Preacher who lied about military service plans to open "Christian Military Academy"
MAGA cultist Mark Burns says his school will open in 2024
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Mark Burns, a résumé-padding, culture war-obsessed MAGA cultist and preacher who failed in his 2022 bid for Congress, says he’s going to open a Christian military academy.
During a conspiracy-driven ReAwaken America event last weekend, Burns praised his Lord and Savior Donald Trump—”We don’t care about those indictments! We don’t care about those arrests!”—before making a little announcement of his own: The “Burns Christian Military Academy” will open next year in order “to save our children from the evil public school system.”
The announcement lacked details, but Right Wing Watch points out that he elaborated on Facebook earlier this month:
… Our mission is to provide an affordable, pro-American education with a strong emphasis on biblical teachings, and to create an environment where children can learn and grow without the need for discipline or court-ordered attendance. This school is not designed for children who have discipline issues. Our goal is to keep our rates extremely low at $200 per month per student.
Our school aims to instill good morals and a love for our country in our students while ensuring that they are not exposed to LGBTQ, CRT, or 'woke' teachings. We believe that our children are more than capable of making their own decisions and that they deserve a safe and nurturing environment to thrive in.
We plan to have our students wear a military-inspired uniform, akin to those worn by cadets at WestPoint and VMI. We also encourage parents, grandparents, and mentors to participate by wearing the uniform, fostering a sense of community and support.
Our curriculum will be based on the popular Abeka Curriculum, preparing our students for college, technical school, or business ownership. We are committed to providing a safe and bullying-free environment, and will notify parents immediately if any child reports being bullied.
To be clear, there’s no actual connection to the U.S. military. The word just sounds important. Same with “Academy.” But this is nothing more than a private Christian school with costumes. Abeka, for those who aren’t familiar with it, is a popular home-schooling curriculum for parents who don’t want their kids to actually learn anything. And not exposing kids to the existence of LGBTQ people, ignoring the role of African Americans throughout our history (which is what conservatives mean when they denounce “CRT”), and dismissing challenging ideas under the guise of wokeness is basically an announcement that kids won’t learn the kind of material they may need to function outside their Christian bubble.
This isn’t a military academy. This is just another form of Christian Nationalist indoctrination. And it’s from a guy who said just last year that teachers who accept and educate students about LGBTQ people should be charged with treason, then executed.
It’s familiar rhetoric for anyone who’s followed Burns and his political trajectory over the years. In November of 2021, he called for the establishment of a theocracy, saying that anything “contrary to the word of God” needs to be removed from the country and made “illegal.” This is a man who offered up a biblical defense when Trump condemned African nations as “shithole countries.”
Burns is a professional liar who wants to put his hand on the Bible while torching the Constitution.
And conservative Christians just embrace it. Even if Burns lost the GOP primary last year, he still gets invited on right-wing talk shows and still serves as a hype man at MAGA-friendly events.
If there’s any consolation here, it’s that Burns has a long history of lying. So for all we know, this school will never actually launch. At some point, he’ll probably ask for funding. Then he’ll say the school is unable to launch. Then he’ll blame liberals, somehow. Then he’ll pretend like this never happened.
For a preacher who falsely claimed he spent six years in the Army Reserve, this is just the latest example of Burns disrespecting the people who actually serve in uniform.
(via Right Wing Watch)
I'm a Vietnam veteran who has never done anything veteran related, and never intends to. That said, few people disgust me more than those who lie about having served. In addition to being a liar, Mark Burns is a living, breathing argument for church-state separation. He strikes me as someone who would build the world of his dreams around the very worst parts of the Old Testament.
𝑊𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑠𝑎𝑓𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔-𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑣𝑖𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑦 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑓 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑑.
That's the only part of the announcement that seems reasonable. What are the odds that this policy won't apply to kids who don't conform to the White Christian Nationalist ideology of the school?