Some fringe groups use home-schooling
 
Beacon Journal staff report
The Beacon Journal - Akron, Ohio
 
Like the general population, home schooling has its fringe groups.

The following are groups that have been in the news for beliefs that are out of the mainstream and in which home-schooling is a preferred form of education:

National groups

Aryan Nations: A white supremacist movement with a major enclave in northern Idaho, western Washington and western Montana, plus competing leadership in Potter County, Pa.; Dayton, Ohio; and Louisiana, according to news stories.

Buford Oneal Furrow Jr. spent time in the Washington home of Aryan Nations leaders Debbie and the late Bob Matthews before heading to Southern California in 1999, where he shot women and children at a Southern California Jewish community center. The Matthewses home-schooled their adopted son, who they insisted must have blond hair and blue eyes. Confederate flags fly at their Washington ranch.

Christian Identity: A white supremacist movement with adherents across the country. Gordon Winrod, a Christian Identity pastor, was convicted in 2002 of abducting six of his eight grandchildren and keeping them at his 400-acre ranch in Missouri for several years, where his home schooling of them included anti-Jewish beliefs.

Twelve Tribes: A fundamentalist group with settlements in at least five states and several foreign countries. It is a separatist church awaiting the Second Coming of Jesus and God's vengeance on non-followers. Its goal is to keep children pure for the arrival of Christ. Members often operate businesses to support themselves. In Plymouth, Mass., they have a health-food and furniture store. Corporal punishment and child-labor practices have resulted in investigations and sometimes charges.

World Church of the Creator: A white supremacist organization based in East Peoria, Ill., with Western leadership in the Seattle and Portland, Ore., areas. A branch organization provides home-school support to white families. In 1999, Matt and Tyler Williams, home-schooled World Church brothers, killed two homosexual men in Redding, Calif., and set fire to synagogues in the Sacramento area. In the same year, Ben Smith, another adherent, went on a shooting spree of Jews, blacks and Asians across the Midwest, killing two.

Localized groups

Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: This is a century-old polygamous splinter group of the Mormon Church with an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 members. Until recently, most members were in Colorado City, Ariz., and neighboring Hildale, Utah. As Arizona and Utah authorities attempt to regulate polygamous arrangements, the church has taken over a 1,691-acre ranch in desolate west Texas. All children are home-schooled. Church elders arrange young girls' marriages, which sometimes push the limits of statutory rape laws.

House of Prayer Church: A fundamentalist church in a poor area of Atlanta that practices severe punishment of children. The pastor, Arthur Allen Jr., is serving time for child abuse after his congregation used belts and whips on children in church services. In 2001, public school teachers recognized and reported abuse of children from the church. Protective services workers raided the church and took 49 children into custody, after which the church members withdrew their children from public schools to be home-schooled.
 
Ohio.com
Originally published November 16, 2004
 
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