[purple_kangaroo]

Originally Posted by elcollins

I agree. ON THE OTHER HAND if you are the visiable, recognizable (well-paid) head of an organization and you preach, teach, write things, people will associate it with the organization and it's credibility will suffer accordingly. I am not a member of HSLD for exactly that reason - they do good thing for homeschooling, but some of it's leadership brings criticism and reproach from within and outside of the Christian community.

I see your point. I guess for me it would also depend largely on whether the leadership of the organization as a whole had that flavor, or whether it was counterbalanced by others in the leadership of the organization with different views. And whether it was relevant to the purpose of the organization or not.

To some extent it really depends for me on the purpose and focus of the organization. I'm going to be a lot more careful about the theology of the lead pastor of a church I'm considering joining than the theology of the president of a rabbit club, partly just because theology isn't going to have all that much impact on how well someone does their job of running rabbit shows vs. running a church.

HSLDA is an organization that doesn't require members or participating organizations to agree to any statement of faith or even identify themselves with any religion at all in order to be members or receive group discounts or other benefits. Their focus is on legally defending the right to homeschool, so I'm a lot less cautious about the views of the leadership than I would be about joining an organization that was specifically engaged in spiritual teaching or required adherence to a particular statement of faith.

Who is the "Harris" you are talking about, anyway? I couldn't find anyone named Harris listed on the HSLDA website as having a role in the organization. The President is J. Michael Smith, Esq, and I admit I don't really know anything about him. Michael Farris is the other founder.