Frequently Asked Questions
The Parents’ Pact is a Christian proclamation of the freedoms that are necessary for parents to raise and educate their children according to good conscience and without undue interference from the civil authorities. It is, further, the basis for a civil covenant between the parents signing the proclamation to uphold the same freedoms, with the help of Almighty God.
No. The text of the Pact was written by concerned parents and grandparents, and there is no organisational entity connected with the Pact.
No. The Pact is not primarily a political document, although its signatories do hope that civil leaders and authorities will attend to the truths presented in the Pact.
The Pact is primarily a spiritual document, which sets forth truths that stand independent of whether the powers that be recognise them to be true.
It is then a civil document, embodying a commitment of parents one to another. No central list of signatories is maintained - parents signing the pact are encouraged to find ways to keep in contact with one another in relational and informal ways.
Anyone whose heart is stirred by the Pact is encouraged to use it freely in their own context. We hope that many across the country will feel free to use the Pact in their churches, church networks and denominations, school communities, home education cooperatives, and kinship and friendship groups.
The Pact is useful to the extent that it clarifies the thinking of parents on the great, often confused, issue of educational responsibility. The Pact will work to the extent that it is adopted on a grassroots level by people of conviction and courage.
So, if you are stirred by the Pact, please consider sharing it with like-minded friends or contacts, and organise your own signing.
No - see the answer to 2 above. There is not, and must never be, a charge levied for the signing of the Pact. Indeed, there is no entity set up for the reception of any funds, and this by design.
The only financial encouragement that is made is that signatories of the Parents’ Pact consider beginning the practice of putting away some funds that they can use in the event that they, or any of their fellow signatories, may one day require a legal defence fund. But these funds should always remain in the control of the signatories themselves and be distributed at their sole discretion.
Yes, we are. This is always a danger in any good enterprise undertaken in uncertain times, and can never be entirely avoided. The Pact itself is careful not to commit any of its signatories to defending unscrupulous or negligent parents who may seek to claim sympathy or support on the basis of the Pact.
The careful wording of the Pact will also, it is hoped, prevent its message from being altered.
Finally, we hope the risk of the Pact being co-opted by irrational or unscrupulous people is minimised by the fact that there is no central ‘control’ of the Pact. If those who make use of the document do so in local, relational ways, there is less of a chance that unsteady people will influence the course of events.
There is certainly a risk of a heavy-handed government response. Indeed, the biblical history illustrates that controlling leaders can react very harshly to principled challenge (cf. Exodus 5).
If the government did take this course of action, however, it would do three things:
- It would manifest the very sort of controlling intentions the Pact warns against, thus validating its concerns.
- It would show the State’s true colours, and risk great public scrutiny in a nation that still prides itself on being democratic, not autocratic.
- It would harden its resistance not only to families, parents, and the best interests of children, but also to God, who has established the family. This is a path of certain danger and ultimate failure for any government.
However, it would be a mistake to think that we only face risk if we stand up to government overreach. The Pact makes it clear that we are already on a path not only of risk to families and children, but of certain harm if the present trend towards comprehensive government surveillance and control continues.
We believe there is more risk in a policy of appeasement and acquiescence to excessive government demands than there is in principled obedience to God’s design, and resistance to State overreach.
The bottom line is this: as parents, and as Christians, we seek to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord, and we entrust our safety, and that of our families, to Him. He is faithful, and is well able to protect His own.