Joyce Fetteroll responded:

Fundamentalist Christianity gets mentioned here more often that it should because it affects the social and legal atmosphere of homeschooling. (That doesn't account for every mention, but does account for a good many that you'll be faced with here.)

There are many families in some very conservative fundamentalist Christian sectors that are strongly encouraged, if not made, to homeschool. They make up a significant portion of homeschoolers in general. And those who are encouraging this movement are very politically active, trying to affect the legal atmosphere for all homeschoolers.

These Christians don't use a term that separates them from the less Reconstructionist-leaning of the fundamentalists. So there isn't an easy way to identify them to people who've never experienced the hold this particular Christian thought has on good portion of HSers. It almost always come across as Christian bashing.

In fact they call themselves Christian. Perhaps you would be appalled by the huge blow ups we had on the AOL homeschooling boards over the expression of the opinion: "Well, they aren't a true Christian." But being appalled or firmly believing that they poorly represent Christianity doesn't make the movement any less real or any less politically powerful.

You can read the tip of the iceberg at More About HSLDA (http://hsislegal.com/).

Joyce

The Most Influential Evangelist You've Never Heard Of

This is an NPR article about David Barton, a minister in Texas who is rewriting history in an especially false and crazy way: The Most Influential Evangelist You've Never Heard Of

That's the kind of "history" many homeschooling families are teaching in the southern U.S., and it shouldn't be legal, but it is. Wikipedia says According to the New York Times, "many professional historians dismiss Mr. Barton, whose academic degree is in Christian Education from Oral Roberts University, as a biased amateur who cherry-picks quotes from history and the Bible." But I think MOST professional historians would never have heard of the guy nor even bother to read his rants.