Sonlight removing religious content for use in public school program

[Serenade]

That is absolutely untrue. This time last year, there were MANY threads shut down and posts deleted or heavily moderated because people were talking about them putting back in books that John had been very vocal about his reasons for taking out.

 

 

I disagree, and I am and have been a very active participant on the Sonlight forums. Sure, there were a few threads shut down last year when they made changes to the curriculum. It wasn't as many as you imagine. Far more were left for people to hash out and hash out and hash out all over again. The only threads that were shut down were the ones where people were outright rude, much like TWTM shuts down posts when people are excessively unkind. Sonlight made a choice to include those books in question. It was explained over and over again why.* While many disagreed with this choice, Sonlight is well within its right to include whichever books it wants. People also have the right not to purchase this curriculum. When Sonlight includes books I don't care for, I simply don't use them. One I detested was that Window on the World book, so we just didn't use it.

 

I guess I don't have a whole lot more to say on this topic. I doubt this disagreement will be resolved, because it's all about perspective and opinion.

 

 

* Below is Amy's (John and Sarita's daughter) explanation of why those books were included, for those who are curious.

 

 

As Sarita reviewed all the books in the lower Cores, she noticed that there were gaps, such as the Great Awakening and the story of the Amistad. The book in question covered those topics, and she put those stories in to read on the fifth day. That really seems pretty straightforward to me. Not underhanded or sneaky or terribly upsetting.

 

Personally, I'm okay with a book that says, "They made the Indians give them gold; otherwise they enslaved them," rather than John's more accurate, "They made the Indians give them gold and when the gold ran out they impaled them and beheaded them and other horrible things." The former is more age appropriate, and the idea that the conquerors were not good men remains intact.

 

Sarita has always been the primary book chooser at Sonlight. She made the decision to pull it. She made the decision to put it back in. If, on the whole, you enjoy Sonlight books, Sarita has done her job well.

[Serenade]

THAT WAS THE UGLIEST THING EVER.

 

I was appalled by the behavior of some of those Christian moms who were happy that THOSE people wouldn't be posting on the BLUE forums.

 

 

Except they could post on the blue forums, except for one (maybe two) who were blatantly disregarding Sonlight's posting rules. People could post on both forums.

[Tanikit]

I have not read all the posts on this thread. My issue with this however comes with the fact that it is a financial decision - and it makes me ask the question - what else has been a financial decision alone in this company - because when they started it made financial sense to be a Christian company and to sell Christian products - the market was big for this. Now that suddenly the market is becoming more secular, suddenly it makes financial sense to have a secular version. So if all decisions by this company have been financial then how important was the Christianity in the first place? Are they a genuine Christian company who have added a secular version or are they purely financially driven and was the Christianity put in to sell the product at the beginning?

 

I know this sounds harsh - they have very good products and the curriculum is great, but their motivation is incredibly important because it determines whether they have been lying to their customers or not. Religion is not really something that should be played around with in order to make money. I am pretty sure any of the other religions would want a curriculum written by someone who genuinely believed what they were selling rather than were just saying what people wanted to hear so that they could make money.

 

I am not accusing Sonlight of doing this - I do not know whether they have or not. What I am saying is that their decision to provide this curriculum to the public schools does make me question their other motives if this one was purely financial. And it would be good if they could respond and explain.

[PachiSusan]

Why is their Christianity called into question simply because they added a secular curriculum? It reminds me of the witch hunt against Amy Grant when she put out a song that didn't specifically mention God. She was boycotted, kicked out of testimonies at churches, and some radio stations even had record destroying parties. She hadn't abandoned her faith, and I haven't seen any evidence shown that Sonlight has lost theirs either. :(

 

As Christians we need to be VERY careful about situations like this and doing too much speculation and assuming.

[Tanikit]

Unfortunately their product has been branded by themselves. This is their vision statement on their own website:

"Empower parents to nurture enthusiastic, life-long learners who are motivated and equipped to follow Christ wherever He leads and in whatever He calls them to do."

 

Therefore by providing the Sonlight brand as a secular brand the question must be asked how they hope to achieve their own vision by this move.

 

I have no problem with companies and even the Sonlight people providing secular materials, but then they cannot brand their materials as Christian. It becomes a problem with honesty and even advertising accurately. The name Sonlight itself comes from Jesus the Son, it is branded as Christian, everything they have ever said is that this is a Christian company selling Christian materials. The issue is whether they have been honest - in and of themselves, within the company and its advertising.

 

I have no idea how Amy Grant branded herself and their is a big difference between singing a secular song that doesn't mention God (vs singing an anti-faith song) and branding yourself with a vision that then going about your business in a way that does not seem to be leading this way.

 

I do use Sonlight products. I will probably not stop using them because of this. But I do hold them accountable to tell the truth and explain themselves and if they have decided that their vision is different to what they have advertised then they should inform their customers.

[PachiSusan]

Unfortunately their product has been branded by themselves. This is their vision statement on their own website:

"Empower parents to nurture enthusiastic, life-long learners who are motivated and equipped to follow Christ wherever He leads and in whatever He calls them to do."

 

Therefore by providing the Sonlight brand as a secular brand the question must be asked how they hope to achieve their own vision by this move.

 

I have no problem with companies and even the Sonlight people providing secular materials, but then they cannot brand their materials as Christian. It becomes a problem with honesty and even advertising accurately. The name Sonlight itself comes from Jesus the Son, it is branded as Christian, everything they have ever said is that this is a Christian company selling Christian materials. The issue is whether they have been honest - in and of themselves, within the company and its advertising.

 

I have no idea how Amy Grant branded herself and their is a big difference between singing a secular song that doesn't mention God (vs singing an anti-faith song) and branding yourself with a vision that then going about your business in a way that does not seem to be leading this way.

 

I do use Sonlight products. I will probably not stop using them because of this. But I do hold them accountable to tell the truth and explain themselves and if they have decided that their vision is different to what they have advertised then they should inform their customers.

 

 

Aren't they putting out this curriculum under a different child company? Wouldn't that suffice that their vision is not changing, just adding another component?

 

Many companies have subsidiaries to do different things. Disney is one of them. They started a new company in the 80s (Touchtone) to put out PG and PG-13 movies. No one threw a fit over that - they lauded them for keeping the family brand pure.

 

ETA That Amy Grant was a Christian Artist. She started out that way and was doing Christian music for years. She put out a song that did not have anything to do with God and she was crucified over it. Pun not really intended, but it works.

[briansmama]

This seems like it would actually help homeschoolers- there are many charter schools in CA that serve the homeschooling community. With their educational funds, families can purchase curricula through the charter school, and many can choose any curriculum they want provided it is not religious.

 

So, if I wanted to use my Ed funds to buy Sonlight for my dc, now I can (we are not part of a charter program, this is just an example). I could then add whatever religious instruction I wanted to the program from my own funds.

 

I think it's a win-win.

 

Sonlight is a business after all, and I think literature-based curricula is top quality- every child should have access to this type of education. We actually do not use Sonlight, but we do use a literature-based program, which I recommend to every single new homeschooling family I meet. Many need the guidance Sonlight offers, and now more of those families will have access to it.

[PachiSusan]

This seems like it would actually help homeschoolers- there are many charter schools in CA that serve the homeschooling community. With their educational funds, families can purchase curricula through the charter school, and many can choose any curriculum they want provided it is not religious.

 

So, if I wanted to use my Ed funds to buy Sonlight for my dc, now I can (we are not part of a charter program, this is just an example). I could then add whatever religious instruction I wanted to the program from my own funds.

 

I think it's a win-win.

 

Sonlight is a business after all, and I think literature-based curricula is top quality- every child should have access to this type of education. We actually do not use Sonlight, but we do use a literature-based program, which I recommend to every single new homeschooling family I meet. Many need the guidance Sonlight offers, and now more of those families will have access to it.

 

Exactly!! I have no horse in the race, BTW as I do Seton Home Study. I just am having a hard time getting to "they've abandoned all they ever believed in" from simply putting out a secular curriculum in ADDITION to their regular Christian offering.

[kagmypts]

Many companies have subsidiaries to do different things. Disney is one of them. They started a new company in the 80s (Touchtone) to put out PG and PG-13 movies. No one threw a fit over that - they lauded them for keeping the family brand pure.

 

I think that the reason that this has become problematic is that Sonlight was/is pointing at the sister company and saying that they had nothing to do with that "secular" brand or with the parent company. If Disney was kicking and screaming that it had no relationship with Touchtone (when it clearly did), the situation would have been viewed very differently. I think that Sonlight has as much of a PR problem as it does a philosophical one. Customers don't like being misled!

[PachiSusan]

I think that the reason that this has become problematic is that Sonlight was/is pointing at the sister company and saying that they had nothing to do with that "secular" brand or with the parent company. If Disney was kicking and screaming that it had no relationship with Touchtone (when it clearly did), the situation would have been viewed very differently. I think that Sonlight has as much of a PR problem as it does a philosophical one. Customers don't like being misled!

 

That does make sense. Then it looks to me like they should be more forthright about what they are doing.

 

I still don't see the "They're abandoning Christ" problem. They aren't, IMHO. They're providing a service to a non-Christian population through another company and from the looks of this thread, they are doing a very bad job communicating their plans. Maybe they knew this would happen and were trying to stop it from happening - but in not being up front, they self fulfilled that prophesy.

 

They need to be honest about that and move on. On that point, I agree with the broo ha ha. I just can't get on board questioning their Christianity.

[Tanikit]

"Aren't they putting out this curriculum under a different child company? Wouldn't that suffice that their vision is not changing, just adding another component?"

 

I do not know the answer to this. From what I have seen and read the Sonlight label does seem to have been applied to things - maybe in error?

 

Another issue I have comes from this post in a sonlight forum:

https://forums.sonli...stian-material/

 

I feel that the question was very clearly stated by whoever wrote it and yet it was not answered. The answer posted was: "Please rest assured that Sonlight Curriculum remains a Christian-focused curriculum and we have no plans to "secularize"." The words used to say this remind me of business and legal jargon often used by politicians so that when you question them again they can say that they did not say whatever is it is you are complaining of. Maybe it is difficult to say whether a company is Christian since it is people who are Christian.

 

I did also read that it is their parent company who is involved in this - but surely the parent company does not have full control over the product? Surely they cannot just change a brand and product and resell it? Maybe they can, but then I again blame the people for signing such an agreement if they meant for their product to remain Christian-based.

 

It is clear that the full story is not out in the open. I am not terribly happy with the answers I am seeing on Sonlight's forums at the moment though I feel sorry for Judy having to answer all these questions, possibly with limited information herself.

 

Ok, here is the post that answers more:

https://forums.sonlight.com/topic/332169-brightflash-learning-a-secular-version-of-sonlight/

 

This makes more sense, except it still makes me feel like much of this is very business-related. Are Christians allowed to run good businesses? Of course, they should... but again I think it is easier for a Christian to run a business as a business that is Christ-centred than to run a business that is focused on selling a product about Christ - this of course is an argument that I will need to think about a lot - as a Christian you should do things well and in a way that brings Glory to God and also Christians make mistakes in what they do. But it comes back to: is this a mistake... or is it just a wise business decision and how will that affect people's views of the Christian content of the curriculum? I don't know. I do not know if this is a good or bad thing at all and I guess only time will tell.

[kagmypts]

I still don't see the "They're abandoning Christ" problem. They aren't, IMHO. They're providing a service to a non-Christian population through another company and from the looks of this thread, they are doing a very bad job communicating their plans. Maybe they knew this would happen and were trying to stop it from happening - but in not being up front, they self fulfilled that prophesy.

 

Like I said in a previous post, I really don't know where I stand on this issue. However, if a company states as one of its core values that all education points to Christ, how do you remove Christ and end up with the same product? I am not sure if Sonlight is planning to "sanitize" its current curriculum by removing all references to Christ to make it agreeable to a public school environment or if it plans to create an entirely new curriculum for a secular audience. In the case of the former situation, it does seem that they are abandoning Christ. If Christ was never central to the curriculum in the first place, it seems very disingenuous to claim and advertise it as such. If, however, Sonlight is starting with a clean slate and creating an entirely different curriculum for secular homeschoolers, I don't really think that is abandoning its primary mission.

[PachiSusan]

"Aren't they putting out this curriculum under a different child company? Wouldn't that suffice that their vision is not changing, just adding another component?"

 

I do not know the answer to this. From what I have seen and read the Sonlight label does seem to have been applied to things - maybe in error?

 

Another issue I have comes from this post in a sonlight forum:

https://forums.sonli...stian-material/

 

I feel that the question was very clearly stated by whoever wrote it and yet it was not answered. The answer posted was: "Please rest assured that Sonlight Curriculum remains a Christian-focused curriculum and we have no plans to "secularize"." The words used to say this remind me of business and legal jargon often used by politicians so that when you question them again they can say that they did not say whatever is it is you are complaining of. Maybe it is difficult to say whether a company is Christian since it is people who are Christian.

 

I did also read that it is their parent company who is involved in this - but surely the parent company does not have full control over the product? Surely they cannot just change a brand and product and resell it? Maybe they can, but then I again blame the people for signing such an agreement if they meant for their product to remain Christian-based.

 

It is clear that the full story is not out in the open. I am not terribly happy with the answers I am seeing on Sonlight's forums at the moment though I feel sorry for Judy having to answer all these questions, possibly with limited information herself.

 

I would agree with this. I'll take a look at the thread you posted for me to read.

[PachiSusan]

Like I said in a previous post, I really don't know where I stand on this issue. However, if a company states as one of its core values that all education points to Christ, how do you remove Christ and end up with the same product? I am not sure if Sonlight is planning to "sanitize" its current curriculum by removing all references to Christ to make it agreeable to a public school environment or if it plans to create an entirely new curriculum for a secular audience. In the case of the former situation, it does seem that they are abandoning Christ. If Christ was never central to the curriculum in the first place, it seems very disingenuous to claim and advertise it as such. If, however, Sonlight is starting with a clean slate and creating an entirely different curriculum for secular homeschoolers, I don't really think that is abandoning its primary mission.

 

I am getting into territory that I truly don't "know" for myself and have to go on what you all have posted here in the forums about Sonlight.

 

That said - I am a Catholic. I make my decisions based on my relationship with Christ and how to further my relationship with Christ. I don't always choose the "religious" choice. Does that make me less of a Christian? I don't think so. That's where I am coming from with this.

 

Just because they made a choice to change their curriculum to help educate non Christians, doesn't mean to me that they have denied Christ. I am not comfortable going there.

[Alte Veste Academy]

I put this on the other thread but I am going to put it here too, because I am annoyed. People can ask why this bothers anyone and not understand what the big deal is until the cows come home, but that isn't going to cure my annoyance. :lol: I am tired of these companies being discussed like their respective leaders don't eat dinner together and sleep in the same bed every night! It is strategy, and that is fine, but call it what it is. Just how far can you distance yourself from your own husband? LOL

 

As a Catholic, I don't really have a dog in this fight. It seems to me, though, that it basically boils down to this: If you're paying for our materials yourself, our philosophy is X; if someone else is buying, our philosophy is Y.

 

People don't like Sarita. She comes off as a hypocrite. This is just another example of that.

 

What I don't get is why, if they can come up with this to make money off the public schools, they can't offer the same secularized version as an option for homeschoolers. Homeschoolers have been asking for that for years and have been told that secularizing Sonlight would be going against their values. If they will now sell to charters, why not sell to homeschoolers?

 

Yes! Yes, exactly to these! This is what is irritating me right now. I would even expand Michelle's post to say that if an organization is paying for our materials, our philosophy is x. If an individual is paying for our materials, our philosophy is y. If a secular individual is paying for our material, our philosophy is we will not take the Christ out of our curriculum. We don't believe in that. Why, that would compromise our principles!

 

As a secular, long-time wisher, I honestly do feel like I have a dog in this fight--the underdog (aka the holy grail of a really good, open and go, living books secular history curriculum). As long as Sonlight's policy was that they were a Christian organization and did not feel they could morally separate out Christianity from their cores, I could respect that, totally respect that. But now? Now it appears that they are trying to divide and conquer while hoping no one notices. It doesn't bother some Christians. Fine. People see and understand the financial POV. So do I. But there is something really stinky about it.

 

So maybe their philosophy is actually that if a secular individual is paying for our material, our philosophy is we will not take the Christ out of our curriculum because it would be too great a risk to our Christian customer base or that it's too small a piece of the financial pie to bother with. At any rate, something they have claimed as a value-based decision all along almost certainly is NOT.

[Kathryn]

 

 

 

I disagree, and I am and have been a very active participant on the Sonlight forums. Sure, there were a few threads shut down last year when they made changes to the curriculum. It wasn't as many as you imagine. Far more were left for people to hash out and hash out and hash out all over again. The only threads that were shut down were the ones where people were outright rude, much like TWTM shuts down posts when people are excessively unkind. Sonlight made a choice to include those books in question. It was explained over and over again why.* While many disagreed with this choice, Sonlight is well within its right to include whichever books it wants. People also have the right not to purchase this curriculum. When Sonlight includes books I don't care for, I simply don't use them. One I detested was that Window on the World book, so we just didn't use it.

 

I guess I don't have a whole lot more to say on this topic. I doubt this disagreement will be resolved, because it's all about perspective and opinion.

 

 

* Below is Amy's (John and Sarita's daughter) explanation of why those books were included, for those who are curious.

 

We'll have to agree to disagree then. I was there also. I was involved in every one of those threads and I don't recall rudeness by people asking questions. I recall threads being shut down because people continued to press for a straight answer when we kept getting the run-around just like what happened this year. They wanted no discussion, pretty much only allowing questions in Dear Sonlight. I'm well aware of what Amy said, including the incredibly rude comment she made about us and had to edit because she got called on it.

[PachiSusan]

I am feeling an extreme need to defend. Extreme because I really don't have a horse in the race, so why is this bothering me so much? I probably should just back out now. I don't know enough about the entire situation to continue. I simply think that attacking their Christianity is going below the belt and I can't hang with it. It's not our place to judge that.

[Alte Veste Academy]

And you know what else? Separate companies my butt, because the cores were/are Sonlight products, so Sarita presumably handed over the rights to make this switch. So, yes, after refusing for years to take faith out of the cores, she quietly handed over the content and is now saying oh, I didn't take the faith out of the cores, this other company (if you must know, my husband's company) did. Well, lady, you handed them over! If, based on principle, you didn't want Christ stripped out of them, you could have told Brightflash no, that Sonlight was holding onto them to keep them intact. So Brightflash or Sonlight is a totally irrelevant discussion, IMO, because in the end it was Sarita who has allowed the secular version of Sonlight to be produced.

[Tanikit]

"So if all decisions by this company have been financial then how important was the Christianity in the first place? Are they a genuine Christian company who have added a secular version or are they purely financially driven and was the Christianity put in to sell the product at the beginning?"

 

I imagine it is this quote that you did not like, PachiSusan. I don't think it questions their Christianity - it questions their company's decision to make a Christian curriculum and questions the motive behind it - was it to bring God's word to people or was it to make money - could be both I suppose? To be honest I can question anyone's Christianity though - many people do this all the time because Christians like any other person on earth are sinners. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" and people seem to expect a lot of Christians which is a good thing. So I do not know if anyone is a Christian - I must take their word for it - it is not my job to question whether someone is a Christian or not, however if they say they are they do need to stand by Christian principles else a Christian should take them up on it. But right now I just want to find out what the true story is because at the moment their integrity is under scrutiny and they need to be very clear with people about what they are doing.

[Donna A.]

I am getting into territory that I truly don't "know" for myself and have to go on what you all have posted here in the forums about Sonlight.

 

That said - I am a Catholic. I make my decisions based on my relationship with Christ and how to further my relationship with Christ. I don't always choose the "religious" choice. Does that make me less of a Christian? I don't think so. That's where I am coming from with this.

 

Just because they made a choice to change their curriculum to help educate non Christians, doesn't mean to me that they have denied Christ. I am not comfortable going there.

 

 

I have been silently following this thread and reading the links.

 

Genuine Christian non-Catholics can and do use secular materials, too. That isn't the issue. The issue is that SL has been around for a very long time, always emphasizing evangelism, missions, and knowledge of Christ as their core mission. Always. That's one of the main selling points of SL for Christians. The way they have their IGs laid out has also made it doable for many non-Christians. But the name of their company -- SONlight -- and Christian content being included in the IGs has made them unmarketable to the public school sector.

 

The fact that they are now making themselves marketable to the public school sector by removing all references to Christ -- when the teachings of Christ has been their core mission since Day 1 -- is what's being called into question here. That and the fact that they've been deceptive about it. It's an integrity issue. Scripture calls those in leadership to have unquestionable integrity in their business dealings as well as their personal spiritual lives. (See I and II Timothy and Titus.) The folks at SL, however, have not been forthright with their customers. THAT is why some people are questioning whether they're now denying Christ in some way (sshhh, let's try and keep this secular business a secret from the Christians who buy our stuff), and whether Christ has truly been their core mission all along, or whether it was a marketing tactic.

 

The fact that a subsidiary by a different name is the one selling a secularized version to the public schools, and not "Sonlight", is just technical legal jargon. Fact is, it's the same people behind both companies, and their customers know that. But apparently it's been like pulling teeth getting the owners and operators of both (all three) companies to ADMIT it.

 

As an example.... Susan Wise Bauer, also a Christian, is very open about the fact that she writes and publishes material for all homeschoolers whether Christian or not. Some people like this and some don't, but either way, she's never tried to keep it a secret OR changed her philosophy or underlying core purpose. THAT is the problem people are having with SL.

[hsmom10]

I don't mean to bump this up again, because I know it has been talked to death- but I just found my e-mail from Sonlight advertising them at the district fair last year. Again, I know we are pretty much past this, but just another part of the irony since they are still saying they aren't a part of it.

 

 

Want a close-up look at homeschool curriculum? Want to touch Sonlight materials? Want to talk to an experienced Sonlight mom who can answer your questions?

You're invited to a special bookfair in Castle Rock, CO next week. This is a bookfair specifically for a homeschool co-op in Douglas County, but all homeschoolers are invited to come look at curricula. There is no registration and no entrance fee. Just show up!

Cloverleaf Homeschool Options Bookfair

April 18, 2012

9:00 AM - 2:00 PM

312 Cantril Street

Castle Rock, CO 80104

(303) 387-9545

 

(Names removed by me), two Sonlight representatives, would love to meet you at the Sonlight booth. They've both used Sonlight materials for years and can show you samples of what your family's curriculum would look like with Sonlight!

Sonlight and Rosetta Stone will be the only curriculum companies with representatives at their booths, though select curricula from other companies will be set out on display. I know it's late notice, but if you missed the Loveland Convention, this may be your best chance to see Sonlight materials in Colorado.

 

(ETA- I realize this was before the ACLU and other legal issues they may have encountered, which may be part of the reason they are dancing around a solid answer, and had to go with a separate company name)

[ZooRho]

I disagree, and I am and have been a very active participant on the Sonlight forums. Sure, there were a few threads shut down last year when they made changes to the curriculum. It wasn't as many as you imagine. Far more were left for people to hash out and hash out and hash out all over again. The only threads that were shut down were the ones where people were outright rude, much like TWTM shuts down posts when people are excessively unkind. Sonlight made a choice to include those books in question. It was explained over and over again why.* While many disagreed with this choice, Sonlight is well within its right to include whichever books it wants. People also have the right not to purchase this curriculum. When Sonlight includes books I don't care for, I simply don't use them. One I detested was that Window on the World book, so we just didn't use it.

 

I guess I don't have a whole lot more to say on this topic. I doubt this disagreement will be resolved, because it's all about perspective and opinion.

 

 

* Below is Amy's (John and Sarita's daughter) explanation of why those books were included, for those who are curious.

 

 

The thing with those books John had copioius notes about those books and then finally pulled them from use BUT left the notes in the IGs for many years. there were also threads on the forums about how bad those books were by John H. And then they added them back in. That was the issue that many had with them.

[ZooRho]

 

 

Except they could post on the blue forums, except for one (maybe two) who were blatantly disregarding Sonlight's posting rules. People could post on both forums.

 

there were many that were so hateful that they said they would NEVER post on the Brown forums.

 

It was an ugly time

[ZooRho]

 

Exactly!! I have no horse in the race, BTW as I do Seton Home Study. I just am having a hard time getting to "they've abandoned all they ever believed in" from simply putting out a secular curriculum in ADDITION to their regular Christian offering.

 

It really is about principles and the way they have treated people and their staunch stand and now this info coming out the back door

[mama27]

Why is their Christianity called into question simply because they added a secular curriculum? It reminds me of the witch hunt against Amy Grant when she put out a song that didn't specifically mention God. She was boycotted, kicked out of testimonies at churches, and some radio stations even had record destroying parties. She hadn't abandoned her faith, and I haven't seen any evidence shown that Sonlight has lost theirs either. :(

 

As Christians we need to be VERY careful about situations like this and doing too much speculation and assuming.

 

 

 

I don't think their Christianity is being called into question because they are making a secular version, I think it's all the dishonesty behind it. instead of being open and honest they were all sneaky about it, and flat-out denying they were even doing it until they had to own up to it.

 

As a Christian, I am all for missions, Bible in my curric, and doing everything to spread the word to non-Christians but it doesn't bother me that they are having a secular version of their curric BUT they should have been honest about it and yes, they would would even need to change some of their focus because obviously, they aren't only focused on spreading the Gospel.

[mama27]

And you know what else? Separate companies my butt, because the cores were/are Sonlight products, so Sarita presumably handed over the rights to make this switch. So, yes, after refusing for years to take faith out of the cores, she quietly handed over the content and is now saying oh, I didn't take the faith out of the cores, this other company (if you must know, my husband's company) did. Well, lady, you handed them over! If, based on principle, you didn't want Christ stripped out of them, you could have told Brightflash no, that Sonlight was holding onto them to keep them intact. So Brightflash or Sonlight is a totally irrelevant discussion, IMO, because in the end it was Sarita who has allowed the secular version of Sonlight to be produced.

 

 

 

Yes, and if you are married to someone what's yours is theirs, and what's theirs is yours.