A few days ago a kindergarten student named Elizabeth, a little five-year-old girl who lives in Mobile, Alabama, drew something at school that looked like a gun.  Then, laughing, she pointed a crayon at a fellow student and said, “Bang! Bang!”  The teacher took the weapon away from the child and promptly marched her down to the principal’s office. 

School officials examined Elizabeth and called her mother.  They informed the mother that Elizabeth must sign a contract promising that she would not commit suicide and declaring that she would never seek to murder or otherwise harm her fellow students.  Elizabeth asked her mother, “Mommy, what’s suicide?”  The school officials advised her mother that Elizabeth really should see a psychiatrist.

Now, Elizabeth cannot yet read, at least not very much.  And if she could read and understand the document that was put before her, she is not legally permitted to sign such a contract. Because she is a minor. But that did not deter the Lincoln School District.  Elizabeth signed.

Consider another case.  At the start of school a month ago in Warner Robbins, Georgia, students were given an assignment to help them get to know one another.  Each child was to bring in a favorite toy or two for “show and tell.” So fourth-grader Ramsey McDonald brought a blue and orange plastic Nerf gun.  Ramsey was immediately slapped with a three day suspension, later reduced to a three day in-school suspension.

We hear any number of these over-reactions by schools across the country.   If you are like me, you shake your head and say, “Have they lost their minds?  Whatever happened to common sense?  It’s crazy!”  But it is happening too often to simply ignore what is going on.

Then last week something occurred in the Lincoln, Nebraska School District that finally reveals why such nuttiness seems to be sweeping our education system.  At a training event for teachers and administrators, school leaders distributed a handout “to help create a gender sensitive and inclusive environment for children of all ages.”  Teachers were told, “No longer refer to students as boys and girls. Instead, call them gender neutral terms like…’Purple Penguins.’”  As in, “All the purple penguins, meet at the rug.” There’s been a lot of kick back from parents and community leaders, and there should be.  Children are not “purple penguins.”  They are boys and girls.  This is idiocy on parade.

The incident reveals the reason why we have lost our minds.  It is that modern day paganism has triumphed in America.   Paganism was the world view back in the days of ancient Greece and Rome.  That philosophy died and was buried as Christianity swept across Europe and took the West.  But now it has returned to life.  It has swallowed our culture whole, and in particular, our schools.  Your kid’s school.

My friend, Dr. Peter Jones. CEO of TruthXchange (www.truthXchange.com), explains the fundamental difference in thinking that he calls Two-ism and One-ism.  Christianity teaches that God and his creation are distinct from each other.  They are two.  God is apart from and above his creation.  Likewise, man is distinct from God.  Right is distinct from wrong.  Male is distinct from female.  This is simple reality.  It runs through all of existence and is obvious to the objective observer.  We live and act on the Two-ist basis in everything we say and do—without even thinking about it.

Pagan philosophy, on the other hand, erases the distinctions.  Everything is one.  God and his creation are one and the same.  You are divine.   Morality exists on a spectrum.  There is no objective good or evil.  What is right for me may be wrong for you.  And in sexuality, the pagan ideal is androgyny.  This explains the moving force behind the glorification of homosexuality and the push for same sex marriage. 

And Purple Penguins. 

And it is why our schools can no longer tell the difference between a blue and orange plastic Nerf gun and an AK-47.  It is why when a five-year-old girl points a crayon and “shoots” it at a classmate, our schools cannot discern the difference between a stick of blue or green wax and a lead bullet, between normal childish imagination and a seriously ill mental patient.

The Bible says, “God created man in His own image…; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27)  I imagine you’ve noticed the difference.  But the pagan world view must insist that boys and girls are the same.  So we see the proof of what the Bible says: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” (Psalm 14:1)  Once a human being cuts himself off from reality, and convinces himself that God is not there, he becomes like a wanderer in the desert.  He has no landmarks.  He cannot tell what direction he is going.  When people stop believing in God they will believe anything.   And convince themselves that they have become wise. 

Boys and girls and Nerf Guns and even crayons become reminders of their foolishness that cannot be tolerated.

I teach my grandsons that they are boys.  And my granddaughters that they are girls.  Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32)  I want children to be free, not prisoners who are punished for seeing reality as it is.  Do not let educators get away with calling your children “Purple Penguins” --or anything else that diminishes who and what they are.

Dr. Rick Perrin is a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and Chairman of the Board of World Reformed Fellowship..  He writes a weekly blog called ReTHINK which may be accessed at www.rethinkingnews.wordpress.com. He may be contacted directly at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..