Hassled for Home Schooling

THE BRUSSELS JOURNAL, June 15 — In an op-ed piece, Alexandra Colen reports on how her husband, Paul Belien, the editor of the newspaper’s website, was summoned by police for questioning simply because his five children have been home schooled.

Colen and Belien have refused to sign a Ministry of Education declaration to school “their children, respecting the respect [sic] for the fundamental human rights and the cultural values of the child itself and of others.”

This is because a finding of failure to conform to the nebulous standard by two state inspectors will result in the children being forced to attend state schools. “My husband and I … are unwilling to put our signature under a document that [puts the fate of our children] into the hands of two state inspectors,” said Colen.

While only 513 children are home schooled in Belgium, wrote Colen, “the figure has quadrupled in the past five years, as parents are seceding from the official schools where drugs and violence are rampant and pupils are indoctrinated with political correctness and socialism.”

Jews at Georgetown

HAARETZ.COM, June 16 — A $20 million donation to Georgetown University to upgrade to a full-fledged center the university’s program for Jewish civilization within the School of Foreign Service will help “moderate the Arab presence at the university, which is strong and getting stronger,” said the website of the Jewish newspaper.

The gift from Jewish philanthropist Sheldon Adelson is equal to that of Saudi billionaire Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, which was made last year to expand Georgetown’s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, also part of the School of Foreign Service, many of whose graduates go on to serve at the U.S. State Department.

The website reported, “The center is considered pro-Arab, as is the university’s Center for contemporary Arab Studies.”

Believers Marginalized

UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL, June 20 — U.S. colleges and universities marginalize religious students, according to Greg Lukianoff, the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

Lukianoff spoke as part of Religious Freedom Day on Capitol Hill, a one-day conference that included talks by several U.S. senators.  

Religious groups are routinely denied official university recognition “merely because they wish to form groups devoted to their faith,” said Lukianoff.

Citing numerous examples, Lukianoff offered that the Harvard-Radcliffe Christian Fellowship has been denied funding since 2002 because it requires that members “subscribe without reserve” to the articles of the Christian faith.

What Is a Parish?

THE DOMINICAN SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY, June 11 — The Berkeley, Calif., school will sponsor an interdisciplinary colloquium this summer at Chicago’s Loyola University on the question, “Can You Tell Me What a Parish Is?”

Chicago’s Francis Cardinal George, will deliver the keynote address, “The Parish in the Mission of the Church,” for the July 17-29 gathering.

The colloquium is expected to bring together experts and authorities from the fields of U.S. constitutional, corporate and canon law, as well as experts in ecclesiology and the theology of the laity.

For information, go to dspt.edu on the Internet.