This can be a particularly stressful time for Christian parents with children in public schools. And it's these parents I address today. You have worked hard to instill in your children traditional values and virtue. You keep up with what your children are taught in government schools and make corrections at home when necessary. Occasionally, you even battle with school officials over things like evolution curriculum and the social conditioning of children to accept homosexuality as a valid, positive lifestyle. What happened to the days when children were taught reading, math and history without a new-age spin that tells the younger generation they are the masters of their own universe?

If you are a parent who adheres to Judeo-Christian standards and has kids in public school, please consider this question: Are government-run schools incompatible with Christianity? I believe the answer is clear. Educational institutions operated by a government that has shown itself to be hostile toward Judeo-Christian values can only work against a traditional values-oriented lifestyle.

Before you dismiss me as a right-wing fanatic who has blown things out of proportion, please hear me out. I realize there are many Christians out there who see public schools as a public asset. The concept of public education is a deep-rooted public moral, if you will, and the debate over its necessity and effectiveness has become, for a handful of conservative politicians, a losing battle. Yet it is a battle which must continue, for as society sinks deeper into moral chaos, so does that society's educational institutions.

In America's early history, education was considered incomplete without a solid foundation of Judeo-Christian lessons and values. In fact, Harvard College's 17th-century mandate read, "Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well; the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life … and therefore to lay Christ at the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge of learning."

The concept that all education is religious education, or, said another way, that there is no such thing as religiously-neutral education, is explored in the Jeremiah Films documentary, "Let My Children Go." One example of this myth of religious neutrality is veneration of the "Harry Potter" book series by public schools. These books, which teach the principles of a bona fide religion known as Wicca in the context of children's fantasy literature, are being read aloud and discussed in many classrooms nationwide. In fact, the series' publisher, Scholastic, provides teachers with Harry Potter-specific curriculum. From its teaching-aids website, Scholastic at one time included links to other websites with pagan materials. The Wiccan religion is a growing, tax-exempt faith, and while real spells and charms might not be recorded by author J.K. Rowling in her wildly popular children's books, readers are schooled in the basic philosophies of witchcraft.

Through Harry Potter's adventures, children are learning there's a higher power other than the Almighty God that works for good in the world. Christian parents, you and I know that is not true. I beg you to consider God's instruction in Deuteronomy 18:

Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God.

To some, this mandate by God may seem to exclude from our libraries such classics as the "Lord of the Rings" series and others. That is a determination you must make for yourself. But a book speaking blatantly of witchcraft, where children like Harry Potter attend a school of "witchcraft and wizardry," ought immediately to raise some red flags.

"Children are finally enjoying reading," some have told me via e-mail. "Don't be such a radical and squelch kids' desire to read." Well friends, Christianity is a radical religion. It doesn't request your time once a week and a good deed here and there. It demands a change in your lifestyle. And if our kids are only enticed to read books about witchcraft and a wizard-boy seeking to avenge his parents' death by an evil being, then we, as Christians, need to take a hard look at our lifestyles and make some changes.

Many public schools have latched on to children's fascination with Harry Potter and have incorporated the books into the curriculum. Children can learn valuable lessons from the boy-wizard, some argue. Children can also learn valuable "religiously neutral" values from reading the Bible as well, but that is now a violation of the Constitution, according to the nation's highest court.

Jeremiah Films has spoken with public-school teachers and education experts who say government schools have replaced the institution's biblical foundation for one of secular humanism. In effect, man is his own god.

Noah Webster, author of America's first dictionary, warned Americans of the consequences that would come from losing their biblical foundation, which he said is a biblical philosophy of life. America's prosperity, he wrote, is dependent on the teaching of Judeo-Christian ethics.

The loss of that "biblical philosophy of life" is perhaps most poignantly illustrated by the 1962 Supreme Court ruling that resulted in the removal of Bibles from public schools. I sincerely doubt there's an observant Christian out there who believes our country's "prosperity" has increased since then.

Take a look around you – deviant lifestyles such as heterosexual unmarried cohabitation and homosexuality are now being regarded not merely as acceptable, but as good; traditional families are now the exception in society; academic achievement at large in America has spiraled downward. That does not fit my definition of prosperity.

Once we turn our backs on our faith, once we deny there is absolute truth and begin wandering through life using our own "moral" compass, we can expect a societal decline. According to a news report by Exodus Mandate – a group dedicated to eliminating the public-school system – 70 percent of teens involved in youth groups stop attending church within two years of graduation. In addition, 80 percent of college students said higher education had weakened their faith.

If you want to know more about public schools and why many people are choosing to educate their children outside the government system, I encourage you to you visit Exodus Mandate on the Internet.