The ideologues’ argument is essentially religiously based. Often “these parents view the public schools as grounded in secular humanist philosophy that does not in- clude strong Christian values” (Marchant and MacDonald 1994, 66). They move beyond issues such as school prayer and argue that public schools fail to take religion seriously throughout the curriculum. This becomes problematic for these families because “their religious beliefs and the edu- cation of their children were inextricably intertwined” (Marchant and MacDonald 1994, 77). These parents have a deep concern for their children’s moral, ethical, and spir- itual development, and they feel that public schools do not provide appropriate moral or ethical instruction, much less religious values. Therefore, they home school their children in an attempt to avoid public school’s perceived attempt to strangle religion’s influence.