Help! Help! We're being oppressed!
Er.
Via Feministing, this New York Times story about a German family being granted asylum in Tennessee because they would be prevented from home-schooling their children if they returned to Germany, has me scratching my head about the logic.
Now, while I agree that they are well within their rights to feel entirely put out by this restriction, it does fail, for me, on a couple of points.
1) It's not really 'persecution', is it? It's a bit of a stretch to compare this to the kinds of political, racial or religious persecutions where, y'know, people are actually endangered in some way.
2) As German nationals, surely they could just have chosen to live & work in, well, pretty much any other country in the EU? Why did they have to go all the way to the US for this? And why didn't the judge in question take that into consideration? (American friends with knowledge of immigration law & practice, please enlighten me.)
Boggle. Just more of this 'anti-Christian persecution' we hear so much about? I hope this shows up on the Beeb, Speak You're Branes will have a field day.
Via Feministing, this New York Times story about a German family being granted asylum in Tennessee because they would be prevented from home-schooling their children if they returned to Germany, has me scratching my head about the logic.
Now, while I agree that they are well within their rights to feel entirely put out by this restriction, it does fail, for me, on a couple of points.
1) It's not really 'persecution', is it? It's a bit of a stretch to compare this to the kinds of political, racial or religious persecutions where, y'know, people are actually endangered in some way.
2) As German nationals, surely they could just have chosen to live & work in, well, pretty much any other country in the EU? Why did they have to go all the way to the US for this? And why didn't the judge in question take that into consideration? (American friends with knowledge of immigration law & practice, please enlighten me.)
Boggle. Just more of this 'anti-Christian persecution' we hear so much about? I hope this shows up on the Beeb, Speak You're Branes will have a field day.