Bethany Christian Services, the nation's largest Protestant adoption agency, says it's returning to its religious identity at the expense of children who need homes
I wonder if they even chose their beliefs. Have they even thought it through or just believe everything that their pastor says?
I've noticed BOTH Progressive and Conservative Christians have this problem. I've heard Progressive Christians say Conservative Christians are not 'Real Christians' because it's important to 'Love Thy Neighbor' and do what Jesus did.
But, if that is the case, then that would mean quite a LOT of Christians historically (i.e. the colonial stances taken by the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England, etc) ALL went against what Jesus said and thus not 'Real Christians', even though they clearly used the Bible to justify Transatlantic Slavery and Colonization/Colonialism.
You've heard the phrase "Art is what I'm pointing at when I say 'art'."? Well, it's the same way with Christianity. There are no universal standards for it, no spec sheets, no templates, no entrance exams, no certifying authority. Anyone who wants to call themselves a Christian can just go ahead and do it. And those same people are perfectly entitled to say, with equal authority (IE, none whatsoever) that "THOSE people over THERE, who CALL themselves Christians, aren't really TRUE Christians, because they don't believe exactly what *I* do. And what more evidence do you need?".
I refer to Christianity as the "McReligion" because it might by tasty in the moment but it provides absolutely no nutritional value and ends up doing more harm than good. It also takes no effort to be a Christian, just like takes no effort to go through a McDonalds drive-thru.
Then, that is wonderful for you! I hope you are having a happy life.
I have the firm belief that you should always choose your beliefs based on your values. You should not defend/criticize something that you don't actually believe in, don't have enough information, and/or have misinformation on. Always double-triple check everything and think it through, rather than just believing in Christ purely because you saw a vision of Christ in a dream (as an example!).
Think it through on what it means for you and do your own thing so, it makes sense for you!
I greatly admire people who do this, regardless of whatever spiritual/non-spiritual path they are on!
Could you apply that to biological parents? After all, objectively, it seems unfair to children that biological parents can be as religiously bigoted as they want and still are allowed to pop them out.
Yeah that's terrible too, but you can't help who you're parents are. You seem to be all over the comments with "um actually" and creating strawman arguments, and I'm not sure what the purpose is.
That we complain about religious fanatics refusing to allow LGBTQ+ parents to adopt... but meanwhile, biological parents treat LGBTQ+ kids appallingly yet aren't held to account.
How do you hold people to account? When monsters like the Turpin fundamentalists, who kept multiple children chained to their beds were exposed, they were arrested. That’s why fundies don’t like to send their kids to public school, they might learn what is going on is wrong. I wish we had a better system for holding bad parents to account.
Exactly my point. It's a difficult question to even ask, because parents quite understandably don't like to be held to account for their beliefs and actions, yet prospective foster/adoptive parents are held to a much higher standard. Not just parents who behave monstrously but such as demanding children take part in religious organisations or not live as LGBTQ+. State control over the fostering & adoption systems are taken as necessary for children's welfare, and rightly, but we'd never allow such control over biological parents. Yet it's still children without rights to their own lives.
Of course they did. It's what they always do. It's what they did in northern Europe a thousand plus years ago. They said, 'let's just be friends' .... until they acquired enough power to begin demonizing and exterminating the old ways. When they eliminated "witches," they stole their property for the church, further expanding their power base. It's never ever been about Jesus or God; it's always been about cementing power to further their crusade and their brand of patriarchy.
The "witch" burning in Finnmark was especially evil. And the effort to turn sami kids into kids having no knowledge of their parents, culture and life. My dad's mother refused to talk about her sami heritage the rest of her life.
Pretty sure their statement wasn't meant for all religious believers and every faith. Just the Christians who behave like this, similar to the inquisition or fake witch trials of times past.
An air of infallibility seeps in any time a person or organization convinces themselves they’re doing the Lord’s work and operating under divine sanction. I’m a great-grandfather and I certainly won’t be adopting any children. That said, if I was a younger person and wanting to adopt, I would never consider turning to any religiously affiliated agency.
We let a troubled friend of our son live with us for some months 15 y.a. He appreciated it. His parents was not exactly friends at the time. But they understood his need for being somewhere else than at home.
In their warped version of religion, absolutely. I have nothing against people who read, and at least try to be kind, and follow the "love thy neighbor" concept. But this is the opposite of that.
If they're truly unafraid of losing their federal funding, then let them lose that funding. Let them be bigots on ther own dime and keep their filthy hands off of taxpayer $$$.
This reminds me of the time Bobby Jones university, did the segregation academy thing, and lost their tax-free status. Won't happen under the orange excrement, and his downright evil party, but maybe once he's a lame duck. *sigh* yet another evil we will have to put on the the list to overturn.
The cruelty is the point, and after first acknowledging that all children deserve a chance regardless of the identity of the prospective parents, they chose the cruelty. They care more about punishing LGBTQ people (even children) than they do about helping the vulnerable. The only way they will flip back to kindness from cruelty is if they think they will lose their taxpayer money.
That means they will also exclude Jewish and Muslim persons of faith, and that is what caused the lawsuit, that made them change, If I recall correctly.
I wish I could like this comment more than once. They were given permission to outwardly be the worst version of themselves and see it reflected in their political leaders. They no longer have to pretend to be PC and there is no backlash or real consequences to them being terrible so they are leaning back to who they truly are.
TL;DR - Bethany will continue to be BIGOTED. We will prioritize our homophobia over the needs of the children we are tasked with helping. We will make them pay the price for our twisted vision and values.
Whether we're talking adoption, or schools, or sobriety, or hospitals, or counseling, anything with the word "Christian" in front of it should be treated as if it said "Toxic" or "Poisonous".
It's curious that the agency keeps referring to its "Christian fundamentals." Clearly, there were plenty of Christians who saw no issue with the agency placing kids with LGBTQ parents in the past. I imagine you'd be hard-pressed to convince those Christians that they aren't living up to their faith.
One of their "Christian fundamentals" is: get every cent of federal funding you can get. In 2021 they were afraid to lose their funding if they didn't comply with the law. With the current administration, there is no longer such a danger.
The perfect “nuclear family” was designed specifically to feed the corporate machine. It’s isolation, not community. Keep that man working his job that exploits him and reward him with a “mini-empire” to rule over (family). Have lots of babies to feed back into the machine. Women are expected to do all the unpaid labor to keep everything running. No disruptions to this well-oiled machine are welcome.
I forgot to add: If a White woman wants to have a career, she either needs to do her job plus all the housework/raising the kids or she can outsource this part to Black and Brown women 🤡
“ At the HEART of this effort, Bethany is expanding and reaffirming its Statement of Faith and Belief, which will include both the Apostles’ Creed and longstanding Biblical principles previously affirmed by the organization.”
What is this HEART of which they speak?
Here’s a long-standing biblical principle: no divorce. Jesus said that divorce is just adultery. What about placement with non-christians? Not believing that Jesus died for your sins is the only sin that Jesus cannot forgive.
The list of the hypocrisies goes on and on and on.
Their new slogan: "Better homeless than homo" tested very well among MAGA donors.
I’ve been homeless. I’d like to see anyone who advocates FOR homelessness be forced to experience it firsthand.
*Hugs* may that never happen again.
Thank you. It’s not a lot of fun.
Nope, sure isn't.
Things getting any better for you?
I've been poor, but never homeless. All the best to you.
Believe me, homelessness wasn’t my idea. Neither was the layoff that caused it. :)
The Religion of Love. The "Pro-Life" crowd. The folks that cry "Think of the children!"
Lie after lie after lie. Just like their relgion.
I wonder if they even chose their beliefs. Have they even thought it through or just believe everything that their pastor says?
I've noticed BOTH Progressive and Conservative Christians have this problem. I've heard Progressive Christians say Conservative Christians are not 'Real Christians' because it's important to 'Love Thy Neighbor' and do what Jesus did.
But, if that is the case, then that would mean quite a LOT of Christians historically (i.e. the colonial stances taken by the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England, etc) ALL went against what Jesus said and thus not 'Real Christians', even though they clearly used the Bible to justify Transatlantic Slavery and Colonization/Colonialism.
I don't understand it myself!
You've heard the phrase "Art is what I'm pointing at when I say 'art'."? Well, it's the same way with Christianity. There are no universal standards for it, no spec sheets, no templates, no entrance exams, no certifying authority. Anyone who wants to call themselves a Christian can just go ahead and do it. And those same people are perfectly entitled to say, with equal authority (IE, none whatsoever) that "THOSE people over THERE, who CALL themselves Christians, aren't really TRUE Christians, because they don't believe exactly what *I* do. And what more evidence do you need?".
I refer to Christianity as the "McReligion" because it might by tasty in the moment but it provides absolutely no nutritional value and ends up doing more harm than good. It also takes no effort to be a Christian, just like takes no effort to go through a McDonalds drive-thru.
Discussing theems like this was what I needed to leave beliefs of any so called god.
Then, that is wonderful for you! I hope you are having a happy life.
I have the firm belief that you should always choose your beliefs based on your values. You should not defend/criticize something that you don't actually believe in, don't have enough information, and/or have misinformation on. Always double-triple check everything and think it through, rather than just believing in Christ purely because you saw a vision of Christ in a dream (as an example!).
Think it through on what it means for you and do your own thing so, it makes sense for you!
I greatly admire people who do this, regardless of whatever spiritual/non-spiritual path they are on!
If it wasn't for the lies they would have no religion.
Christians have no more business running adoption agencies than they do running hospitals.
Fucking Thank you! These are secular needs, and as such should be treated as such.
Could you apply that to biological parents? After all, objectively, it seems unfair to children that biological parents can be as religiously bigoted as they want and still are allowed to pop them out.
Yeah that's terrible too, but you can't help who you're parents are. You seem to be all over the comments with "um actually" and creating strawman arguments, and I'm not sure what the purpose is.
People breed, as they will. So I'm not sure what your point is.
That we complain about religious fanatics refusing to allow LGBTQ+ parents to adopt... but meanwhile, biological parents treat LGBTQ+ kids appallingly yet aren't held to account.
How do you hold people to account? When monsters like the Turpin fundamentalists, who kept multiple children chained to their beds were exposed, they were arrested. That’s why fundies don’t like to send their kids to public school, they might learn what is going on is wrong. I wish we had a better system for holding bad parents to account.
Exactly my point. It's a difficult question to even ask, because parents quite understandably don't like to be held to account for their beliefs and actions, yet prospective foster/adoptive parents are held to a much higher standard. Not just parents who behave monstrously but such as demanding children take part in religious organisations or not live as LGBTQ+. State control over the fostering & adoption systems are taken as necessary for children's welfare, and rightly, but we'd never allow such control over biological parents. Yet it's still children without rights to their own lives.
Of course they did. It's what they always do. It's what they did in northern Europe a thousand plus years ago. They said, 'let's just be friends' .... until they acquired enough power to begin demonizing and exterminating the old ways. When they eliminated "witches," they stole their property for the church, further expanding their power base. It's never ever been about Jesus or God; it's always been about cementing power to further their crusade and their brand of patriarchy.
The "witch" burning in Finnmark was especially evil. And the effort to turn sami kids into kids having no knowledge of their parents, culture and life. My dad's mother refused to talk about her sami heritage the rest of her life.
We did that with Native American children.
I'm not sure that is true for every religious believer in every faith. Was that your meaning?
Pretty sure their statement wasn't meant for all religious believers and every faith. Just the Christians who behave like this, similar to the inquisition or fake witch trials of times past.
An air of infallibility seeps in any time a person or organization convinces themselves they’re doing the Lord’s work and operating under divine sanction. I’m a great-grandfather and I certainly won’t be adopting any children. That said, if I was a younger person and wanting to adopt, I would never consider turning to any religiously affiliated agency.
We let a troubled friend of our son live with us for some months 15 y.a. He appreciated it. His parents was not exactly friends at the time. But they understood his need for being somewhere else than at home.
Good on ya'!
That was good and kind of you to do that.
Yes, because harming others is more important than helping.
And dogma is more important than human beings.
In their warped version of religion, absolutely. I have nothing against people who read, and at least try to be kind, and follow the "love thy neighbor" concept. But this is the opposite of that.
If they're truly unafraid of losing their federal funding, then let them lose that funding. Let them be bigots on ther own dime and keep their filthy hands off of taxpayer $$$.
This reminds me of the time Bobby Jones university, did the segregation academy thing, and lost their tax-free status. Won't happen under the orange excrement, and his downright evil party, but maybe once he's a lame duck. *sigh* yet another evil we will have to put on the the list to overturn.
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛’𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝐺𝐵𝑇𝑄 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒, 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒.
That's because of this:
𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑠, 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑎 𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑖𝑡. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒.
The cruelty is the point, and after first acknowledging that all children deserve a chance regardless of the identity of the prospective parents, they chose the cruelty. They care more about punishing LGBTQ people (even children) than they do about helping the vulnerable. The only way they will flip back to kindness from cruelty is if they think they will lose their taxpayer money.
If indeed they are getting taxpayer funds and a same-sex couple went to their facility, asking to be matched and getting refused...
Well, it's Kim Davis time again, gang. Break out the popcorn and the beer!
That means they will also exclude Jewish and Muslim persons of faith, and that is what caused the lawsuit, that made them change, If I recall correctly.
With the current SCOTUS? It may be entertaining enough to watch, but it will be heartbreaking in the result.
I wish I could like this comment more than once. They were given permission to outwardly be the worst version of themselves and see it reflected in their political leaders. They no longer have to pretend to be PC and there is no backlash or real consequences to them being terrible so they are leaning back to who they truly are.
I made that same point, but I think you did it better! Kudos.
𝐵𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑓𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛’𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛.
TL;DR - Bethany will continue to be BIGOTED. We will prioritize our homophobia over the needs of the children we are tasked with helping. We will make them pay the price for our twisted vision and values.
We love us some Jesus, but we hate them gays.
[UGH!]
And we repeat the tired refrain that we are all sick of: there is no hate like Christian love.
I would say there is one exeption, TYG's hate for anything and anyone who does not worship him and believe in his lies.
Whether we're talking adoption, or schools, or sobriety, or hospitals, or counseling, anything with the word "Christian" in front of it should be treated as if it said "Toxic" or "Poisonous".
"...everyday things like changing diapers, making lunches, keeping tabs on screen time and bedtime prayers are what make a family."
One of these things is not like the others. One of these things stand alone.
Even when trying to be inclusive, they aren't.
They don't think we qualify as people.
It's curious that the agency keeps referring to its "Christian fundamentals." Clearly, there were plenty of Christians who saw no issue with the agency placing kids with LGBTQ parents in the past. I imagine you'd be hard-pressed to convince those Christians that they aren't living up to their faith.
One of their "Christian fundamentals" is: get every cent of federal funding you can get. In 2021 they were afraid to lose their funding if they didn't comply with the law. With the current administration, there is no longer such a danger.
OT
When I'm 84. Happy Birthday to Paul McCartney. This one's for you, Macca
youtu.be/Cs5vUfddkT8
That's pretty good for a beetle.
"Generally speaking, beetles can live anywhere from a few months to five years,"
It wasn't that long ago that he was just larva.
The perfect “nuclear family” was designed specifically to feed the corporate machine. It’s isolation, not community. Keep that man working his job that exploits him and reward him with a “mini-empire” to rule over (family). Have lots of babies to feed back into the machine. Women are expected to do all the unpaid labor to keep everything running. No disruptions to this well-oiled machine are welcome.
I forgot to add: If a White woman wants to have a career, she either needs to do her job plus all the housework/raising the kids or she can outsource this part to Black and Brown women 🤡
Or be a spinster like Sally Rogers.
Which version of the apostle's creed? Roman Catholic? Anglican" Lutheran? Reformed? Methodist? Moravian traditions?
They can't all be right, but they all can be wrong.
“ At the HEART of this effort, Bethany is expanding and reaffirming its Statement of Faith and Belief, which will include both the Apostles’ Creed and longstanding Biblical principles previously affirmed by the organization.”
What is this HEART of which they speak?
Here’s a long-standing biblical principle: no divorce. Jesus said that divorce is just adultery. What about placement with non-christians? Not believing that Jesus died for your sins is the only sin that Jesus cannot forgive.
The list of the hypocrisies goes on and on and on.