they vowed to serve.
We must stay vigilant, alert, and prayerful because it's not over.
Right now, the U.S. Supreme Court is deliberating in Mahmoud v. Taylor, a pivotal case originating from Montgomery County, Maryland. In 2022, the district introduced LGBTQ+ themed storybooks into the elementary school curriculum. Initially, parents were permitted to opt their children out of these lessons.
However, in March 2023, the district rescinded this option, citing administrative challenges and concerns about stigmatizing LGBTQ+ students. This policy change prompted a group of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish parents to sue, asserting that the mandatory exposure to such content infringes upon their First Amendment rights to religious freedom.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice, recently made a startling comment in the case:
"I suppose I'm having trouble understanding how it burdens a parent's religious exercise if the school teaches something with which the parent disagrees. You have a choice. You don't have to send your kid to that school. You can put them in another situation. You can homeschool them. How is it a burden on the parent if they have the option to send their kid elsewhere?"
While I do not agree with Justice Jackson's alignment with the LGBTQ ideology, nor her broader judicial philosophy, I must be clear: I do agree with one core truth she acknowledged — we have a choice. Yet, our choice does not come without sacrifice.
However, I don't believe her statement is made from the same heart posture we advocate for as believers. Neither do I believe her view is rooted in Scripture, nor does it recognize the full corruption of the government education system. When we talk about choice, we mean something far deeper: a biblical responsibility to "come out from among them" (2 Corinthians 6:17) and protect our children from wickedness.
While Justice Jackson's statement, I believe, was likely meant to deflect attention from the moral decay happening under government control, there is still a critical takeaway for us: Let them have their corrupt institutions. Let them see how far their broken system will get them without us, Bible-believers and morally sound families.
We know, this is not a new concept. Look at the Book of Exodus: the Hebrews didn't fix Egypt (the moral depravity), God instructed them to leave Egypt, yet they didn’t leave empty-handed — they left with the wealth of Egypt (Exodus 12:35-36). Egypt collapsed because the foundation of their power — the slave labor of God's people — was removed. The Pharaoh didn’t give up easily. He pursued them with his army, refusing to lose what he believed belonged to him.
Today, the same spiritual war is raging. Our children belong to God. Our children are the treasure they want. Our children are the ones they are fighting to enslave through indoctrination.
The time is now to break the monopoly on education and reclaim our God-given authority. We must come out and build our own institutions — grounded in truth, righteousness, and liberty — while the door of opportunity remains open. But make no mistake: this window is closing quickly. If we do not act now, we risk a future where our liberties, freedoms, and alternatives are swallowed by government overreach and control.
Things are changing quickly, the battle is raging, and the war for the souls of our children is already underway. We cannot afford to waste another moment.
Justice Jackson also warned that if parents win, it could "erode local control" of education and force courts to decide what constitutes a burden on religion. But here's the critical — and often overlooked — truth: by the moral and cultural metric of most parents in America, and across the globe, the LGBTQ+ agenda is a religion, a belief system so deeply rooted in Satanic values, identity, and worldview that it functions as a religion in theory and in practice. And this religion is being imposed through government education and society, creating a direct and undeniable burden on families of faith who reject it.
As believers, we must discern the times. Romans 1:25 warns of those who “exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” The modern education system is now a platform for such exchanges, elevating self-identity and sexual ideology to a place of reverence and obedience, just like any religion would demand.
As Pastor Voddie Baucham once said:
"We cannot continue to send our children to Caesar for their education and be surprised when they come back as Romans."
This is not just about curriculum — it’s about worship, allegiance, and spiritual formation. And that’s why the time to act is now. At its core, it redefines human identity not by biology but by personal feelings and desires — a direct contradiction to the biblical understanding that we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).
This is not by accident. Scripture tells us plainly:
"But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." (2 Timothy 3:13)
We are witnessing a movement rooted in secular humanism — ideas drawn from a worldview that rejects God’s authority and design.
Parents must decide now, because far too many political and religious leaders deliberately compromise, deceiving many, and lusting after power and wealth rather than standing for truth. The Anti-Christ, cultural abnormalities serve as a clarion call for parents to recognize the spiritual implications of the educational complex and environment of government education, and exit, to ensure their children's upbringing is in accordance with their faith.
Parents — especially Bible-believing parents — must make a decision: Are your children worth more than trying to preserve a broken system?
Ask yourself: What are you willing to subject your children to, and what price are you willing to pay for a system that no longer serves your family or honors God?
Wake Up! It's Deeper than Academics. The indoctrination of children in government education transcends curriculum, academics, sports, socialization, school activities, and even the taxes we pay with no ROI; it's about their souls, which is the weightier matter of the Law of Christ. It's about covenant—raising a generation that knows God, walks in His truth, and possesses the gates of their enemies. If we do not continue to fight, we will lose our right to train and instill godly principles in our children. Government overreach leads to more overreach.
Homeschooling is rising. Alternative schools are being birthed. Just like the Pharaoh, today's corrupt systems are desperate to keep their grip on the next generation.
That’s why we are seeing aggressive legislative pursuits, like HB 2827 and others. The system is panicking, walking in fear of the unknown, and hating what is known. The enemy knows we are teaching our children a biblical worldview, and this worldview is abusive; it seems evil to them (Isaiah 5:20), because families are waking up. Families are exiting.
The progressive left has mastered the art of deflection and manipulation. When their agendas are exposed, when they can't get their way, catching political tantrums—whether in education, culture, or public policy—they often pivot to emotional narratives, reframe language to confuse or soften the truth, lie, and portray themselves as the victims of “intolerance” or “misinformation.”
A clear example of this is Representative Terra Costa Howard’s response to the public outcry over HB 2827, where she accused concerned parents and citizens of fear-mongering and spreading misinformation, simply for defending our right to parent our children.
This tactic is not accidental; it’s strategic. By shifting the focus away from accountability and toward manufactured outrage or identity-based grievances, they disarm opposition and rally uninformed support. But we must not be deceived. It’s time to cut through the noise, reject the theatrics, and confront these ideologies with clarity, courage, and conviction. The future of our children and this nation depends on it.
As Jesus said:
"You shall know them by their fruits." (Matthew 7:16)
The true intention behind the progressive left and the global elites is to normalize confusion and sexualize children at younger and younger ages.
This is why we must boldly declare:
"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them." (Ephesians 5:11)
But hear me clearly: The war is here, the battle is raging, and the hour is urgent. We don't have time to try to fix what God is calling us to flee. As it says in 2 Corinthians 6:17:
“‘Come out from among them and be separate,’ says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
More parents must wake up and protect their children. Government schools are no longer simply places of learning — they have been weaponized to indoctrinate and undermine the God-given family structure.
Our children deserve better. Their hearts, their minds, and their souls are at stake.
It is time to Exit to Protect. It is time to Rise and Rebuild.
Be louder for your children. And stay in the fight.
With resolve,
Latasha H. Fields