Saturday, August 6, 2011

Home Schooled Boys

My son comes home from his secular mission trip tomorrow night. I am so proud of him!

His dad and I spent all day cleaning his room, and we'll probably work on it some more in the morning. His dad is going to mow the lawn one more time before he gets here, just to show him that we appreciate all of his hard work in a foreign land. He is such a great kid.

He is a regular teen in many ways. He breaks the rules on occasion. He stays up late and wants to sleep in. He plays bass guitar, listens to music I never heard of before, and seems to always want to go to the next concert. He has to be reminded to do what needs done sometimes. And other times, he surprises me by going beyond what's required just for the sake of making me smile. He's a pretty awesome human being.

He has different opinions than I do on many subjects, and sometimes he has even brought me around to his way of thinking. In everything, he is kind. I can't say gracious, because he does cuss online and in person. But he does not insult people or inflame hatred. He can always be counted on to be a peacemaker, if possible, or to take up for the ones being bullied, when peace is not possible.

He likes junk food, and raunchy comedy, and I know he would love to get his driver's license already. Frankly, if I could afford the extra car insurance, I would let him. If he gets a job when he gets back and can pay his own car insurance, I'll happily drive him to the DMV for his final test.

I am proud of him. I wish I could say all home schooled boys were just as loving, good, responsible and worth knowing. And many of them are: Jared, Aaron, Ethan, and Garrett are a few good people, all home schooled boys, I can think of off the top of my head. They are definitely worth knowing. =)

But that is not the whole of it. Recently, on facebook, I have had the misfortune to dialog with some Christian home schooled boys all grown up. I kept screenshots of both conversations, but they are so troubling I can't bring myself to transcribe them onto this blog. Not yet. It is still just too disturbing to me personally.

I am left shaking my head and wondering,"How did such a beautiful idea- raising children in the love of God and sharing life with them on an educational journey called home schooling- produce such rancor, such hatred,such arrogance in its graduates?"

I wrote a review of Biblical Economics in Comics a while back, exposing it for the vile anti-humanity propoganda that it is. Unfortunately, I have met home schooled boys who have bought into that line.

They truly believe that government taxation is "stealing" from hard-working citizens. They believe that Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, and WIC are supporting "the scum of the earth" by government thievery, stolen from the rest of us by taxation.

I am still in shock.

On another thread, where I advocated for compassion for women who feel the best and most compassionate decision for their unborn child is to terminate the pregnancy as early as possible- women facing genetic testing that shows unalterably fatal disease that would cause horrific suffering were the child to be born (Duchennes Muscular Dystrophy, Tay-Sach's Disease are two examples)- the rhetoric was even more brutal. I "hated retards" and it was written that I was being "a cunt about it".

I was also called the product of incest, and one writer volunteered that he could put a pillow over my head and smother me, because I wrote that I wasn't against early abortion before the brain is developed enough to allow sentient thought. Apparently his great home school education allowed him to think that an adult sleeping somehow loses brain function? I am not really sure how he got there, but the animosity was clear.

If you are pro-choice, you are less than human and deserve to die.

If you need government assistance, you should suffer and, I guess, also die unless you can get a church to help you (good luck there!) or have family able and willing to help you. That was the home schooled boys pat answer to the poor, weak, sick and needy among us. It's the job of your church and/or family to help you. Atheists and orphans can suck it.

How did this happen? After all, I have heard the same arguments they heard, and I was easily able to discern that it was anti-(against) Christ! Jesus said pay your taxes (Look at your money,whose inscription is on it? The United States of America. Give to the United States of American the things that belong to it, and give to God the things that belong to God.), Paul said government was instituted by God so "obey those that have authority over you,whether kings as supreme or governors sent by the king...". The scriptures don't teach hating the government or resenting paying taxes.

Then Jesus taught the parable of the Good Samaritan, and told the story of the goats and sheep who were judged by how they treated "the least of these". He also told us the story of Lazarus the beggar and the rich man who hardened his heart to the suffering of Lazarus. How can any Christian think capitalism in its purest form reflects the gospel? While I think capitalism is the best economic system because it acknowledges the greed and ambition of humanity and makes it work for society, I darn sure want an EPA, an OSHA, and an EEOC putting protections in place for workers and consumers.

I guess they missed the part about government being of the people, by the people and for the people. There is no mythical evil government; government agencies are staffed by our fellow citizens, real people. They are our neighbors, the neighbors we are supposed to love as we love ourselves. Yes, those neighbors.

Finally, if they consider me (or gay people, feminists, liberals, Democrats, pick your label) their enemies, ENEMIES!- even then they are commanded by Christ to love their enemies, bless their enemies, do them good. Jesus told them to give to them that ask of them, and if we were to take away their goods, they should throw in extra by their own good will.

How did Christian home schooled boys grow up with so much hatred and fear in their hearts?

I am still puzzling over that one.

24 comments:

  1. "They truly believe that government taxation is "stealing" from hard-working citizens. They believe that Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, and WIC are supporting "the scum of the earth" by government thievery, stolen from the rest of us by taxation."

    Well yes, of course. Because that is what they were taught. You know, taught by their parents, who also teach them creation science and completely rewrite and distort American history.

    "How did Christian home schooled boys grow up with so much hatred and fear in their hearts?"

    Again, because that is what they were taught.

    Have you never known a homeschool family who called property taxes communism and "Obamacare" slavery and pointed to the local armory every time they passed it reminding their kids that "when the government really cracks down, we will take that over first as we mount the resistance"? I have. I was raised in one. I was taught that welfare only enables lazy people to not work, that social security enables people to not save, that setting a minimum wage destroys honest labor, and that anyone who supports abortion is in effect a murderer. I was taught that taxes are bad, that the government is bad, and that if we can only cut the government and cut taxes everything would be better.

    And what's more, this is what all of my (homeschool) friends were taught too. In fact, I attended an annual summer camp for kids just like me, and we learned the evils of programs medicare and WIC. We learned that the UN is the seed of a world government and is trying to enslave the nations of the world with environmental regulations. "Global warming," we were taught, was one of the UN's tools to scare the world's population into a one world government and bring about the antichrist. The Euro was part of this as well.

    Why do you think my dad had guns? He even got an AK47. It was for when the government would eventually crack down and take away our freedoms, so that we could fight back and declare our independence and participate in a second American Revolution. My parents taught us kids to use guns to prepare for just this eventuality.

    I think when you ask how "Christian" homeschooled boys ended up this way you are forgetting that not every Christian family follows your definition of what a Christian should be like. My parents taught me that "liberal" Christians who advocated "social justice" were not real Christians at all.

    This is the stuff promoted by the Michael Farrises and the Doug Phillipses and the Doug Wilsons of the movement. This is the stuff that thousands upon thousands upon thousands of homeschooled youngsters cut their teeth on. This is what they have ingrained into them from their infancy. I am not surprised. Not in the least.

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  2. Oh gosh...I wrote you a whole blog post as a comment! Sorry about that!

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  3. Oh, and I was most definitely taught that gay people, liberals, feminists, and environmentalists were the enemy. They, I was told, are turning this country into a perverted godless cesspit and we, the good Christians, must take it back for Christ. I'm dead serious that all of those words - "homosexual," liberal, feminist, and environmentalist - were all bad words in my parents' home. They were sort of the worst epithets you could think of. And we weren't told to love them, we were told to defeat them, using the ballot box if possible, and a revolution if necessary.

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  4. Do you mind if I use your post as the starting point for a post on my own blog, quoting part of it?

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  5. But....how? I mean you all had bibles, right? Words of Christ in red? How did no one ever question the idea of armed rebellion against the government in light of "this is my command- that you love one another as I have loved you"?

    You are familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan, the story of the beggar Lazarus and the rich man, the sorting of the sheep from the goats? How could you NOT care about the poor, the needy, the hungry, the sick and even those in prison?

    Didn't any body besides me raise their children on the Golden Rule? There had to be others! I would think most others would have raised their children to live lives of love. How could they not? It's the greatest command!

    I am more sick now, after reading your responses (honest and heartfelt, I know) than I was before. What summer camp was this? I know LutherRock, where my son went, doesn't teach hatred or violence or political unrest. My brother-in-laws camp (last I was there in 2004) focused on the fundamentalist gospel message- we all need to be saved. (That's a different post.) There was no political proselytizing or hate-mongering going on. Not any of the years I was a camp counselor.

    It's late and I need to go to bed, so I guess you can link here. It's a free internet.

    Still puzzled, SS

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  6. "But....how? I mean you all had bibles, right?"

    Yes, we had Bibles, and lots of them! Every morning without fail my parents privately read several chapters from their Bibles on their own. This was called a "quiet time" and all of us children were expected to do the same before we did our chores in the morning. If you didn't, you got in trouble. Then after breakfast mom read aloud several chapters from the Bible and we discussed them. I've actually read through the entire Bible several times, and I read the Bible every single day as a child. We also participated in AWANA and memorized literally hundreds of Bible verses. I memorized whole passages. We lived and breathed the Bible.

    It's just that my parents interpreted the Bible differently from you, and they taught us to do the same. And it's not that my parents didn't believe that we should help the poor and needy - they did - they just thought that the churches should do that using donations, not the government using tax dollars. As for an armed rebellion, they used to quote whichever founder it was who said "resistance to tyranny is obedience to God." I'll send you a PM regarding which camp it was.

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  7. And as for the gays and feminists and all...it's not really that my parents told us not to love them ("love the sinner, hate the sin"), I guess it's just that they taught us to love them but fight them. Yes you love your enemy, but you also oppose your enemy and make sure you are on the winning team.

    Oh and don't get me started on the Zionism. My parents saw supporting the country of Israel as a way to bring on the coming end times, the rapture, and the return of Christ.

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  8. What those young men believe is not compatiable with Christianity as I understand it. I was brought up as Catholic, and I'm British so I wasn't exposed to this form of hateful thinking much in my youth.

    I know that it's bad form to question whether someone else is really a Christian when they profess to be, but I see nothing Christlike (as I understand that phrase) in their thinking or stated beliefs. I am well aware that they would not consider me to have even been a Christian as I was brought up a Catholic but that doesn't worry me especially as I am an atheist now.

    It is hateful thinking, it seems to ignore the vast majority of what Jesus taught, especially the bit about loving one's enemies. I guess a lot of the hatred comes from fear. They've been taught to fear the outside world, fear people who do not think like them, fear progress, science, other cultures. Fear women. Especially a woman like you who can stand her ground, cogently argue her points, knows her bible possibly better than they do, and won't submit to their point of view just because they are male, must be very scary to them, hence the language and the threats

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  9. Libs-

    "And it's not that my parents didn't believe that we should help the poor and needy - they did - they just thought that the churches should do that using donations, not the government using tax dollars."

    That's a laugh, isn't it? I mean,here they turn their own flesh and blood out on the street if they won't "submit" to ridiculous demands. No way they are going to help strangers. The children of the addicted can totally forget about any help, for sure. You know any condition of help from them would include joining the cult.

    There is a huge charismatic church down the road from us that actually sends needy families to our little Lutheran church for help because helping the poor is "not their ministry". Seriously! They have a huge facility and a television show, a Christian school, and publish lots of books, but they don't "feel called" to help people in need.

    Finally, about AWANA. I'm no fan (because of the reward/competition mixed in), but another group of my nieces and nephews (not the camp ministry) went all the way with AWANA, even went back as leaders and did the camp stuff. While some are more fundy than others, they all seem genuinely happy. I can't imagine them being hateful to anyone, for any reason. But then, their mom also couldn't stand the Christian home school support groups, and her kids went to a large private Christian school and private Christian colleges- girls as well as boys. The girls all got athletic scholarships to boot!

    So I'm starting to think that people with brains either left the "Christian" support groups and continued home schooling solo/found a secular group OR left home schooling?

    Jane-

    "They've been taught to fear the outside world, fear people who do not think like them, fear progress, science, other cultures. Fear women. Especially a woman like you who can stand her ground, cogently argue her points, knows her bible possibly better than they do, and won't submit to their point of view just because they are male, must be very scary to them, hence the language and the threats"

    I am still stunned.

    I see it, I do. I really get what you're saying, I just thought it was the rare aberration. I figured people that backwards wouldn't use the internet, for example. And one of them is trying to break into the music scene- the one who called me the C-word, in fact. I'm not sure which music world, secular or CCM, but either way he's disqualified. You can't publicly use the c-word and have a career in CCM. And you sure can't be such a douche and get anywhere in secular music, not even with MAJOR talent (which I didn't hear in his myspace demo).

    The resemblance to brown shirts is uncanny. Bad economy, unskilled poorly educated men-boys who feel better than the people around them and very angry that their expectations of success aren't coming to pass....

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  10. "While some are more fundy than others, they all seem genuinely happy. I can't imagine them being hateful to anyone, for any reason."

    See I don't think that being happy is incompatible with what you call "hatred." My parents don't see correctly identifying feminists, lesbians, liberals, and environmentalists as the enemy and working hard to defeat them and their goals as "hating" them. Similarly, they don't see believing that taxes are thievery and believing that welfare should be cut as "hatred." It's just that taxes really are thievery and welfare really does enable laziness. It's not about hatred. Seeing abortion as murder and those involved as having blood on their hands isn't "hatred," it's seeing abortion for what it is. Trying to make the nation Christian by banning gay marriage and abortion, by cutting welfare and other "big government entitlement programs," by removing women from the military and making divorce more difficult isn't "hatred." It's "doing God's will."

    Also, as to helping the poor, while my parents taught me that was important they always placed primary emphasis on saving souls, as this life is but a moment and what comes afterward will last for eternity.

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    1. Two years later, I finally get it. I truly do. Hatred is not often seething anger, like the boys on the internet were displaying. Often it is just a cheerful dismissal of the humanity of the "other".

      Thank you for helping me on my journey, Libby Anne. :)

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  11. Well, the home schooled boys on facebook weren't at all happy, I can assure you of that!

    I think you misread my comment, based on your own experience. I really can't go into any greater detail here, because it would be compromising my extended families privacy- something I am loathe to do. I stand by my comments that AWANA and the summer camp you attended have completely different focus- one is fundamentalist religious doctrine, the other fundamentalist political domination.

    While I can't speak for them on every topic, I know darn well they are not against paying their taxes, their mother is a huge moral support to my daughter in the military, and one of my nieces is an Obama supporter working (and living)in urban community with her economist husband helping teach poverty class-raised people how to break into the middle-class (google Ruby Payne to understand these are academic terms, not insults)- no religious strings attached.

    Your experience is more widespread than I knew, that I now understand. But it is NOT the experience of all home schoolers, and NOT EVEN all fundamentalist home schoolers.

    And you know what? I don't believe that people who hate can be characterized by happiness. They may have fleeting moments of it, but they can't be happy and afraid and angry all at the same time. I am saying that for that branch of MY fundamentalist family, they appear to be characterized by happiness.

    And for the record, seeing people how support abortion as "murderers" IS hatred. Believing that government workers are thieves IS hatred. Wanting to eliminate welfare IS a manifestation of hatred. Hatred is defined as "extreme dislike". I think people with these goals are not at all shy about the extreme dislike they have for those who are pro-choice, work for the government, and who have the misfortune to be sick, elderly, or otherwise needy.

    So what you mother taught you is in direct opposition to Matthew 25, where Jesus tells a story in which god judges folks on how they responded to the worldly needs of people on this temporal plane of existence. That is one of the very few bible texts that tackles directly the subject of what happens in the afterlife. She should pay a bit more attention to that chapter if she is indeed planning on living "with eternity in mind".

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  12. "seeing people how support abortion as "murderers" IS hatred" *how should read *who sorry for the typo

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  13. I know that AWANA doesn't teach political domination, I just brought it up to point out that my parents and I weren't ignorant of the Bible.

    "I don't believe that people who hate can be characterized by happiness. They may have fleeting moments of it, but they can't be happy and afraid and angry all at the same time."

    Well...when I was a kid, I was. Honestly seeing myself as engaged in an epic battle between good and evil, played out on the political field, gave me a sense of purpose and meaning.

    "And for the record, seeing people how support abortion as "murderers" IS hatred. Believing that government workers are thieves IS hatred. Wanting to eliminate welfare IS a manifestation of hatred. Hatred is defined as "extreme dislike". I think people with these goals are not at all shy about the extreme dislike they have for those who are pro-choice, work for the government, and who have the misfortune to be sick, elderly, or otherwise needy."

    I suppose if you define hatred as "extreme dislike," then maybe you are right. But I would point out though that my parents believed that if you truly loved gay people you would fight gay marriage, because gay marriage would enable, justify, and encourage their sinful and destructive lifestyle. Similarly, they believed that if you love the poor you would oppose welfare because ending it would remove the poor from the cycle of poverty and dependence and give them the needed incentive to work and get ahead in life. Seeking to ban all evolution was loving because it was an effort to save the lives of unborn babies. Finally, they saw removing government regulations and cutting the size of the government as loving because doing so would improve the economy and make life better for everyone.

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  14. oops, I meant "Seeking to ban all abortion" not evolution, lol.

    Also I would point out that when I was a kid my parents taught me that hatred includes intention of malice. It's not just "extreme dislike," it is intending harm to that person. And for them, they saw everything they did and believed as loving toward others. A loving person points out sin and opposes it wherever she finds it. If asked, my parents would say that they absolutely did not "hate" liberals or feminists or environmentalists or gays. Rather, they thought those groups were wrong and unBiblical and should be opposed. And that was the truly loving thing to do.

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  15. Ok, your points are clearer now, thank you! ((Libs))

    Actually, it was good old Webster, that revered saint of home education dictionaries, that gives the definition of "extreme dislike" for the entry "hate". No intention of malice necessary. But it's pretty obvious why they (your parents and other right wing ideologues mixing faith and politics) needed to redefine the term in order to maintain their sense of self-righteousness. Because the way it is traditionally defined, they would have to admit to hatred. And then, they would either have to admit to the need for repentance or admit they were not living faithful to Christ. Since in their personal estimation of who they are neither of these are options, they will just have to redefine the word "hatred". Sorry, Saint Daniel.

    Tell me, did they ever wrestle with passages like "if someone (usually a gov't soldier) compels you to go a mile (what else is compulsory? Taxes maybe?), go with him two"? Matt 5:41

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  16. But I would point out though that my parents believed that if you truly loved gay people you would fight gay marriage, because gay marriage would enable, justify, and encourage their sinful and destructive lifestyle. Similarly, they believed that if you love the poor you would oppose welfare because ending it would remove the poor from the cycle of poverty and dependence and give them the needed incentive to work and get ahead in life. Seeking to ban all evolution was loving because it was an effort to save the lives of unborn babies. Finally, they saw removing government regulations and cutting the size of the government as loving because doing so would improve the economy and make life better for everyone.

    Seriously?!

    I've heard enough of the gay and abortion rhetoric to know that part is true, thought it's a bunch of hooey. The real truth is that they are misinformed and uninformed about the realities of both the real reasons and circumstances surrounding the medical term abortion, and they are willingly ignorant about the hearts and experiences of gay people because of religious prejudice. BTDT, left the building.


    But the poor? People are poor because welfare exists, and without it there would be no poverty? Are you freaking serious?!

    And do they really believe pure, unregulated, unrestrained capitalism would honestly be a good thing? I thought these people memorized that the "heart of man is desperately wicked"? I thought they also believed that "the law was given because of wickedness", i.e. wicked humanity must have legal restraint. Where does this love of total laissez faire economics come from?

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  17. "But the poor? People are poor because welfare exists, and without it there would be no poverty? Are you freaking serious?!

    And do they really believe pure, unregulated, unrestrained capitalism would honestly be a good thing? I thought these people memorized that the "heart of man is desperately wicked"? I thought they also believed that "the law was given because of wickedness", i.e. wicked humanity must have legal restraint. Where does this love of total laissez faire economics come from?"

    As to your last question, Ronald Reagan? My dad seemed to always put him second only to Jesus.

    They really do think people are poor because of welfare. I don't think they would say that without welfare there would be no poverty, but rather that without welfare the poor would go to the churches for help and have accountability and an incentive to work. I don't think they are against ALL regulations, but I do know that my parents think that the economy would magically improve without the minimum wage, child labor regulation, taxes on businesses, etc. Basically, the reason the economy is crappy is because of government regulations. Without the interference of the government, the invisible hand of the free market will fix everything.

    My parents aren't alone in thinking this. Why do you think Michele Bachmann has promised that she can fix the economy completely within months if elected? It's because she thinks ending government regulations = perfect economy. As in, she really really thinks that.

    As to the question of the heart being wicked and all, My parents argue that capitalism uses man's sin nature against itself by pitting people in competition in such a way that it increases the welfare of all. In other words, within capitalism man's selfish nature actually brings about the better good for everyone, thus harnessing selfishness and in some sense turning it into a virtue.

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  18. Teddy Roosevelt would kick all their butts from here to the Colorado River!

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  19. I enter this conversation with fear and trembling because I really love Shadow and so much of what you say.

    I'm politically conservative but have rejected the religious right as any sort of representation of my views.
    And the hatred that these homeschooled boys are displaying is over-the-top sick. They and their parents and those that taught them to hate and disrespect people, they ALL need to be slapped.

    I also work in social services and watch parents either drum up "disorders" in their children so they can get social security for them or fight to get custody back for their children that they abused because they are really missing that social security check.
    I also know people who are on Social Security because they claimed to hear voices.

    There is much abuse within the system that needs to stop and throwing more money will not stop it.

    I'm all for people who need a hand up getting it from the government. But have you far more people manipulating the system so they don't have to work than have honest people just needing a hand up or who are really unable to work or find a job.

    I'm not for cutting Wellfare. But there needs to be some serious reform.
    And as far as getting help, it used to be that that is what communities did. They helped each other. Now they don't have to because they throw money at (in some cases) bloated and corrupt government departments that spend more money on making sure they exist than on the people they are supposed to be helping.

    Like I said, I enter with fear and trembling and with no desire to make poor people worse off. But some of the outrageous claims made by the religious right are based in a bit of truth.
    Yet their attitudes, as you have both pointed out so well, have absolutely nothing to do with anything Christian.

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  20. No one can offer that kind of help on an ongoing basis, except the people so rich they will never cross paths with anyone who needs it!

    I don't believe government is "bloated and corrupt". Maybe it's because so many of my family has worked for the government. One of my relative's jobs was efficiency expert- leading surveys of bases to reduce duplicate processes and cut jobs. Another worked for the GOA- the accounting department that audits government programs. They don't get any sort of kickback of any kind for helping people use government services. That's just silly.

    If you know people cheating the system, then TURN THEM IN! Welfare fraud is a crime, so if you know for a fact someone is cheating, turn them in. If the people who saw these things would report them, then someone will be assigned to investigate. That's how it works.

    Sigh. I help the single mom I know, but I could not afford to pay her housing every month. I am glad that our community bands together to provide assistance to people in need. Ditto my disabled sister: I send all I can each month and so does my family, but she still needs help paying for all the meds, doctors, services and regular expenses. She has no other source of income, and higher expenses than when she was working. That happens when you're sick.

    The sad thing is when these families go QF and can't afford it. I had a QF friend with seven children talking about how much it would help if she could accept foodstamps. She was taught the government was evil and church should take care of people. But you know what? she said in tears, the church doesn't help. They help a little here and there, but this would help every month.

    So I had to give her a civics lesson, about how we voted for people to pass these laws to provide funds for people in hard times because as a community, we don't want any children going hungry in our county. I told her I thought it was god-honoring that America does that, and that it was true. Our community does not want her children going to bed hungry.

    She was very grateful to hear my perspective. My normal, every-one-should-know-this basic civics lesson in taxes and public assistance. Apparently home schoolers as a group are not teaching this anymore?

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  22. Arby,

    I invited you to send personal responses to my personal e-mail address, but since you want to do this in public, I will be happy to respond publicly.

    The little lesson on the difference between Christ and Christians is not relevant. I am no novice to that notion, I assure you. My blog post here is not about Christ. It is about Christian home schooled boys.

    These boys are no strangers to the Bible or to Christianity. They are not outsiders needing to be brought to repentance and faith. They are insiders, boys who consider themselves holy Christian soldiers, living whole-heartedly for Jesus. They are the product of the Christian home education business empire, and of parents who bought into it with their lives and their money. They were taught to think this way by the Christian home school curriculum they used and the Teen Pact camps and the World View seminars they attended.

    In the Christian home school movement, religion IS politics, and people who are not "with" you are presented as "against" you. Feminists, liberals, and gays, oh my! Democrats, gays and taxes, oh my!


    HSLDA? Sigh. I'll let Raymond Moore start that conversation: http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/articles/070798.htm I'll follow up with the reality of their strong connections to Vision Forum, their political ambitions (talk about your open dominion theology!), and include their refusal to "protect" unschoolers. HSLDA spear-headed the movement to divide Christian home schoolers from the wider home school population. HSLDA is a power-hungry, money-hungry pack of alpha males supporting their families and their political ambitions on the fear they inspire in families like yours and mine. I used to recruit new members for them myself. Live and learn.

    So, as far as your second to last paragraph, you are funding the very people who, in your opinion, present the biggest danger to our home schooling freedoms. I agree with you that IF home schooling is any sort of danger (and I don't think it is right now), it will come BECAUSE of the Christian home schooling business machine, which has been primarily concerned with turning out people who support the white male hegemony of conservative fundamentalist Christianity rather than well educated, compassionate, responsible young adults.

    THAT is what is producing home schoolings most ardent detractors. Here are a two of their blogs:

    http://www.lovejoyfeminism.blogspot.com/
    http://chandra-bernat.blogspot.com/

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  23. Adding a link:

    http://homeschoolersanonymous.wordpress.com/

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