The clip, produced by Idaho-based group Reach America, features teens saying they will build "an army" commanded by Christ.
"We are in a war for the hearts and souls of our generation," one says. "Failure is not an option," another adds.
The video begins with a parade of teens staring into the camera, asking questions, including: Why can't I pray in school? Why are they taking God out of my history books? Why am I called names because I believe in marriage the way God designed it?
Public school has become godless, the teens argue. Far from what the Founding Fathers envisioned, the school system is now a place where students are rude, teachers force them to look at "pornographic" sex education images and bullies call Christians "hateful," "hypocrites" and "bigots" for their beliefs, they say.
Huffpo goes on to point out the inaccuracies in the video, including their claim that "In 1963, the courts ruled the Bible unconstitutional." (Yes, you would think THAT would get more press.)
Look I feel for the persecuted Christians in this country, I do.
I man if only they could find a place where virtually EVERY politician were a member of their faith, or where they had the ability to keep people unlike themselves from getting married, or were able to gather and discuss their faith in buildings that did not have to worry about paying taxes while still enjoying police and fire protection.
I mean if ANY of those were in place I am certain they would not feel quite so downtrodden.
Or not.
You know I think this belongs here.
Mike Lupica rilly rips into Sarah's scrawny ass.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/lupica-sarah-palin-appearance-national-rifle-association-convention-perfect-phony-patriots-article-1.1335927
Indeed. Hes a good writer. He reminds me of my CPA though.
DeleteRilly
DeleteSarah Palin's chaw: Why did she wave chewing tobacco during NRA speech? (+video)
ReplyDeleteBasically, Sarah Palin's becoming the Carrot Top (Word Salad Lettuce Oversized Bobble Head?) of the conservative speechifying network.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/Decoder-Wire/2013/0506/Sarah-Palin-s-chaw-Why-did-she-wave-chewing-tobacco-during-NRA-speech-video
Sarah just wanted to do the happy ending hand sign for the old horny goat and his fellow limp pudfappers who dream of emaciated corpse-like psychopaths.
DeleteThe home school subculture creates soldiers for America’s culture war
ReplyDeleteThe Christian home school subculture isn’t a children-first movement. Some former students are bravely speaking out
Several decades ago, political activists on the religious right began to put together an “ideology machine”. Home schooling was a big part of the plan. The idea was to breed and “train up” an army of culture warriors. We now are faced with the consequences of their actions, some of which are quite disturbing.
According to the Department of Education, the home schooling student population doubled in between 1999 and 2007, to 1.5 million students, and there is reason to think the growth has continued. Though families opt to home school for many different reasons, a large part of the growth has come from Christian fundamentalist sects. Children in that first wave are now old enough to talk about their experiences. In many cases, what they have to say is quite alarming.
When he was growing up in California, Ryan Lee Stollar was a stellar home schooling student. His oratory skills at got him invited to home schooling conferences around the country, where he debated public policy and spread the word about the “virtues” of an authentically Christian home school education.
Now 28, looking back on his childhood, it all seems like a delusion. As Stollar explains:
“The Christian home school subculture isn’t a children-first movement. It is, for all intents and purposes, an ideology-first movement. There is a massive, well-oiled machine of ideology that is churning out soldiers for the culture war. Home schooling is both the breeding ground – literally, when you consider the Quiverfull concept – and the training ground for this machinery. I say this as someone who was raised in that world.”
Too frequently, Stollar says, the consequences of putting ideology over children include anxiety, depression, distrust of authority, and issues around sexuality. This is evident from the testimonials that appear on Home schoolers Anonymous, the website that Stollar established, along with several partners.
Stollar’s own home schooling experience started off well. But over time, as his family became immersed in the world of Christian home schooling, his “education” became less straightforward and more ideological. “I particularly remember my science curriculum,” he says. “We used It Couldn’t Just Happen, which wasn’t really a science textbook. It was really just an apologetics textbook which taught students cliché refutations of evolutionism.”
Many parents start off home schooling with the intention of inculcating their children in a mainstream form of Christianity. However, as many HA bloggers report, it is easy to get sucked into the vortex of fundamentalist home schooling because extremists have cornered the market – running the conventions, publishing the curricula, setting up the blogs.
As HA blogger Julie Ann Smith, a Washington state mother of seven, says:
“If you are the average Christian home schooler with no agenda, and you have the choice between attending a secular home schooling convention and a Christian one, chances are you’ll choose the Christian convention. But they only allow certain speakers who follow their agenda. So you have no clue. What you don’t realize is that they are being run by Christian Reconstructionists.”
Smith is referring to the Calvinist movement, founded by Rousas John Rushdoony, that advocates a Christian takeover of the political system in order to “purify” the nation and cleanse it of the sin of secularism. Rushdoony taught that public schools – “statist education,” in his words – promote chaos, primitivism, and “a vast disintegration into the void”. He advocated home schooling as a way to rear a generation that could carry out the mission of retaking the nation for Christ.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/08/the-home-school-subculture-creates-soldiers-for-americas-culture-war/
1045 Damn a link would suffice, did you have to copy and paste the whole damn article? have some damn courtesy!
DeletePoor misguided youngsters.
ReplyDeleteContinued
ReplyDeleteMuch of fundamentalist home schooling is driven by deeply sexist and patriarchal ideology. The Quiverfull movement teaches that women need to submit to their husbands and have as many babies as they possibly can. The effects of these ideas on children are devastating, as a glance at HA’s blogs show. “The story of being home schooled was a story of being told to sit down and shut up. ‘An ideal woman is quiet and submissive,’ I was told time and time again,” writes Phoebe. “The silence and submission I was pushed into was ultimately a place of loneliness, bitterness and almost crippling insecurity.”
The fundamentalist home schooling world also advocates an extraordinarily authoritarian view of the parental role. Corporal punishment is frequently encouraged. The effects are, again, often quite devastating. “People who experienced authoritarian parents tend to turn into adults with poor boundaries,” writes one pseudonymous HA blogger. “It’s an extremely unsatisfying and unsustainable way to live.”
In America, we often take for granted that parents have an absolute right to decide how their children will be educated, but this leads us to overlook the fact that children have rights, too, and that we as a modern society are obligated to make sure that they get an education. Families should be allowed to pursue sensible homeschooling options, but current arrangements have allowed some families to replace education with fundamentalist indoctrination.
As the appearance of HA reminds us, the damage done by this kind of false education falls not just on our society as a whole, but on the children who are pumped through the ideology machine. They are the traumatized veterans of our culture wars. We should listen to their stories, and support them as they find their way forward.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/08/the-home-school-subculture-creates-soldiers-for-americas-culture-war/
Eye-opening. Thanks.
DeleteSteven the First Martyr was certainly glorified, and some Christians have cultivated and encouraged their own abuse ever since. Many Christians are so obnoxious it’s impossible to like them, but then they will accuse you of being evil or some such baloney.
ReplyDeleteI’ve met Christians who are very nice. I don’t know if they’re a minority or just a quiet majority; probably the latter.
"In 1963, the courts ruled the Bible unconstitutional"
ReplyDelete...the indoctrination doesn't work without some BIG ol' whopper LIES like that one.
G -
ReplyDeleteThis morning there was a comment on HP that "Frac Daddy" - aside from being the horse Palin bet on - is also the name of a low budget porn film.
Pat Padrnos
I always ask when I see these "christians" in action..."where is the love?"
ReplyDeleteThey are so persecuted that they're allowed to deliver their practiced whine on the internet. Boo hoo. (That's to the adults who orchestrated this, not the kids who performed.)
ReplyDeleteGryphen, did you see the reports that so-called Pastor Terry Jones plans to burn 2,998 Korans (to commemorate the number who died) on the 12th anniversary of 9/11/01?
ReplyDeleteHe was apparently sentenced to death in absentia "by an Egyptian court in November for his ties to a film about Muslims that sparked Islamic riots."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/8/pastor-terry-jones-plans-mass-koran-burnings-mark-/
Nothing like doing his best to start another jihad.
Umm, I dont think we should be worried about muslims being offended and spontaneously erupting into a violent tirades. they managed to accomplish that weather provoke are not and bottom line is they cannot stand you and they cannot stand me. so you need to shelve your paranoia I believe in equaly pissing off every religion.
Deleteif you choose to bow down and skirt every issue regarding Islam, it's only a matter of time before the Christians realize that violence is the only way to silence you and me. my conclusion is if you pacify one religion out of fear you're going to have to pacify them all.
@ Anonymous 1:48.
DeleteWhile I am by no means a supporter of ANY religion, (in fact, I despise all of them) I find it distasteful that some people still want to paint ALL the adherents of a religion with the same brush. (Or ANY group, for that matter!) That's as ignorant as those who claim that all gays and lesbians are after our children!
Of course there are muslims who hate christians and jews! Big deal. There are christians who hate muslims and jews. There are jews that hate muslims and christians. It is monotheistic religion, after all.
But so what? Are they ALL like that as you intimate? No. Would the leaders of each want them to be? No.
It is the FANATICS who are dangerous. Fanaticism for ANY reason is dangerous.
Personally, I would prefer NOT to have a religious war break out world wide! (And I mean a REAL war, not the scuffles we see today.)
You obviously have not been listening to what is going on around you in this country. The xtians are already not too far from turning violent. That is what Gryphen has been posting about for a fairly long time, interspersed with other important issues.
Personally, I would LOVE to watch Jones get his comeuppance. Him angering the muslims with his Qu'ran burning only makes it harder on our soldiers over there, though.
Besides, if you looked into the recent history (the past, oh, 150 years) you would know that the Arab countries really do have good reason to hate countries of European stock.
Leland,
DeleteYou pay special attention to not incite muslims because it makes things worse for our soldiers as well as others around the world that could potentially be harmed by an Islamic fanatic. But you fail to pay credence to the idea that a Christian uprising could be just as detrimental. what I'm saying is this, those on this blog that choose to incite Christians and be very dismissive of their capabilities of becoming fanatics themselves I believe are in for quite a shock. that is why I choose not to conform to society's fear of islam that is why I do not hesitate to criticize a Muslim or Christian or jew or Buddhist. the sooner the religious fanatics realize we are not going to bend the better off we will be.
I refuse to play in to fear!
NOT what I said! I'll be blunt.
DeleteYour tone in your writing makes it appear as though you openly, aggressively and joyfully ATTACK religions and the people who participate - for anything they do - and you seem to want to go out of your way to do so. That is the way to foment the very hatred you claim is what they do without provocation.
"You fail to pay credence to the idea...." Bullshit! Read what I wrote again. I specifically said: "You obviously have not been paying attention to what is going on around you in this country. The xtians are already not too far from turning violent."
Now, personally, I cannot see how you can come away with the idea that I "fail to pay credence to" a christian uprising.
Your attitude smacks of violence. And if that is the way you "choose not to conform" then don't be surprised when they react badly to what you say or do.
Oh. And so you know, most of what I see as "society's fear of islam" is being crammed down the throats of the American people by our own government (not so much now, but W and his ilk did a LOT of it!) and by the preachers in the pulpits who deliberately teach lies and knowingly stoke the fires - like Terry Jones.
And, by the way, I was IN the military and understand what it means to have the people back home making it harder for us. Were YOU?
Ahhhhh yes 15 yrs. Artillery. King of battle!
DeleteI gotta admit, the bible thumpers at both my high school and my college were mocked and bullied pretty hard by us non religious kids. If they'd just keep their mouths shut and not try to evangelize and proselytize no one would give them a moments notice, however, get in my face with your bible and you'll soon find out what "shunning" really means.
ReplyDeleteReligion is a personal matter. That means leave it out of my government, leave it out of my schools and really, just keep it to yourself.
You say: I believe in equaly pissing off every religion
ReplyDeleteWhy are you so intolerant of others'? If they're not bothering you, why piss them off?
Pastor Terry Jones is an intolerant ass who doesn't follow the teachings of Christ. He's a bigot using religion as his sword.
That attitude is concerning to me because the ramifications from such belittling actions can cause great harm.
In the name of Christianity here are some issues:
1.) There are those who are dangerously intolerant of anything Islam.
2.) There are those who are dangerously intolerant of non-believers.
3.) There are those who have an anti-Christian persecution complex.
Why does Jones, other Christians or you feel the need to piss so many others off?
I'm a firm believer of keeping our beliefs or non-beliefs to ourselves. I don't care what you believe so long as it doesn't impose on mine, or the next guy.
Denise
You're chastising Gryphen for being intolerant of the intolerant?
Delete2:50 -
DeleteI believe anon @ 2:29 is replying to 1:48 above.
What's so scary about asses like Jones is that they will inspire some radical to react violently but innocent people will no doubt be caught in the crossfire.
No, I was responding to Anonymous1:48 PM who believes in pissing off all religions.
DeleteGryphen on the other hand, is not intolerant. I don't believe he goes out of his way to piss off anyone's religion.
I'm old enough to remember prayers in school. I remember kids of other faiths being 'picked' on. I remember me do the Sign of the Cross and saying the Lord's Prayer differently and being bullied by the other Christian kids.
Today, I don't believe in religion. I'm dying. I've been told I would reach out to God. But I haven't. I believe in living my life as gracefully as possible, and that does not include God.
It does nothing for good-will if any of us disrespect one other, including the poster above who said: "I believe in equaly pissing off every religion" (sic)
Denise
God bless you.
DeleteDenise -
DeleteI was raised Catholic and left the church and all formal religion as soon as I was old enough to refuse to attend.
I firmly believe that living a life that is good and leaves the world a better place for you having been here is much more important than saying the right prayers and sitting in the right pew. I saw far too much hypocrisy in my own family and community from people who prayed the loudest in church and behaved the in the most appallingly un-Christian-like manner an hour later.
There is a reason the phrase "actions speak louder than words" has been around a very, very long time.
@ 5:10
DeleteAnd yet, your attitude, as demonstrated by your comments in this thread, are practically screaming intolerance and hatred. There are times when one's attitude can override one's attempts at "living a life that is good...." and can (and will) be taken as actions.
What then of your phrase "actions speak louder than words"?
Christian metal singer arrested in murder-for-hire plot against wife
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/08/christian-metal-singer-arrested-in-murder-for-hire-plot-against-wife/
"The frontman for the Christian heavy metal band As I Lay Dying was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly trying to hire a detective posing as a hitman to kill his estranged wife."
War? Failure is not an option? christianity outlawed?
ReplyDeleteYeah, they've got a monopoly on persecution, other faiths and non faiths should have it this good.
The first Crusade went over so well!
Hey, Reach Around America: That name you keep using, "Christ"? I do not think it means who you think it means.
ReplyDelete