The unanimous ruling found that Calvary Chapel’s frightening messages caused the child real psychological harm—not that Christianity itself was the problem
Gee, what could go wrong ... or should I say, what COULDN'T? Not certain which is worse, the indoctrination that Ava was subjected to or the predatory behavior Pastor Carey indulged in, once Matthew Bradeen rightfully asserted his authority in attempting to separate Ava from that abuse. What genuinely floors me is that this church, such as it is, could not at all see the harm they were causing, mostly because its members are likely utterly sold out to Carey.
Now, the question becomes: will this business actually go to SCOTUS or not.
My personal thought about pastors like Carey, and the sort of people who flock to that kind of fire-and-brimstone preaching, is that they have a sadistic streak. They thrill to thoughts of how the ‘wicked’ and ‘unsaved’ will suffer unbearable torments. But Carey went way beyond that by making that poor child and her parents’ battle the subject of his public preaching. He deliberately inflicted emotional pain and mortifying embarrassment on a child.
You hint at what I have written about many times and on these very pages: religious megalomania. They’re not only thrilled their thoughts of how the wicked and unsaved will suffer unbearable torment, but they put themselves in the place of an uncapitalized god who will be instrumental in making sure that that’s exactly what happens, because god loves them more than anyone else and they are more special than All.
I’m sorry if that’s what you’re having to go through. I have no use for toxic family myself, which is why I haven’t talked to my brother in 24 years. He’s the last one, but that doesn’t change anything.
And if your neighbors are shooting at your home, I wouldn’t be hanging around there either. But I don’t know all of your circumstances. I’m just sorry that you’re having to go through it.
Indeed, it seems as though they want to push the envelope, possibly to the breaking point. One wonders how far they'd be willing to go before local law enforcement would be forced to take appropriate action.
These churches are setup to be wrong in every way, there’s no opportunity to get anything right, but they can’t see that. Even well-meaning Christians who aren’t part of these churches defend them since there’s some overlap in beliefs — and the fire and brimstone undercurrents are always still there no matter the sect. There’s a fear that criticism of the extremist fundy churches will lead to criticisms of their less extreme and we can’t have that can we.
I go to church, and in the deep south, no less! But the church I attend when able (after being absent for about 50 YEARS) is only somewhere around 10-20% white, and the remainder Black. While I make it clear to everyone there that I'm a BADLY lapsed Southern Baptist (now Missionary Baptist, but not officially), and I don't typically do things like communion, I really can be supportive of Jesus (particularly as the concept of a loving, supporting father figure.)
There's no MAGA there (that I can find.) Only kindness, sharing and respect. I can honestly say that I feel much safer physically in that old wooden building than I do in my own racist-surrounded home. (Even with Chiquita running her patrols!)
I realize this wouldn't be an answer for everyone, but it works well for me. My point is simply that there may be options for the future that simply haven't been fully considered, and may be surprisingly effective. (At least for some of us.)
Chuck Smith, the founder, believed in what he called the "Moses model of leadership." Moses was appointed by God in Exodus to be the leader and was unquestioned and unaccountable. You could voice disagreement, but you would have to tow the line in the end and if you didn't, you would be ostracized or encouraged to find a new church.
They are fundamentalists. They wear the trappings of a casual loving church. And they can be very nice people so long as you are "in fellowship" with them (conforming). If you are not conforming to their beliefs and culture war stances, then you're a child of Satan or deceived by Satan. During the AIDS crisis, I recall Chuck Smith saying from the pulpit that AIDS was the penalty of which homosexuals were due and was God's judgment.
They are political. They were MAGA before MAGA. They passed out "voter guides" in church before elections back in the 80's and 90's that framed their political positions as the "biblical" ones and portrayed Democrats as godless, evil, baby killers who hated Jesus, Mom's Apple Pie, and Baseball. They rejected science. They are YECs. I heard from the pulpit that depression could be a sin and that we needed to focus on the "joy of the Lord". So, yes, mental health care was disdained. So was education. Colleges were atheist making factories and you had to prepare your kids so they would be ready.
The community was very insular. We were the saved. We were the children of God. They were under Satan's thrall. We were sent out regularly to be "bold witnesses" which meant rejection and further retreat into the community.
The community was also isolating. I attended a mega-church. You never saw the same people twice. If you were struggling to be a "happy, shiny people" you hid it. You hid your struggles. You could trust opening up or being honest.
And yes, they preach Hell and they preach the Great Tribulation Darby shite. And fuck yes, that shite is damaging to a child. A child who doesn't have critical thinking skills developed. A child who believes the adults in their life. A child who is very prone to the fear of being rejected, let alone despised enough by an all-powerful authority figure for them to set the child on fire forever... or to have their parents and loved ones disappear one day and be left to face seven years of divine plagues and wrath and supernatural locust scorpions that torture you but won't let you die.
And while not all Calvary Chapels suffer from it, when you have an authoritarian system in place, abuse happens. Credible rumors of abuse circulated while I was there. Pastors who disappeared to the "mission field" one day and were not spoken of again.
I don't have to twist their teachings. I lived them.
Honestly, if I had my way, I would discourage children from attending fundamentalist anything churches until they're 21 at minimum. Maybe 25.
I am reminded of Richard Dawkins writing in 'The God Delusion', that if religion had a minimum age like voting, driving, signing contracts, ... it would die away in short time.
Absolutely agree with your final paragraph. The years I spent as a child and teenager in a church much like this was damaging in a formative way. Terrifying to my siblings and myself, yet so isolating we were forbidden from seeking connections with anyone outside of the church. Our mental health suffered under such evangelical, legalistic isolation. These kinds of churches are the true groomers of children, because they are given no choice or freedom to THINK anything other than the church lines. I read this stack thinking how different life would have been had my parents divorced and not been so utterly unified in the controls their fundamentalist churches had them believe were correct. The child and youth once grown up may leave the church - not without consequence, but it will take years of therapy and inner turmoil to become free of the indoctrination that affects the child's growing mind and their fight or flight reactions. Some cite what happened to me and my siblings as Spiritual Abuse - but at the end of the day, a child's human rights are crushed and the child is punished if they do not willingly submit.
At some point the child has rights too, and those rights shouldn't be superseded by the mother's religious lunacy. Religion excuses a lot of mental illness. I hope this young girl can free herself from it.
"Ava didn’t appear to have a choice in the matter; she was pressured to “comply and conform.” "
I remember being Ava's age, and almost literally being dragged to church by the scruff of my neck. It took me a long time to see the SBC as a cult, but that is exactly what it is. It took me decades to undo the psychological damage. The hardest part was the constant low-level anxiety that I could never seem to get rid of and couldn't really put a finger on until I realized it was the lingering subconscious fear of Hell, the Rapture, etc, that still caught me unawares even though I no longer consciously believed in them. I still suffer from depression and occasional panic attacks, but things have gotten better. If I hadn't figured out ways to quietly skip church services and hide out in Sunday School classrooms, I might still be caught up in the horror.
Calvary Chapel is light-years worse, and my heart goes out to Ava. No child should be subjected to that horror. It will take years to make this better for her, but fortunately her father and the courts are on her side. I hope common sense and compassion continue to prevail.
Same here, though RCC flavored. I read something a while ago (forgive me; I forget the source) that said that early cult/religious indoctrination doesn't just cease when someone leaves or gets deprogrammed. The harm lasts for decades, if not for the rest of the person's/victim's life. I thought, while reading that piece, that that is one of the reasons why ex-religious people make some of the most outspoken atheists. We were harmed; we see others being harmed in the exact same way; we can't unsee that.
Further Thought: This business once again brings up the matter of the rights of children, which are too often unexpressed or simply ignored in favor of parental authority. In this case, Ava's rights were never considered, because in the tradition of churches like Pastor Carey's, progeny are PROPERTY. If that cult were to endorse the Perl's To Train Up A Child, I would not be surprised.
Again, I have to assert: parents do NOT own their children. Certainly, they raise and guide their sons and daughters, but some degree of respect for the child's self-integrity needs to be part of that process.
Mom and Dad agreed to joint custody and joint decision-making. Mom violated that agreement by hiding what she was doing and ignoring Dad's objections. She insisted that her religion be given preference, that her church teachings override sound medical advice, and allowed her church attempt to alienate the child from Dad. That isn't joint decision-making, but is contrary to it -- she systematically violated the custody agreement.
The judge was actually pretty lenient. Why was Dad not given full custody and Mom limi t Ed to supervised visitation?
I was living in a small GA town when a case from there made Time and Newsweek in the same week, about 1981.
A white woman had two children; one born while married to a white man, and one racially mixed child born to a Black father while un-married. The white ex-husband sued her for custody on the grounds she was an unfit mother, but ONLY of his child (the white one.)
No one had any problem letting this so-called "unfit mother" keep the mixed child.
Not exactly "the wisdom of Solomon", but for south Georgia I suppose it will have to do.
Thank goodness, child abuse is never acceptable even in the name of so-called religion. Children raised inside high-control religious groups often report suffering, neglect, forced participation, and psychological trauma. Who would have thought? Perhaps one day we will have laws in place just like Japan where forced participation in religious activities is classified as child abuse.
PS: I had the pleasure of witnessing this scenario play out over the weekend at a funeral of one of my in-laws. A J6 rioter (who was imprisoned and released) married into my in-law family and is raising three girls inside a strict highly controlled Christian Nationalist environment. The older they get, the more the grip on control increases. I had to walk out when he gave his speech on raising “girls” and what gender roles in relationships should look like. I’m still traumatized, but safe at home far away now - thanks ☺️
The answer is no. "Liberty" Counsel wanted the answer to be "yes", along with a ruling that only Christianity counts as religion. Their right wing outrage grift generator will, of course, claim that the Maine supreme court is hostile to Christians, because the far right Christian conspiracy theorist who wants to remove the father from the child's life happens to be the sort of Christian they approve of.
Notice, nothing in the article refers to Mr Bradeen's religious beliefs. It is entirely possible that he was taking the child to a different Christian church on his parenting time. He may have ok'd the trip to the forced birther rally if he as asked instead of lied to. Instead, we get a mother who thinks that her church is right and any other church is evil, thus trying to keep the child away from anyone outside of it, including her father. And that doesn't even address the potential physical harm from the extreme science denial.
Ms Bickford's pastor painted the child's father as the monster, all while she and the pastor were the monsters.
And of course, Calvary has their knickers in a twist over gay and lesbian relationshps their Jesus had no issue with.
How many in that church are harboring "feelings" for children and how long before it erupts in headlines? That's the way things tend to go with ultra-religious anti-LGBTQIA+ types.
The Perls used religion to shield themselves as they turned physical child abuse into a science with a syllabus "To Train Up A Child."
What continues to surprise me was that these atrocious people were never prosecuted (AFAIK) for aiding and abetting child abuse, accessory after the fact, or...something. Anything. I mean they laid out a fucking blueprint for hitting INFANTS ("blanket training") and how to avoid detection by authorities.
I can't say the rest of what I think about them because it got me banhammered by the nanny bot.
I would look forward to hearing that story. These are people who worked tirelessly under the cloak of Christianity to undermine children's safety and hand parents permission slips to beat the hell out of their kids in the name of the lawd, and instruction manuals on how to avoid consequences of the law. Maybe the first lawsuit would unleash a floodgate.
I remember when I was trying to figure out what was wrong with my firstborn. They were excessively focused on rules and would be unable to sleep for days because they had broken copyright laws, they downloaded a song or something they didn’t have “permission” for. They admonished me once in a while when I discussed my thoughts on god and atheism because they were afraid of the rules surrounding god. We never went to church, but I had sent them to vacation Bible school one summer and a couple of times they went to church with their friends, as well as being in Boy Scouts and having exposure through that. They weren’t a believer, but since rules was one of their autistic focuses (didn’t know it was autism at the time) they weren’t stressed about everything. Imagine if I had been religious and they weren’t stressed regularly exposed to this type of sermon. I just thank my lucky stars I didn’t. They would have been a nervous wreck. As it is, they are riddled with anxiety enough, the threat of eternal hell would undo them.
They have backed off on the strict rule following and have a healthier outlook about that, though they are still struggling to find work or attend school and being motivated. Their executive function is completely ineffective. While a church might provide some community and access to others, the mental anguish they preach would be disastrous for them.
Rule oriented people tend to like excessive christianity. And the armed forces for that matter.:) But regaling kids with visions of hellfire is child abuse in my view. I know it's probably been said but there is no harm in repeating it. It's a way to give children nightmares, worrying about themselves and just as importantly about the parent that doesn't go to church. I wouldn't be surprised if the situation was being weaponised by the mother to be honest. Although her beliefs are probably sincere, she is still turning the kid against her father. Could easily be deliberate.
Three words: Religion. Is. Poison.
And Liberty Counsel will always be there to rake in the $$$ from the rubes.
"Religion Poisons Everything". Christopher Hitchens
Yes, RELIGION IS POISONOUS. … RIP !
Crazy bloody humans with nothing in their lives other than Eating, Shiting and Church.
… 🦘🦘🦘
I just have this BAD feeling that w/o religion, these monsters would come up with something even worse....
Worse even than killing their own parents, grandparents, toddlers and newborns.
Greetings, NoGodz.
Hi ya hi ya, f&C. 🙂
𝐴 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑦𝑎𝑙𝑡𝑦, 𝑒𝑡𝑐.
Gee, what could go wrong ... or should I say, what COULDN'T? Not certain which is worse, the indoctrination that Ava was subjected to or the predatory behavior Pastor Carey indulged in, once Matthew Bradeen rightfully asserted his authority in attempting to separate Ava from that abuse. What genuinely floors me is that this church, such as it is, could not at all see the harm they were causing, mostly because its members are likely utterly sold out to Carey.
Now, the question becomes: will this business actually go to SCOTUS or not.
My personal thought about pastors like Carey, and the sort of people who flock to that kind of fire-and-brimstone preaching, is that they have a sadistic streak. They thrill to thoughts of how the ‘wicked’ and ‘unsaved’ will suffer unbearable torments. But Carey went way beyond that by making that poor child and her parents’ battle the subject of his public preaching. He deliberately inflicted emotional pain and mortifying embarrassment on a child.
You hint at what I have written about many times and on these very pages: religious megalomania. They’re not only thrilled their thoughts of how the wicked and unsaved will suffer unbearable torment, but they put themselves in the place of an uncapitalized god who will be instrumental in making sure that that’s exactly what happens, because god loves them more than anyone else and they are more special than All.
Hi, Ben!
I suspect most people wish to be special in the context of the world they inhabit.
But even the poor fools who actually READ the Bible know the "story" involves becoming worthy.
I suppose all my neighbors and family think that hating me makes them worthy. I suppose I'll find out between now and the end of January.....
(If I only had all the bullets that have been fired in the general direction of this house since 2015, I could build a STRONG barrier!)
I’m sorry if that’s what you’re having to go through. I have no use for toxic family myself, which is why I haven’t talked to my brother in 24 years. He’s the last one, but that doesn’t change anything.
And if your neighbors are shooting at your home, I wouldn’t be hanging around there either. But I don’t know all of your circumstances. I’m just sorry that you’re having to go through it.
Indeed, it seems as though they want to push the envelope, possibly to the breaking point. One wonders how far they'd be willing to go before local law enforcement would be forced to take appropriate action.
Hi TS,
I'll try to keep you on speed-dial between now and the end of January.....
What could go wrong? The child is twelve. Who was the man in the church they were grooming her for? (Shudder)
Two scariest words in our language..."youth pastor."
What could go right?
These churches are setup to be wrong in every way, there’s no opportunity to get anything right, but they can’t see that. Even well-meaning Christians who aren’t part of these churches defend them since there’s some overlap in beliefs — and the fire and brimstone undercurrents are always still there no matter the sect. There’s a fear that criticism of the extremist fundy churches will lead to criticisms of their less extreme and we can’t have that can we.
V U NA,
I go to church, and in the deep south, no less! But the church I attend when able (after being absent for about 50 YEARS) is only somewhere around 10-20% white, and the remainder Black. While I make it clear to everyone there that I'm a BADLY lapsed Southern Baptist (now Missionary Baptist, but not officially), and I don't typically do things like communion, I really can be supportive of Jesus (particularly as the concept of a loving, supporting father figure.)
There's no MAGA there (that I can find.) Only kindness, sharing and respect. I can honestly say that I feel much safer physically in that old wooden building than I do in my own racist-surrounded home. (Even with Chiquita running her patrols!)
I realize this wouldn't be an answer for everyone, but it works well for me. My point is simply that there may be options for the future that simply haven't been fully considered, and may be surprisingly effective. (At least for some of us.)
Calvary Chapel was my cult.
And you don't have to distort what they believe.
Chuck Smith, the founder, believed in what he called the "Moses model of leadership." Moses was appointed by God in Exodus to be the leader and was unquestioned and unaccountable. You could voice disagreement, but you would have to tow the line in the end and if you didn't, you would be ostracized or encouraged to find a new church.
They are fundamentalists. They wear the trappings of a casual loving church. And they can be very nice people so long as you are "in fellowship" with them (conforming). If you are not conforming to their beliefs and culture war stances, then you're a child of Satan or deceived by Satan. During the AIDS crisis, I recall Chuck Smith saying from the pulpit that AIDS was the penalty of which homosexuals were due and was God's judgment.
They are political. They were MAGA before MAGA. They passed out "voter guides" in church before elections back in the 80's and 90's that framed their political positions as the "biblical" ones and portrayed Democrats as godless, evil, baby killers who hated Jesus, Mom's Apple Pie, and Baseball. They rejected science. They are YECs. I heard from the pulpit that depression could be a sin and that we needed to focus on the "joy of the Lord". So, yes, mental health care was disdained. So was education. Colleges were atheist making factories and you had to prepare your kids so they would be ready.
The community was very insular. We were the saved. We were the children of God. They were under Satan's thrall. We were sent out regularly to be "bold witnesses" which meant rejection and further retreat into the community.
The community was also isolating. I attended a mega-church. You never saw the same people twice. If you were struggling to be a "happy, shiny people" you hid it. You hid your struggles. You could trust opening up or being honest.
And yes, they preach Hell and they preach the Great Tribulation Darby shite. And fuck yes, that shite is damaging to a child. A child who doesn't have critical thinking skills developed. A child who believes the adults in their life. A child who is very prone to the fear of being rejected, let alone despised enough by an all-powerful authority figure for them to set the child on fire forever... or to have their parents and loved ones disappear one day and be left to face seven years of divine plagues and wrath and supernatural locust scorpions that torture you but won't let you die.
And while not all Calvary Chapels suffer from it, when you have an authoritarian system in place, abuse happens. Credible rumors of abuse circulated while I was there. Pastors who disappeared to the "mission field" one day and were not spoken of again.
I don't have to twist their teachings. I lived them.
Honestly, if I had my way, I would discourage children from attending fundamentalist anything churches until they're 21 at minimum. Maybe 25.
So this is the church that you have referred to so many times over the years. Good for you that you got away from it.
But here’s the big non-surprise:. CALVARY doesn’t refer to horses. It refers to skulls, also known as deaths heads.
Charming people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h242eDB84zY
Horses would be cavalry, yes that is the death aspect of Jesus that the martyrbators so adore.
"Honestly, if I had my way, I would discourage children from attending fundamentalist anything churches until they're 21 at minimum. Maybe 25."
THIS! ! ! FUCKING HELL YEAH! ! ! !
I am reminded of Richard Dawkins writing in 'The God Delusion', that if religion had a minimum age like voting, driving, signing contracts, ... it would die away in short time.
Absolutely agree with your final paragraph. The years I spent as a child and teenager in a church much like this was damaging in a formative way. Terrifying to my siblings and myself, yet so isolating we were forbidden from seeking connections with anyone outside of the church. Our mental health suffered under such evangelical, legalistic isolation. These kinds of churches are the true groomers of children, because they are given no choice or freedom to THINK anything other than the church lines. I read this stack thinking how different life would have been had my parents divorced and not been so utterly unified in the controls their fundamentalist churches had them believe were correct. The child and youth once grown up may leave the church - not without consequence, but it will take years of therapy and inner turmoil to become free of the indoctrination that affects the child's growing mind and their fight or flight reactions. Some cite what happened to me and my siblings as Spiritual Abuse - but at the end of the day, a child's human rights are crushed and the child is punished if they do not willingly submit.
Calvary's worried about the reign of the Antichrist, are they? Bet they voted for him.
Twice no doubt.
Thrice.
At some point the child has rights too, and those rights shouldn't be superseded by the mother's religious lunacy. Religion excuses a lot of mental illness. I hope this young girl can free herself from it.
I hope the mother can too!
I do as well, but I fear she is a lost cause.
"Ava didn’t appear to have a choice in the matter; she was pressured to “comply and conform.” "
I remember being Ava's age, and almost literally being dragged to church by the scruff of my neck. It took me a long time to see the SBC as a cult, but that is exactly what it is. It took me decades to undo the psychological damage. The hardest part was the constant low-level anxiety that I could never seem to get rid of and couldn't really put a finger on until I realized it was the lingering subconscious fear of Hell, the Rapture, etc, that still caught me unawares even though I no longer consciously believed in them. I still suffer from depression and occasional panic attacks, but things have gotten better. If I hadn't figured out ways to quietly skip church services and hide out in Sunday School classrooms, I might still be caught up in the horror.
Calvary Chapel is light-years worse, and my heart goes out to Ava. No child should be subjected to that horror. It will take years to make this better for her, but fortunately her father and the courts are on her side. I hope common sense and compassion continue to prevail.
Same here, though RCC flavored. I read something a while ago (forgive me; I forget the source) that said that early cult/religious indoctrination doesn't just cease when someone leaves or gets deprogrammed. The harm lasts for decades, if not for the rest of the person's/victim's life. I thought, while reading that piece, that that is one of the reasons why ex-religious people make some of the most outspoken atheists. We were harmed; we see others being harmed in the exact same way; we can't unsee that.
Yes. 😢 And thank you.
Mr. Bradeen should sue Calvary Chapel for defamation and for the emotional damage inflicted on his daughter.
Further Thought: This business once again brings up the matter of the rights of children, which are too often unexpressed or simply ignored in favor of parental authority. In this case, Ava's rights were never considered, because in the tradition of churches like Pastor Carey's, progeny are PROPERTY. If that cult were to endorse the Perl's To Train Up A Child, I would not be surprised.
Again, I have to assert: parents do NOT own their children. Certainly, they raise and guide their sons and daughters, but some degree of respect for the child's self-integrity needs to be part of that process.
It is simpler than even the analysis above.
Mom and Dad agreed to joint custody and joint decision-making. Mom violated that agreement by hiding what she was doing and ignoring Dad's objections. She insisted that her religion be given preference, that her church teachings override sound medical advice, and allowed her church attempt to alienate the child from Dad. That isn't joint decision-making, but is contrary to it -- she systematically violated the custody agreement.
The judge was actually pretty lenient. Why was Dad not given full custody and Mom limi t Ed to supervised visitation?
I was wondering that as well. Would he have had more legal standing if had had actually married and then divorced her? Not sure how that works.
I was living in a small GA town when a case from there made Time and Newsweek in the same week, about 1981.
A white woman had two children; one born while married to a white man, and one racially mixed child born to a Black father while un-married. The white ex-husband sued her for custody on the grounds she was an unfit mother, but ONLY of his child (the white one.)
No one had any problem letting this so-called "unfit mother" keep the mixed child.
Not exactly "the wisdom of Solomon", but for south Georgia I suppose it will have to do.
Thank goodness, child abuse is never acceptable even in the name of so-called religion. Children raised inside high-control religious groups often report suffering, neglect, forced participation, and psychological trauma. Who would have thought? Perhaps one day we will have laws in place just like Japan where forced participation in religious activities is classified as child abuse.
PS: I had the pleasure of witnessing this scenario play out over the weekend at a funeral of one of my in-laws. A J6 rioter (who was imprisoned and released) married into my in-law family and is raising three girls inside a strict highly controlled Christian Nationalist environment. The older they get, the more the grip on control increases. I had to walk out when he gave his speech on raising “girls” and what gender roles in relationships should look like. I’m still traumatized, but safe at home far away now - thanks ☺️
At least there was a funeral. Thanks beto small G gawd for that.
It was actually a celebration of life since the person who died was an atheist. Probably makes it worse.
𝐼𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑑, 𝑀𝑠. 𝐵𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑑 𝐴𝑣𝑎 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑚𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟.
Textbook parental alienation tactics. The court did the right thing, and it is obvious that it was about that and not Christianity.
𝑂𝑛 𝑇𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑆𝑢𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑢𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑣𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝐵𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑛, 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 (𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠).
Higher court does the right thing, affirming the lower court.
𝐴𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑡ℎ 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑? 𝑂𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑡’𝑠… 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛?
The answer is no. "Liberty" Counsel wanted the answer to be "yes", along with a ruling that only Christianity counts as religion. Their right wing outrage grift generator will, of course, claim that the Maine supreme court is hostile to Christians, because the far right Christian conspiracy theorist who wants to remove the father from the child's life happens to be the sort of Christian they approve of.
Notice, nothing in the article refers to Mr Bradeen's religious beliefs. It is entirely possible that he was taking the child to a different Christian church on his parenting time. He may have ok'd the trip to the forced birther rally if he as asked instead of lied to. Instead, we get a mother who thinks that her church is right and any other church is evil, thus trying to keep the child away from anyone outside of it, including her father. And that doesn't even address the potential physical harm from the extreme science denial.
Ms Bickford's pastor painted the child's father as the monster, all while she and the pastor were the monsters.
My ex tried the same thing, luckily my daughter was too smart for that and trusted me more.
I'm surprised a single never-married mom is allowed at Calvary.
Something something forgiven slut something something yadda.....
Does she pay the tithe? She's very welcomed. Everything else can be prayed about.
And of course, Calvary has their knickers in a twist over gay and lesbian relationshps their Jesus had no issue with.
How many in that church are harboring "feelings" for children and how long before it erupts in headlines? That's the way things tend to go with ultra-religious anti-LGBTQIA+ types.
How soon before people start claiming "Christian persecution".
The ink wasn't yet dry on the ruling when the claims started.
They don’t need an excuse to start chanting it, believe me. They utter that phrase in their sleep.
That church gives me a Jim Jones and the People's Temple vibe.
Or David Koresh.
Or Donald Trump.
Or Sun Moon.
The Perls used religion to shield themselves as they turned physical child abuse into a science with a syllabus "To Train Up A Child."
What continues to surprise me was that these atrocious people were never prosecuted (AFAIK) for aiding and abetting child abuse, accessory after the fact, or...something. Anything. I mean they laid out a fucking blueprint for hitting INFANTS ("blanket training") and how to avoid detection by authorities.
I can't say the rest of what I think about them because it got me banhammered by the nanny bot.
I have wondered that, too some victim of the "beat the curiosity out of your baby" victim needs to sue them.
I would look forward to hearing that story. These are people who worked tirelessly under the cloak of Christianity to undermine children's safety and hand parents permission slips to beat the hell out of their kids in the name of the lawd, and instruction manuals on how to avoid consequences of the law. Maybe the first lawsuit would unleash a floodgate.
Sadly, I bet most of the victims have that "I survived it so they can too", mentalty.
That thought crossed my mind...but still, a girl can dream, right?
I remember when I was trying to figure out what was wrong with my firstborn. They were excessively focused on rules and would be unable to sleep for days because they had broken copyright laws, they downloaded a song or something they didn’t have “permission” for. They admonished me once in a while when I discussed my thoughts on god and atheism because they were afraid of the rules surrounding god. We never went to church, but I had sent them to vacation Bible school one summer and a couple of times they went to church with their friends, as well as being in Boy Scouts and having exposure through that. They weren’t a believer, but since rules was one of their autistic focuses (didn’t know it was autism at the time) they weren’t stressed about everything. Imagine if I had been religious and they weren’t stressed regularly exposed to this type of sermon. I just thank my lucky stars I didn’t. They would have been a nervous wreck. As it is, they are riddled with anxiety enough, the threat of eternal hell would undo them.
They have backed off on the strict rule following and have a healthier outlook about that, though they are still struggling to find work or attend school and being motivated. Their executive function is completely ineffective. While a church might provide some community and access to others, the mental anguish they preach would be disastrous for them.
Rule oriented people tend to like excessive christianity. And the armed forces for that matter.:) But regaling kids with visions of hellfire is child abuse in my view. I know it's probably been said but there is no harm in repeating it. It's a way to give children nightmares, worrying about themselves and just as importantly about the parent that doesn't go to church. I wouldn't be surprised if the situation was being weaponised by the mother to be honest. Although her beliefs are probably sincere, she is still turning the kid against her father. Could easily be deliberate.