The Mississippi Free Press is a fearless news outlet that takes on controversial topics and also highlights news and culture in the nation’s poorest state. At the beginning of last year, it ran a three-part series on Christian Dominionism, which has a strong foothold in the state. The Dominionists promoted the abortion law that led to the reversal of Roe v. Wade. But their fight to outlaw abortion is only one aspect of their agenda. Their goal is to change every aspect of the law and society to conform to their view of Christian rule. As part of their mission, they seek to eliminate public schools, which they consider godless. Their goal is to make the United States a Christian nation. They were thrilled by Trump’s appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The following excerpt is drawn from part one of a three-part series. I’m posting only twice today so you will take the time to read this important article in full.
Staff writer Ashton Pittman wrote:
Alliance Defending Freedom’s founders included Mississippian Don Wildmon, who also founded the Tupelo-based American Family Association. Wildmon and the others in the group of nearly three dozen conservative Christians who launched the organization in 1993 as the Alliance Defense Fund envisioned it as a counter to the American Civil Liberties Union, which opposed overt efforts to mix religion and government and was known for its support of abortion rights and the rights of sexual minorities..
Six years after launching, the ADF created The Blackstone Legal Fellowship, a Christian summer training program for up-and-coming attorneys. In the ADF’s 2000 tax filings, the organization explained that the Blackstone program “provides cutting-edge legal education” and also offers attorneys access to “up-to-date developments in the areas of religious liberties, the sanctity of human life, and traditional family values.”
“As a rigorous internship for exceptionally capable and highly motivated law students, the Blackstone Fellowship inspires a distinctly Christian worldview in every area of law, and particularly in the areas of public policy and religious liberty,” the ADF’s IRS tax filings say.
“With this ongoing program, it’s ADF’s goal to train a new generation of lawyers who will rise to positions of influence and leadership as legal scholars, litigators, judges-and perhaps even Supreme Court judges—who will work to ensure that justice is carried out in America’s courtrooms.”
The ADF’s description of itself in those tax filings is emblematic of “full-blown” Christian dominionist thought, Frederick Clarkson told the Mississippi Free Press on Dec. 3, 2021. He is a senior research analyst at Political Research Associates, a Boston-area think tank that monitors anti-democratic movements and ideologies including Christian dominionism and white nationalism.
“That’s the idea that conservative Christians should be dominating every aspect of society,” he explained. Adherents to dominionism often talk about a “biblical worldview” or talk about “building the kingdom,” he added.
Christian dominionism is a religious and political movement that began in earnest during the 20th century and includes a cross-section of various denominations. Many who subscribe to it do not self-identify as dominionists, though, Clarkson noted.
“Not everyone is going to say, ‘Hey, I’m a dominionist. I’m all about theocracy.’ Not many people are going to say that, but this body of theological thought has been percolating throughout the evangelical world for decades,” he said. “If you think that America should be a Christian nation, well, what should that look like? And that’s where the dominionist agenda comes in. It’s not just any conservative thinking.”
Dominionist goals reach far beyond abortion, he said.
“While abortion and Roe and Dobbs are what we’re looking at in the heat of the moment, this is just one battle in a larger war for the world,” Clarkson said….
Taking Control of ‘Seven Mountains’
The New Apostolic Reformation dates back to C. Peter Wagner, who began preaching in the 1950s and died in 2016. He taught that God had begun preparing the world for a “third great awakening” that would sweep the earth before the apocalyptic events foretold in the Book of Revelation take place.
As part of this awakening, Wagner taught, Christians would take dominion over the “seven mountains” or “seven spheres” of cultural influence: family, religion, education, business, government, media and the arts. (Some adherents of the belief, known as “seven mountains dominionism,” instead combine media and arts into a single category and add the military as the seventh “mountain”). Top Mississippi state officials, including Gov. Tate Reeves, attended a prayer event in May 2021 hosted by an organization that openly adheres to “seven mountains” beliefs….
While Calvinism tends toward an intellectual approach to religion and theology, Pentecostalism, which includes hundreds of denominations and independent, non-denominational churches, is much more experientially oriented. Unlike Calvinists, Pentecostals believe in the modern occurrence of spiritual “gifts” such as prophecy, speaking in tongues and supernatural healing.
Despite their differences, including the timeline for Christian dominionism, Reconstructionists and Pentecostals held a series of dialogues throughout the late 20th century to flesh out a common set of goals and principles.
After one series of Reconstructionist-Pentecostal dialogues in Dallas in 1987, Clarkson notes, Christian Reconstructionist pastor Joseph Morecraft declared that “God is blending Presbyterian theology with Charismatic zeal into a force that cannot be stopped.” (“Pentecostal” and “Charismatic” are often used interchangeably or to describe largely overlapping Christian sects that believe in spiritual gifts).
Those dialogues, Clarkson told the Mississippi Free Press, shaped the modern dominionist movement and much of 21st-century American politics.
“That opened the door to political action that brought about the Christian Right that we see today,” Clarkson said.
“So as elements of Pentecostalism adopted these ideas, then we began to see what we now call the New Apostolic Reformation, and they were able to package it in a way where you didn’t have to have a P.h.D. In theology to understand. So they talked about simply dividing up all of society.
“They said, well, there’s seven main sections of society, and you need to figure out which ‘mountain’ you need to be a part of trying to conquer in order to build the kingdom of God. Really smart marketing. That’s what we’re talking about here.”
In his 2008 book, “Dominion! How Kingdom Action Can Change the World,” Wagner, the NAR and Seven Mountains theology pioneer, put it simply: “We have an assignment from God to take dominion and transform society.”
‘The Battle To Take The Land’
Like Engle, Alliance Defending Freedom’s CEO and general counsel Michael Farris has long sought to use the levers of society to establish Christ’s kingdom on earth. He founded the Home School Legal Defense Association, an ADF affiliate that has spent years lobbying state governments to make it easier for Christian parents to homeschool their children. (Rushdoony emphasized the necessity of Christian homeschooling to equip future generations for Christian dominion).
In the first chapter of his 2005 book, “The Joshua Generation: Restoring the Heritage of Christian Leadership,” Farris made a bold claim: “I have met countless future senators, governors, presidents, and Supreme Court justices.” He was describing his meetings with parents of homeschooled children, where he says “dreams of generational greatness burn brightly.”
“These moms and dads truly believe that their children are called to be the leaders of the future. … They believe that their own children, in many cases, have unusually high prospects for being particular people who will rise to the top levels of government, law, journalism, media, religion, art, business, and science,” he wrote, referring to the seven mountains Wagner taught. “I think they are absolutely right.”
In the book, Farris explained that the point of advocating for homeschooling rights in state legislatures was never simply about homeschooling itself.
“While those battles are important and will always continue to some degree, homeschool freedom is not the end goal. It is a means to a far greater end,” Farris wrote. The Christian homeschool movement can judge its long-term success, he said, by evaluating their results against a passage in the Book of Hebrews that describes godly heroes “who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames … and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.”
The end goal of the Christian homeschooling movement, he said, was to raise a generation of children who would do those very things in the “Christian assignment of redeeming the culture.”
“How should we judge our success? … Do we see our children administering justice, gaining what was promised, shutting the mouths of lions, and quenching the fury of the flames? … Have they become powerful in battle?”
Public Schools ‘Essentially Satanic’
Farris and others like him, Clarkson said, fear that sending children to public schools is the same as “turning them over to institutions that are essentially Satanic and teaching children things that are not only non-Christian, but anti-Christian.”
“The idea of Christianizing schools or taking these children out of the public schools and into private Christian academies or homeschool has been in the works for a long time,” he said. “They managed to get right-to-homeschool as part of the Republican platform under Reagan in the 1980s. This has been a long-term process.”
Farris is now CEO and general counsel of ADF.
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett gave lectures at ADF’s Blackstone training program for future lawyers.
In its 2000 tax filings, the ADF explained that once fellows complete the Blackstone program, they will have “caught a vision for how God can use them as judges, law professors, and practicing attorneys to help keep the door open for the spread of the gospel in America.”
The ADF also said in the filings that it had “effectively equipped attorneys to battle the homosexual agenda, defend parental rights, and protect religious freedom” with a separate training program known as the National Litigation Academy.
The founders of this nation wrote a Constitution to govern the new nation. They did not say it would be a “Christian nation.” They specifically barred any religious tests for holding office. There are many religions in this nation, as well as atheists. The Dominionists threaten the freedoms of all those who do not share their views.
I urge you to send a contribution to the Mississippi Free Press to help them continue the important work they do. I sent them $100, my second contribution to help sustain their wonderful voice in Mississippi.
I say let them have their nation.They can have Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Texas and Florida. The rest of us will grant asylum to refugees from Atlanta and Austin.
I would gladly trade Columbus, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis for Austin. Perhaps we can do a Cold War/Berlin thing and wall it off and have safe travel corridors. If for no other reason than to save those poor people and prevent a food and music diaspora. I’ll need some convincing on Atlanta.
Don’t forget Arising.
We should throw that in for free.
And the folks from Austin Texas are a little too ostentatious for my liking.
Arizona
Arising is a nice place. Very Christian I hear.
I’d urge caution here.
Imagine the blue states surrounded by red states, whose citizens are immiserated in poverty, with little access to medical care and limited public education. Democracy would slowly become extinguished in those states due to gerrymandering and exclusion from participatory democracy due to limits on who would be allowed to vote.
Further, those red states are already home to many Black and Brown citizens for whom discrimination and disenfranchisement from public goods are already a reality. They cannot just easily leave and we cannot just walk away from them.
Of course, this would be to fulfill Putin’s dream of a weaker, more divided US, ripe for his exploitation via disinformation campaigns waged on social media.
One minor not to pick.
I believe the spelling is actually Christian dumbonionism (their policies are like the parodies of The Onion, only dumber)
And the essay totally forgets to mention Christian Dominoism, where you accidentally knock over all those dominos and say, “Jesus Christ!”
These Pentecostal Dominionists pose a larger threat when joined by some other more mainstream groups like the Roman Catholic Church and garden variety Calvinists as Linda has noted for several years. These groups are cooling interest in Trump as he has lots of baggage and has already delivered on overturning Roe. Their new boy wonder is Catholic, Ron DeSantis. His culture wars are exactly the direction in which they want the country to go. They want to divide, conquer and impose their version of “Christian values” on everyone else despite what The Constitution says about religious freedom.
It’s very telling that these so called Christians are not dumping Trump because of who he is or what he has done — tried to overthrow our government -. But because they perceive he has “baggage” and can’t get delete Ted.
These people are pure, immoral opportunists , the sort of folks you would not want your children associating with because they would corrupt them.
Trump can’t get reelected
Thank you retired teacher. I doubt the conservative religious on SCOTUS who are determining the future of the nation believe in the 7 mountains.
The conservative religious in the halls of power include those endorsed by Trump like the recently converted to Catholicism, JD Vance. Speaking of Trump’s endorsements, he’s endorsed Matt DePerno, a Catholic law graduate of the largest Catholic university in Michigan to head the GOP in Mich. DePerno attacked the Griswold decision and prior to its overturn, the Roe ruling which gave Americans the rights
to make decisions about their own bodies. Media reported about a DePerno speech in which he said he wanted to ban contraception in the U.S.
While attention is diverted to pentecostals in the impoverished south, the central states gain Republican voters through a religion that gets zero scrutiny.
I will add comment at the end of the thread about the success of a Catholic college president in getting tax money for Catholic K-12 schools.
Yes. I’m glad this is being circulated. The “thinking” of these folks has always been with us, from the Catholics who founded Florida to the Protestants who started Massachusetts. It waxes and wanes throughout our history. Our Pledge of Allegiance, written by an agnostic socialist, was hijacked by the Republicans under Eisenhower and we were forced to stand and pledge allegiance to the God of “under God.” Some of these folks are surely devout and decent people who want more virtue in society. But some are motivated by a desire to divide and conquer us, as with the right-wing Republicans (think McCarthy & Nixon) who influenced Eisenhower to add God to the list of Americanisms to which we students (I was a student experiencing the Pledge change) were required to pledge fealty. We must resist the current rollback of our rights!
I’ve wondered for a few years what Christian Dominionism is. This is a clear explanation. It threatens freedom of religion, along with other freedoms.
The Catholic high school that Pat Cippilone attended (and, Nick Sandmann) altered the US pledge that students recite to include an anti-abortion statement.
Christian Dominionism (should be demonism) is the U.S. equivalent of ISIS, the Taliban, Wahhabism, al-Qaida and dangerous for the world.
I recently finished reading “The Locksmith’s Daughter” by Karen Brooks that also shows how dangerous religions can become with too much influence and power. The novel is historical fiction based on historical facts even if the main character is fictional.
Let’s say someone whose child goes to a public school they love, bake cupcakes to sell at the football games and shows up for plays and graduations. But based on what they read about public schools around the country and in the neighboring urban district, they believe there is something to this thing about public schools being satanic. After all, look at the bad job schools are doing–not mine, of course.
And they go to church on weekends and are told the libs are trying to bring satan into every part of public life; they are grooming our children, telling us what we have to do all the time and infringing on our freedoms to decide about our bodies and our guns. Of course, the bodies of women I don’t know, those loose satanic-like women who just get pregnant to get abortions, I’m glad we’re doing something about them. And the idea that I, my parents, or children ever benefited from racism that held others back is ridiculous. Blacks and everyone else have the same opportunities that I had and look what I did.
So this person is very supportive of his/her public school, really doesn’t care what’s going on as long as they don’t make waves and I can go the Friday night games, and things everything the mainstream media puts out can hardly be believed anyway. He/she is incredibly, shallowly polite every time you meet. But deep down they have pity on you because you have been brainwashed on so many levels. This person is a lot, if not the vast majority of your neighbors. They are mine. What do you do? Write them off, even as the become more dogmatic and reliably contribute money and vote? Can their minds be changed when generations of deeply-seeded frustrations, anxieties, and the bigotries that “explain” everything is sacrosanct? What do we, as an American polity do? I think we are doomed politically because an easy, convenient lie is easier to build a movement around than a complicated truth.
UNBLOCK ME…unless you fear my superior intellect and debating skills Don’t you wanna beat a white male? You can’t win if you don’t engage
Mike,
You are not blocked. You are in moderation. Others are too, for various reasons.
If you believe in parental rights and freedom, you will let parents decide whether to take their children to drag shows and whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, such as rape, incest, the life of the mother, the age of the impregnated female (e.g. a child).
Let him through. . . he’ll get intellectually stomped.
iOS o facto: Anyone who voted for Trump does not have a superior intellect. Debating skills without a superior intellect is a waste of time.
Ipso facto:
Superior to the intellect of ants, maybe.
Maybe.
You can’t engage unless you have some knowledge and a clue. Come back in a few decades.
The only way a couple decades would make any difference is if he is already 90.
Wow. This is a new level of troll. I would LOVE to see Diane trounce him.
Yes, everyone here fears your superior intellect. Bwahahahahahahaha!
There is one aspect of the religious “third great awakening “ that is treated neither by the Dominionists nor their opposition. This is that the greatest growth in the American population is in those who do not attend church. The dominion view that marries Calvinism, Pentecostal, and Roman Catholic ideas had been a singular failure, not in political matters, but in religious success. They are driving people away from church faster than they are bringing them in. They know this. So they look to government, which they claim to distrust, to control the rise of secularism. They cannot win the souls, so they choose to try control.
Ask young people to choose the statement that most nearly reflects their views:
that people are reincarnated and live many lives and that there are young souls and old souls, independent of people’s biological age
that religion is bs
that every baby is born with Original Sin justifying eternal torment but that this sin can be washed away by belief in the One who died to pay for that sin
Not even close
I was raised Catholic, and I remember that, according to the nuns, as long as you said an Act of Contrition before drawing your last breath, all was forgiven and you could enter Heaven.
It was a religious “Get Out of Jail Free” card. Which is…convenient.
What Martin Luther tore assunder, Pentecostals reassemble.
Of Soles and Souls
They try to win the souls
But drive away the soles
The Pentecostal goals
Are dashed on rocky shoals
well said
Make that
Pentecoastal goals
Are dashed n rocky shoals
Pentecoastal: Pentecostals who live along the coast
Oh, I totally forgot the other huge one among U.S. young people:
that the Great Mother used her generative powers of earth, fire, water, and air to bring about creation, including us and all of nature, which we need to celebrate ritually
So true, Roy. I have been reviewing stats on voters per religious affiliation/ how often they attend recently. I was already aware that Catholics leave the fold 5x the rate of others, but was surprised to find that white evangelicals have also taken quite a hit [although lesser] over the last 15 yrs. It is age-driven: the huge majority of white evangelicals are… old.
No lawyer can be part of this cult and not betray his oath of office. Making him/her just another liar for Jesus.
exactly
“It’s ADF’s goal to train a new generation of lawyers who will rise to positions of influence and leadership as legal scholars, litigators, judges-and perhaps even Supreme Court judges”
Fine upstanding individuals in the mold of Supreme Justass Brett K, presumably — who has just been forced back into the limelight by a new film further documenting his sexual assaults on women (alleged, of course)
Poor John Roberts.
Just when he thinks the public perception of his Court can’t possibly get any worse, the bodies are dredged up from the lake.
Brett K is a recurring nightmare that gets more vivid each time you have it.
Trump endorsed Matt DePerno to run the Michigan GOP. Media reported about a speech by DePerno (he’s a Catholic law grad of Mich.’s largest Catholic university) in which he said he wanted to ban all contraception. DePerno attacked the liberal Griswold and Roe decisions before the Robert’s court took a hatchet to women’s rights.
DePerno appears now to be following Barrett’s playbook, the pretense that he’s not a rabid theocrat until he gets power.
The van in contraception is an absolutely evil policy that causes untold suffering in the world, particularly among the soles poorest.
The Pope is one uncaring, monstrous dude for setting that policy.
His claim to be Christian is just a joke.
Any claim to being a ‘Christian’ is just a joke. . . a joke on the believer.
I think I said it better the first time, but the third Great Awakening has been concurrent with the decline in church attendance. These ideas that wed Roman Catholicism and Pentecostal Protestantism May destroy the freedom of religion, but they are just as likely to hurt the church.
People may worship the way they choose in any religion. Religions go off the rails when fanatics pervert the beliefs, values and try to condemn those that do not share the same views. Then, we end up with The Crusades, burning “witches,” The Taliban and terrorist bombers.
“Religions go off the rails when fanatics pervert the beliefs, values and try to condemn those that do not share the same views.”
Faith belief teligions have never been on any solid, substantial rails to begin with. Those beliefs are not ‘perverted’ other than in the sense of being a mental illness.
Roy Turrentine
The first “Great Awakening” helped lead to our freedom (from religion ) the divisions between the demagogues the Church of England and each other led to a general belief that the State should not pick the winner. Thus the Separation Claus was accepted in a Religious Country.
That said this alliance is aimed at taking over the State . Denmark (any Nordic Country) here I come.
Yes, fortunately, American Fascism contains the seeds of its own destruction. The real question is how much power it will attain and how much damage it will do before it is finally defeated. There could be a very dark period between now and then.
Fortunately for American political life, during most of the country’s history, it took the presence of only two Christians for there to be a schism. A professor at Gordon College, a Christian university, estimated the number of Christian denominations at 36,000. A good antidote for Christianity, therefore, was to leave a couple of them together in a room. (The same was true of early twentieth-century Marxists.)
And then there was the utter failure of Protestant Fundamentalist Christians to meet the Christian Dominatrix objective of controlling the Seventh Mountain because of their inability to produce anything remotely like actual art. Perhaps this is why they need the Catholics.
And oh, the irony that they needed Moloch the Trump to create the longed-for Extreme Court given that he is the perfection in one foul entity of ALL of the Seven Deadly Sins–gluttony, sloth, wrath, lechery, envy, vanity, and greed.
Gordon College, a fundamentalist Christian seminary
Joke by Emo Philips
Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, “Don’t do it!” He said, “Nobody loves me.” I said, “God loves you. Do you believe in God?”
He said, “Yes.” I said, “Are you a Christian or a Jew?” He said, “A Christian.” I said, “Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?” He said, “Protestant.” I said, “Me, too! What franchise?” He said, “Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?” He said, “Northern Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.” I said, “Me, too!”
Northern Conservative†Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.” I said, “Die, heretic!” And I pushed him over.
The really weird thing is that in many religions, suicide will condemn you in God’s eyes.
So if you commit suicide to alleviate suffering that came through no fault of your own, God condemns you for all eternity.
Remind me again of how that God is forgiving?
You are just supposed to suffer, possibly for a long time with terminal cancer.
My question is, who came up with these sadistic religiius policies.
Poet,
We can look at the desperate laborers in China who jump out of worker dormitory windows for the answer.
We can look at women forced into pregnancies for an answer.
The answer- cheap labor with no options, not even suicide. It explains why the Church sided with despots in writing God’s script.
Then, you’ve got the richest 0.1% like Melinda Gates who can use religion to make themselves feel good in their palaces dictating political governance through their “charity.”
You and Bob are far too logical to get religion at all.
Git, religion!
You are kind, Ginny, and that is much appreciated.
Melinda’s governance through policy- legalized theft of community assets via school privatization.
My guess is the Petecostslss at OoenAI are hoping that DALLE-2 fills the bill for the art mountain.
Of course, the whole thing is a massive copyright infringement and if the US Copyright office ever gets around go doing their job, they will shut Open AI down and fine them billions of dollars that they owe to artists for stealing their creative work.
But I would not count on the latter actually happening.
Only a completely unethical criminal would work for OpenAI
The Petecostalists!!! Haaaa!
FYI:
Reconstructionist. A Fundamentalist Christian who believes that we must reconstruct and organize ourselves to be ruled under the rule of Christ and of His laws that prevailed in what they believe to have been the early church, including laws that require the death penalty for homosexuality and atheism and blasphemy and idolatry and witchcraft.
You really have to wonder how many of the TwelvecApostkesxwerexgay.
How many of the twelve apostles were gay.
It’s not an topic that comes up much at the dinnerctable
If Apostles were gay
Would Christians recoil?
And what would they say
If Christ was as well?
After all, he never married.z and hung around with a bunch of guys.
Has no one ever wondered about that?
I think it would be a good test of whether someone is a real Christianization to ask them whether they would still be a Christian if they knew Christ had been gay.
“The Seven Mountains”
Seven Mountains
Of Manure
Yellow fountains
Pee, for sure
Ohio and other states have robust dual enrollment programs. Students enroll in high school and college simultaneously. Local school districts pay for the college classes. An advocate for state funding instead of local school district funding, in a published letter to a newspaper, described the cost for districts as approaching or exceeding $100,000.
Which colleges get the money? Which religion’s colleges have initiatives promoting dual enrollment programs? Is it another means of diverting tax resources to religious schools? Another means of tax avoidance for rich Americans’ “charity”?
If religious schools in Ohio want to borrow the state’s terminology, College Credit Plus (dual enrollment) and offer something similar, the issue of voucher money and which university receives the tax money becomes important. According to the Ohio Dept. of Ed. site, the state’s dual enrollment is limited to public universities. At religious K-12
school sites, they are providing links to protestant and Catholic universities in addition to public universities.
One more encroachment to advance theocracy at the taxpayers’ expense?
Opus Dei is the Catholic flavor of Dominionism. Among those considered members of the secretive society are:
Bill Barr
Mike Pompeo
Mick Mulvaney
Pat Cipollone
Leonard Leo
Antonin Scalia
Clarence Thomas’ conversion to Catholicism was facilitated by Paul Scalia, Antonin’s son and an Opus Dei priest.
John Roberts’ children attended an Opus Dei school in Maryland.
Amy Conan Barrett is a member of “People of Praise”, which, though it may be a women’s auxiliary, isn’t Opus Dei, whose membership is reserved to men.
To be clear, this isn’t John Kennedy’s Catholicism, nor Joe Biden’s, nor Sonia Sotomayor’s. These are extremists.
Check out how many on-air personalities at Fox are conservative Catholics promoting a right wing religious agenda.
Thank you for pointing that out, Christine. There are plenty of parishes where that kind of crap is not dished out.
How about the almost 50 state Catholic Conferences created for the sole purpose of politicking? Do the liberal parishes withhold their funding from dioceses whose resources are spent by bishops to harm women and LGBTQ? Since taxpayers have made Catholic organizations the nation’s 3rd largest employer and some parishes generate more revenue from vouchers than from the collection plates, how much of the “good” done is a usurping of what is rightfully government function?
Christine
Brownback was converted to Catholicism by a scandal-plagued priest identified as Opus Dei. The priest was head of the Catholic Information Center in Wash. D.C.
Offspring of Russian spy Robert Hansen (career FBI) were described as Opus Dei at the time of his arrest.
Laura Ingraham of Fox credits her conversion to Catholicism to Pat Cippilone.
Quite the rabbit hole!
On the Dominionist side, there are these notable names
Mike Pence
Betsy DeVos
Steve Bannon
Kellyanne Conway
Ted Cruz
Sarah Palin
Michele Bachmann
Rick Perry
Mike Huckabee
Newt Gingrich
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-TX)
Gov. Sam Brownback (R-KS)
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK)
Rep. Steve King (R-IA)
Doug Mastriano -recently defeated for Governor of PA
Kari Lake – who still claims she is the winner in Arizona for the governorship
A whole bunch of the January 6th insurrectionists
Thanks for pointing those names out.
😉
Mike Pence was raised Catholic. His brother, a Republican in the US House is conservative Catholic.
Bannon, Kellyanne and Newt are conservative Catholic.
I think public schools should just teach the approved subjects: Math, English, History, Science, PE, with Arts, Music, Job Skills, etc. They’ve outlawed Christianity and even Judaism. But they can teach about “harmless,” religions like Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. That’s fine, because those religions also teach good values. But public schools push anti-European, anti-2nd Amendment, “White Guilt,” Feminism, and Homosexuality. That’s hypocritical. If teachers can’t talk about conservative values, why is it ok to talk about Leftist values? Why don’t they leave that up to parents to teach whatever values they hold dear to their own chili, and just do their jobs and teach the approved subjects? If an employee pushed his or her own (or at least what their union told them to push) opinions on co-workers and naive customers, especially when it has nothing to dowith the job description, they’d be fired. Why is it oktopush these opinions on a captive and naive audience, who just want to get through it and get a good grade?
Dear to their own chili. Lol. Sorry about the typos. I meant let parents instill values on their own children, as best they can. And teachers should just teach Mathematics, or Sewing, or whatever and keep their controversial opinions to themselves. No religion or politics. Let the parents take are of that. Teachers should avoid those topics.
I haven’t seen any teachers indoctrinating kids.
Religious schools do that.
Well, gosh (or gosh almighty, given the topic). I could write a book rebutting your somewhat ignorant comment. I’ll somewhat restrain myself.
First, no one is restricting or complaining about teaching about Christianity. We/I are sick to death of making children practice Christianity or sit quietly while Christianity is shoved down their throats, or prayers are on their football fields, or they put their little hands over their little hearts and pledge fealty to a nation under a Christian God and . . .
Now what were you saying about Buddhism??
The rest of your comment is right wing bloviation. The things you cite are human values, not “leftist” values. Sexuality and gender identity are not political issues. They are the lovely reality of human diversity. Learning about racism is not political or “leftist.” It is a critical part of history and Southern white children REALLY need to learn it. And feminism??? Since when are the full rights and dignity of women a political issue? You are apparently a woman. SMH
Lyn may be a man…the sewing comment.
Republican men, being true to the lying tradition, frequently catfish at blogs as women or people of color. A few commenters at Jonathan Turley’s blog (he’s right wing) admitted it about themselves. There’s a segment of GOP’ers who enjoy conning.
Lyn,
Men like Charles Koch fund the right wing in efforts to drive down wages through anti-union plotting. Review how much wealth the richest 0.1% have concentrated in the past few decades. The pretense that Trumpsters care about the powerless is one of the biggest frauds in history.
It’s pretty to think that the attacks against public schools have nothing to do with furthering the conservative religion of men like Pat Buchanan. Inform yourself by reading about the worldwide right wing campaign to create theocracies. Start with a research paper posted at the Scielo site, Sex education in Mexico: Laicism in the crosshairs.
The goal of the right wing is to have schools act as a pipeline to Republican voting and conservative churches. The aim of slander against public schools is to get funding for religious schools so that taxpayers pay for anti-woman, anti-union, and anti-poor bias in Catholic and evangelical church schools. Jefferson warned, in every age, in every country, the priest aligns with the despot. You are witnessing the Koch and the Catholic/evangelical church interests aligned.
Hi Linda, I’m a woman and I love to sew.
Lyn,
Most of the people at this blog understand that anecdotal stories are unreliable. They don’t use them in argumentation. Rush Limbaugh perfected the style of citing anecdotes and portraying them as true of the whole in order to persuade the uneducated to join the right wing.
Research shows that most voters who are educated vote Democratic. They have the analytical ability to recognize threats to democracy by those seeking power who want to make women chattel and to force men into servitude. Republican men enjoy watching the cluelessness of Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Green because it confirms their opinions about women.
Given the type of man he was, if Rush Limbaugh is in the Lord’s house, I wouldn’t want to be there. Limbaugh was mean when he publicly criticized the appearance of a 13 year old girl on his program. He was mean-spirited in the bulk of his comments and he figuratively fought in weight classes below him.
Lyn Philips,
Schools ARE teaching Math,English, History, Science, PE, Arts, Music, etc. They teach about religion, but they don’t teach children to follow a religion. That’s the job of families and whatever religion they choose.. or not.
No one is teaching “white guilt.”
I think you have been watching too much FOX News.
Visit your local public school and you will be impressed by how dedicated the teachers are and how hard their job is.
❤
Hi Diane. Thank you for taking the time to reply to me ❤️ I believe for the most part, they are teaching the subjects, but from my personal experience and from what my children have shared with me, teachers interject their personal opinions on controversial topics, even when those topics are not part of the curricula. I shared a couple of recent examples with Bob, if you’re interested. I’ve also read several sections of my daughter’s A.P World History textbook. It dismisses and diminishes the achievements of Europe and the United States. It laments that the Renaissance took place in Western Europe, instead of the Middle East. It portrays Christianity in a negative light. I know negative things have happened in the so-called name of religion, but those instances were especially when governments used religion for power. From the way the units are constructed it subtley and blatantly promotes Islam and Socialism.
My daughter’s high school also has clubs and organizations for all students based on their ethnicity, except for students whose ancestors are from Europe. They are excluded.
Anyway, I don’t disagree with you that things you wrote in your article happened and that it’s problematic. But I don’t think it’s realistic of you to deny that the things I wrote do not happen and assume that I’ve brainwashed by FOX News and dismiss it.
Civility is good, but changes nothing in this discussion. You reveal much in your absurd claim that AP history promotes Islam and socialism. Your views, however civilly expressed, are the kind of white, heteronormative nonsense that comes with the right wing. Teaching truth is not a left wing conspiracy. American exceptionalism and tacit acceptance of Christianity are a historic plague on our democratic republic.
Ms or Mr Philips. You have a totally bizarre idea of what is going on in schools. It is totally fabricated by the extremist rightwing propaganda machine. It bears no relation to reality.
My work took me into public schools all around this country. What you speak of doesn’t exist. There are 9600 schools, so if you look hard enough, you can find some example of craziness, but you, Ms./Mr. P, have a head full of nonsense on this topic. Utter nonsense. Peddled by extremist rightwing provocateurs with the objective of rousing the ignorant rabble.
cx od typo: 96,000 K-12 schools
Hi Bob. I can only speak from my own experience in the public schools and it’s not all bad, of course. I’m only suggesting that if teachers would just teach their subjects and not talk about religion or political issues, unless it’s in the curriculum, and have the ability to present it in an unbiased way, that would be great and families who have different religious beliefs and cultures would have no reason to complain . I don’t understand why when I ask questions or make comments on educators’ blogs, such as this one, I get personally insulted. I was taught and try to follow the precepts that we can agreeably disagree and say, fair enough, because it’s not possible to know what’s in another person’s head or what their life experience has been. I would hope that educators, since they are so educated and have chosen the responsibility to facilitate the education of impressionable minds, had somehow attained qualities of civility along the way. Perhaps you’re upset and feel like this is a place where you can let your hair down and complain. But we can still be civil and have an open mind when reading these comments. We might learn something.
If you’re interested, I’ll share recent examples of what happened in the local public high school. A few months ago, my daughter’s English teacher, out of the blue, asked the students, who makes better parents, a same-sex couple or a man-woman couple. She told that if a they think a man-woman couple makes better parents, they need to stand up and give reasons why. And if they think a same-sex couple makes better parents,to just stay seated. What do you think happened? Of course, no one stood up. No one wanted to be put on the spot and have to defend man-woman marriage and parenting in front of peers. No one was prepared. My daughter felt bad that she didn’t have the courage. The who thing was embarrassing. Peer pressure! Intimidation. And it had nothing to do with any assignment or anything they were reading. Nothing whatsoever.
Just last week, on the first day of my other daughter’s new semester required Business Technologies class, her teacher, Mr. Cramer, told the girls to just play on their phones, or whatever while he talks to the boys. He told the boys that their male ancestors were evil and they did horrible things to women. And that they should be ashamed of the oppression of women. He actually used the word, “evil.” –I don’t know how he can say that, unless he’s an omniscient time-traveler. He’s insulting their fathers and grandfathers–and if the girls were listening (mine was), their forefathers as well. Then he talked to the girls and told themhow awesome they are and how they can achieve anything and they don’t have to stay home and have children, but they can actually do something important with their lives.
—-Well, I don’t think that was appropriate. Ultimately, he’s teaching young people that in order to feel better about yourself, you need to tear down others. My oldest daughter had his class too, and even though she’s further left on the spectrum than me, those patronizing feminist opinions he shared really annoyed her. And it bothered her how mean he was to the boys. So this teacher has been making these sort of speeches for years. I sure wish he’d just teach the course. There’s plenty of material.
I’m a woman, by the way. I guess Lyn is a unisex name. My mother named me after my grandpa’s poker buddy. Yes, I could share similar experiences I had when I was in public high school in the 1980s.
Lyn,
These are indeed shocking stories. I have never encountered a teacher such as you describe. There are about 100,000 schools, and I haven’t been in most of them. I expect what you recount is not typical.
DeSantis just outlawed classroom libraries.
The freaking Thought Police.
I don’t know anyone who injects his personal religious or political beliefs into the classroom. Anyone who did would soon be fired.
What gas-lighting planet have you been living on? Children are groomed by public schools from the beginning to be careful about telling their parents what controversial things their teachers say. Most of it goes unreported. One of my History teachers mocked me in front of the class because of my religious beliefs. But I never reportiit, because I didn’t know any better. They’ve said all kind of inappropriate things. One teacher specifically told us not to tell our parents what we discuss in class. And it was Geography! Public School is the only work environment where employees can get away with saying things that would get them fired if they worked in a conventional place of business. But it’s worse, because they’re talking to impressionable children, not other adults in an office. The fact that you and others on here deny it happens, just proves how dishonest and protective you are. Teachers’ unions are like the mafia, apparently. What about all those teachers who seduce the children in their classes? Just one example to prove your utter refusal to admit the truth. Just face it, public school was a terrible idea from its inception in the late 1800s, and it’s only grown worse. And there’s never enough money they can throw at it to fix it.
Lyn,
You are using anecdotes, which are not persuasive. I went to public schools. My teachers “groomed” me to be courteous, to clean up after myself, to treat books with care, and not to curse.
You know where there is a lot of grooming going on? In religious schools. Sad. Many cases of pedophilia.
I’m glad that you had good teachers who taught you good hygiene and habits. Those things are the responsibilities and privilege of parents to be teaching their own children, but the government can be a safety net when parents are unable (or enabled) to fulfill them. I’m sure that I’m not persuasive, because you and most everyone on here seems determined to be bitterly anti-religion and ant-anything or anyone right of center, or even right of left. I’m sorryabout terrible experienes you’ve had that seems to make you all so hateful and closed-minded and so obsessed. This is certainly an exclusive place for unionized government employees (which BTW, even FDR could foresee disastrous results with that combination) to vent, but not a place for tax-paying civilians who entrust their precious in your charge, to contribute their experiences and perspectives–they get their heads bit off every time. And yes, I know about the terrible child grooming and molesting perpetrated by some representatives of churches and religious schools. In general, we need to be very careful about who we entrust our children to.
Who is “hateful?” You hate teachers and public schools.
Religious schools indoctrinate students, not public schools. Public schools are diverse and welcome everyone.
Keep it up, you and others like you, and soon, no one will want to teach anymore. Not worth the grief, dealing with the grief you cause teachers because of your imagined or one-off experiences. It has gotten to where a teacher’s entire life outside the classroom is consumed by idiot complaints. No one wants to work under such conditions, with such micromanagement and thought control. Anyone with a brain will flee the profession.
This crap is destroying U.S. education. It’s making it untenable, unsustainable.
There are tens of thousands of schools—nearly 100,000–and millions of teachers. Why would anyone make such a vile and vicious generalization?
Because he or she has been brainwashed by rightwingers who want to destroy unions and public schools and replace them with Christian fundamentalist madrassas.
Thank you, Diane. Exactly!!!
Lyn, you’ve reported:
If you’re interested, I’ll share recent examples of what happened in the local public high school. A few months ago, my daughter’s English teacher, out of the blue, asked the students, who makes better parents, a same-sex couple or a man-woman couple. She told that if a they think a man-woman couple makes better parents, they need to stand up and give reasons why. And if they think a same-sex couple makes better parents,to just stay seated. What do you think happened? Of course, no one stood up.
and
Just last week, on the first day of my other daughter’s new semester required Business Technologies class, her teacher, Mr. Cramer, told the girls to just play on their phones, or whatever while he talks to the boys. He told the boys that their male ancestors were evil and they did horrible things to women.
If my kids (all 3 attended public schools K-12) came home with stories like those, first, I’d question them closely for more details and specifics. Second, I’d make an appointment to speak with the teachers at school. Third, if I wasn’t satisfied with the information I received, I’d make an appointment to speak with the department head or principal. If there was still no satisfactory resolution, I’d put my concerns in writing, copy the supervisor and the teachers, send it to the superintendent (or whoever is next up the ladder) and request a meeting.
There are outliers in teaching as in any profession, but if these outlandish things are occurring and no one steps in to address them, nothing changes, right?
What I wouldn’t do is just post it to a blog where the problem cannot and will not be resolved.
This is paranoid and delusional. You are claiming that there’s some sort of conspiracy of indoctrination with a vast structure peopled by teachers who have an iron grip on their students and what the students can say.
This is not how public schools work and it’s sure as hell not how people work. Not in reality in this country. Except possibly in a religious cult. Which is ironic.
There’s more than enough conspiracy thinking in the ozone these days that you don’t need to add to the pile. Nor should you.
So, question for my fellow teachers:
What do you suggest we do to address students’ reading and writing skills given the mandate from our Marxist masters that we spend 99 percent of our time converting kids to homosexuality or transgederism and teaching them to hate themselves if they are white? See L. Philips’s post.
FOX News has poisoned the minds of millions of people, fearful of fantasies.
Wow. Perfectly said, Diane. EXACTLY.
And that’s what Fascists have always done. They make the rabble afraid of some imaginary enemy.
Emanuel Goldstein, aka George Soros
Exactly
It really is awful what Fox has done. Evil. And the result is millions of people who are utterly confused and brainwashed. Who have totally lost touch with reality. It’s so freaking sad. And it might be the end of our democracy.
It’s gotten to the point where the Fox audience will believe absolutely anything. Pedo pizza parlors. Jewish space lasers. A reincarnated JFK Jr. who will be Trump’s running mate. The great CRT conspiracy. Schools teaching kids to be transgender. Putting litterboxes in the bathrooms for those who identify as Furbies. The Deep State. The stolen election. Scientists working with China and Greta to fabricate climate change. Teenage sex reassignment surgery. Pornographic library books. Scary drag queens
It’s impossible to come up with somethng so crazy that the Fox audience won’t believe it.
It just gets worse and worse.
You forgot the Dominion Voting Systems programmed in Venezuela to switch votes from Trump to Biden. A plot hatched by Hugo Chavez before he died about 10 years ago.
…and the Italian satellites…
It’s not solely Fox.
I’ve been thinking of how insane the public has become. I mean, seriously, before the internet became the primary (and for many, the sole) source of information, entertainment and life itself, people weren’t suggesting in public that one political party was dominated by child molesting cultist murderers. They would have been involuntarily committed if they had.
Reality itself has become a foreign country. I used to encounter people at quasi-political events, from both parties, and there was agreement on reality. Everyone knew FBI agents were humorless but effective officers, and believed to be immune to corruption. When someone big made a move in Washington, Republicans and Democrats mostly agreed on the motivations and gamesmanship, at least behind closed doors. The public largely ignored politics except during election years. (Well, not in Chicago, where it took the place that spectator sports occupied elsewhere.) And everyone watched the network news, and didn’t doubt its accuracy too much.
No one watches the network news any more. Everyone goes to their favored information source online, and there’s little crosstalk. Congressmen spout speculations that should be recognized as batshit crazy delusions, but the moderators and reporters nod their heads soberly, and report that this is one “side” of an issue that many agree with.
330 million stark naked emperors, speaking in strange tongues, polluting the ether. And two more mass shootings in California to start the week…
As news reporting has moved on line, much of the legitimate press is behind a paywall. The lies circulate free of charge.
Lyn, you said “They’ve outlawed Christianity and even Judaism. But they can teach about ‘harmless,’ religions like Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. That’s fine, because those religions also teach good values. But public schools push anti-European, anti-2nd Amendment, ‘White Guilt,’ Feminism, and Homosexuality.”
I don’t know where you get these ideas of what goes on in public schools. The news? Don’t forget that the news likes to report on unusual events—that’s what makes it news. Other, politically-biased media outlets will pick up on the odd story and paint it as “what is going on in pubschs.” But US publicschs are very decentralized, not some monolith.
It’s good to be concerned: look into your own area’s pubschs. Visit some classes if that’s an option, & see for yourself. Or at least become a regular attendant at your local schdistrict’s Board of Ed meetings, and mae your voice heard if you disagree with policy.