Friday, April 5, 2019

Lambasted, Part I


Dr. Darrell Furgason, a member of the Chilliwack, British Colombia, school board, found himself on the Vancouver evening news after making comments about proposed changes in the student dress code. What could he possibly have said to receive such attention?

Last week I asked why Christian teachers in state schools would accept a policy allowing biological males to use the girls’ shower room.

You and I both know why. They’re afraid of losing their jobs. Afraid of being lambasted for “puritanical” ideas.  

Dr. Darrell Furgason is finding out first-hand what happens when a school board member speaks up.

In Chilliwack, British Colombia, where Darrell sits on the board, a female board member wants to abolish the current dress code, so students can wear whatever they want. The current code calls for no cleavage or underwear showing, nor any revealing clothing on boys or girls. The new code would allow for short shorts exposing underwear, and tops revealing bra straps, with no teacher or principal being able to say a word about it. 

You can’t make this stuff up.

After speaking out in favor of keeping the current dress code, to encourage modesty and discourage voyeurism, Darrell Furgason was rewarded with prime-time coverage on the Vancouver evening news. 

In the news report, the President of the British Colombia Teachers Federation, Glen Hansman, declared Furgason’s thinking to be “not even 1950s thinking,” but “Dark Ages thinking.”

This pre-dates the Puritans.

Hansman went on to say that having an elected official (in 2019, mind you!) making comments such as those by Dr. Furgason, is disturbing.

Disturbing? Whose comments are disturbing?

Darrell Furgason holds two degrees in philosophy, a Masters degree in Political Science from the University of Sydney (the “Harvard of Australia”), and a Ph. D. from that university. He was a substitute teacher at the Christian school where I was Principal, and today he leads a biblical worldview training institute in Canada, called the Worldview Studies Center (https://worldviewstudies.ca/). He is a good friend.

How did Darrell get on the Chilliwack school board? And why?

I’ll tell you how and why next week. But first, please watch highlights from the board meeting that reached the evening news. In the video, you will see our mutual struggle in real-time.

The front lines of our battle run through thousands of school boards in Canada and the US. Yet the vast majority of these boards have no biblically-minded members who are boldly speaking up.    

You and I know one reason we're absent. Dr. Furgason is experiencing the lambasting in spades.

I urge you to view this video with friends, and discuss it together: click here.