In England, King Ethelbert made the first laws regulating sanctuary in about 600 A.D... Sometimes the criminal had to get to the church itself to be protected, and might have to ring a certain bell there, or hold a certain ring or door-knocker, or sit on a certain chair ("frith-stool"), and some of these items survive at various churches. In other places, there was an area around the church or abbey, sometimes extending as much as a mile and a half, and there would be stone "sanctuary crosses" marking the boundary of the area; some of those still exist as well. Thus it could become a race between the felon and medieval law officers to the nearest sanctuary boundary, and could make the serving of justice upon the fleet of foot a difficult proposition.Modern asylum laws have extended beyond religious persecution to include categories of "race, nationality, religion, political opinions and membership and/or participation in any particular social group or social activities."
A judge in Tennessee has now grated asylum to a German couple who fear persecution in their home country because they want to home school their children:
In 2006 the Romeikes pulled their children out of a state school in Bissingen, Germany, in protest of what they deemed an anti-Christian curriculum.German authorities fined the family thousand of Euros for keeping their kids out of school. "The German consul general for the southeastern US said in a statement that mandatory school attendance ensures a high education standard for all children, adding that parents have many educational options.'
They said textbooks presented ideas and language that conflicted with their Christian beliefs, including slang terms for sex acts and images of vampires and witches, while the school offered what they described as ethics lessons from Islam, Buddhism and other religions.
Via J-Walk.
FYI, sanctuary laws go back much farther than that - they appear in Mosaic law, in the Old Testament. Persons guilty of manslaughter could flee to certain sanctuary cities to escape retribution. Modern Christians believe this to have been a pre-figuring of Christ.
ReplyDeleteFedaykin98
Just what we need--more fundamentalists who don't want their children exposed to science or critical thinking.
ReplyDeleteBarbwire -
ReplyDeleteWow. That's sort of . . . presumptuous. Lots of people homeschool and work quite hard to ensure their children receive an education that surpasses the junk that is being taught in many public schools.
Of course, there are outliers. There always are. But it is ridiculous and ultimately false to assume home schoolers are fundamentalists.
Deana, if you read the article, it's fairly clear that they are fundamentalists.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Mosaic law provision was only honored if the person could show themselves to be free of any guilt in the matter, it was simply an accident. If the person even had a hatred for the person that died, they would be kicked out of the city of refuge.
ReplyDeleteA far cry from the "get out of jail free if you make it here" attitudes of churches thereafter.
Many (most?) families who elective home educate (EHE) in the UK do so for educational/philosophical reasons and not for religious ones. Data for Germany is scarce (non-existent?) since EHE is illegal over there - it is literally Nazi legislation (1936 IIRC, but I'm probably off by a couple of years), and about to be challenged in the European Court of Human Rights.
ReplyDeleteIn this case they are clearly conservative Christians. That doesn't mean they're necessarily anti-science fundamentalists though, or that they're against critical thinking. Remember that the European religious context is markedly different from that of the US. Ditto German state education.
This family disagree with the dominant philosophy propounded by the state education system, and they want to bring up their children themselves. Who would want to be *forced* to send their kids in to a school environment actively antithetical to their belief system?
Barbwire: you're making a leap too far. They may be fundamentalists, but that's not proven from the article AFAICS. Your prejudices are showing :)