Comment Moderation

Comment moderation is on for a season. Seems some adherent of family integrated churches wants to engage me in a debate.

For the record, I think family integrated churches are cults. (Actually, I think a lot of Christian congregations have cultish tendencies, but that's not today's topic.)

It's just another way for home school families of that stripe to dominate their children through continuous presence of parents, to limit their children's opportunities to associate with their age peers or to eliminate any associate with others who are not doctrinally pure by the parents standards.

All this (and more) to ensure that these children grow up thinking and behaving exactly as their parents think they should think and behave.

Family integrated churches are started by home schooling families who are too opinionated and legalistic to fellowship in an established Christian community. They isolate themselves and allow in only those who are willing to buy into their lifestyle: home schooling, patriarchy, YE creation science, courtship: the whole package.

As a libertarian, I used to take a very "live and let live, to each his own" philosophical approach to such home schools. But now, seeing the pain caused by fundamentalist dogma in my husband's life and reading the painful personal stories of so many, many home schooled students who have come from such homes, I am not going to be casual about this.

Unequivocally I am against patriarchy, family integrated churches, "sheltering" teens, courtship, isolation, milleu control and other cult mind control/crowd control techniques.

I am for home schooling, public schooling, private schooling and all parenting that loves and nurtures children while allowing them the freedom to grow and learn more and more independently as they mature.

Now that I've cleared that up, I am going to go enjoy my son. He wants to show me something on the Mac.