Rushdoony Radio

Rushdoony, Blumenfeld, and Otto Scott argue that homeschooling works so well because it’s essentially one-on-one tutoring: parents know their children, can hold them accountable, and can move faster without the time-wasting and peer-driven dynamics of institutional schooling. They say homeschoolers tend to become strong readers, good conversationalists, and adult-oriented, while public schools prioritize socialization and conformity.

They also stress that homeschooling strengthens families and even improves parents, since teaching pushes adults to keep learning. Legally and politically, they warn that the education establishment will try to regulate or restrict homeschooling, so parents must organize and defend their rights. Their conclusion: Christian schools and homeschools cultivate a more independent, capable generation with real leadership potential.

Rushdoony and Blumenfeld warn that public schooling is a means of controlling the future by shaping children away from Christian faith. Blumenfeld says students face four major risks: academic (functional illiteracy), spiritual (humanist/anti-Christian influences), moral (drugs, promiscuity, blasphemy), and physical (violence). They argue parents are mistaken to assume their child will be unharmed or serve as an effective “witness” without being damaged.

Their proposed response is to remove children to Christian schools or homeschooling and then withdraw financial support from the public system, even through legal action if needed. They close by urging Christians to accept real sacrifice to preserve faith, freedom, and strong families."

Rushdoony argues that hospitality and charity are moral institutions, commanded by God and central to biblical faith not optional niceties. From Israel to the early church, caring for strangers and fellow believers was essential to covenant life and survival, especially under persecution. Scripture commands hospitality, but also sets clear boundaries: charity is not unconditional and must honor discipline, doctrine, and responsibility.

Because Christian hospitality creates a real community outside the state, it has always provoked hostility. Just as Rome persecuted the early church for its independent charity, modern governments increasingly regulate, restrict, or criminalize Christian care whether feeding the poor, disciplining members, or educating children claiming exclusive authority over welfare, morality, and judgment. Legal persecution, he warns, is often meticulous and “lawful.”

At root is a conflict between two kingdoms: the kingdom of God and the kingdom of man. Biblical freedom flows from Christ’s atonement and self-government under God’s law; statist “freedom” relies on coercion and control. The choice before Christians is stark: conversion or coercion. Either society is re-Christianized through faith and action, or the church will increasingly be pressured into silence and submission.

Rushdoony and Samuel Blumenfeld argue that progressive public education—especially John Dewey’s “look-say”/whole-word approach—functions as a modern form of idolatry by replacing the primacy of God’s Word with the primacy of the image, training children to guess meaning from pictures rather than read words accurately. Blumenfeld contends this shift is not neutral pedagogy but a deliberate program to “dumb down” literacy so a managerial elite can rule a collectivist society: high literacy produces independent thinkers, while look-say produces functional illiteracy, inaccurate reading, and a weakened ability to reason, speak precisely, and even pray coherently. They connect alphabetic literacy to God’s providence in history—language exists because God communicates with man, Scripture is written Word (not “comic-book” images), and propositional truth in words points to a created universe with real meaning; therefore efforts to dissolve precision in language (whether in reading, journalism, or “new math” relativism) are ultimately efforts to dissolve meaning itself and with it Christianity, absolutes, and order. The conversation broadens to the cultural fruits of this program—loss of poetry and cadence, garbled public speech, broken chronology in “social studies,” and youth reduced toward animal appetites under evolutionary/humanist premises—while insisting that man uniquely seeks meaning because he is made in God’s image, and when God is discarded, human evil becomes truly satanic in a way animals never do. Their practical conclusion is a call to resistance through Christian schools and homeschooling, recovering phonics, accurate reading, rich language, and a Word-centered education that refuses the image-idol and restores disciplined thought, truth, and godly dominion. #ChristianEducation #BiblicalWorldview #Rushdoony #SamuelBlumenfeld #JohnDewey #LookSay #WholeWord #Phonics #Literacy #Idolatry #WordOfGod #MeaningAndTruth #Homeschool #ChristianSchools

True Christian discipline is not about punishment, but about living under Christ’s authority. Rooted in the word disciple, discipline shapes character through self-control, ordered homes, faithful churches, and purposeful schools. When authority is grounded in God’s Word—not personalities—discipline brings freedom, clarity, and growth. In the home, school, and church, discipline trains hearts and minds to live responsibly before God, cultivating inner obedience that lasts far beyond external rules.