George Orwell’s novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, was written as a warning against the dangers of totalitarianism such as occurred in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. It was said of the ubiquitous Dictator: ‘Big Brother is watching you.’ It is rather sobering that Orwell derived some of his ideas from a billboard advertising an educational course and what he observed of the operations of the BBC. These days, reality has a way of outdoing fiction, and in February 2014 the Scottish Parliament overwhelmingly passed a bill which decreed that every child in the country would be appointed a state-appointed ‘nanny’ who would be given powers that would overrule those of the child’s parents. This costly and intrusive exercise has supposedly been designed to promote the welfare of Scotland’s children.
One is not surprised that wise old Dr Johnson once commented that ‘most schemes of political improvement are very laughable things.’ This madcap proposal, however, may prove more disastrous than laughable. It is part of a trend that can be seen across what used to call itself the civilised world. In the first place, it hands over increasing power to the state. Members of society are put at odds with one another, and encouraged to snoop on one another so that a benevolent being from a government department can step in and take charge. The result is a society full of snoops and busybodies, at the beck and call of the government yet all the time believing that they are accomplishing something necessary and wonderful for the good of the community. Throughout the nations of the Western world, the state is becoming all-devouring. There are times when it needs to act, even in quite a drastic way. For example, only the forced collection of grain during the seven years of plenty in Egypt in Joseph’s day enabled the country to survive the seven years of famine (Gen.41). That is hardly comparable to Scotland today. To consider the Scottish state – or any other Western state for that matter – as the protector of children is wide of reality. It is these states which have passed liberal abortion laws which have killed millions of defenceless youngsters.
God gives the prime responsibility for the raising of children to parents. Psalms 127 and 128 set this out clearly, telling us that ‘children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!’ The state may intrude in exceptional circumstances to protect the child from harm, but the Nanny State is not to take the place of parents. Big Nanny is likely to prove even more interfering than Big Brother ever could be.
The family is to have a bond which is like no other. It is God-given but it is not divine. The family of Christ has higher claims (Matt.12:46-50), but the fact that Christ feels impelled to point this out shows how deep family ties are. They are set up in Paradise before the Fall (Gen.1:28; 2:18-24), and are foundational to any society. To hand one’s children over to the care of a stranger who has a degree in Early Childhood Development or some similar qualification is, in the vast majority of cases, an abdication of one’s God-given duty. People involved in such work must see themselves as helping parents, not overruling them. It seems rather obvious that this new law is also an attack on common sense. Helicopter parents may inhibit the child’s development, but a helicopter state has the potential for great tyranny.
That appalling things have been done to children is undeniable; that the state is their saviour is unbelievable. It is reminiscent of the slogans of Nineteen Eighty-Four: ‘War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.’ There is a widespread tendency today to believe that all society’s ills can be solved – or at least alleviated – if ‘they’, the government, pass legislation against whatever it is. That is naïve and lazy thinking, and it will surely cost us our freedoms if we do not resist it with all our might.
With warmest regards in Christ,
Peter Barnes