For children in Christian homes, they're living in a hostage situation. The mental, emotional and psychological damage done to them because of religion is incalculable. Their care must be paramount and religion be damned.
The bible says, "Honor thy father and thy mother." I can't help but notice that there is no reflexive commandment, such as: "Parents, honor your children."
To the bible, children are PROPERTY, and it's pretty clear that's how Ms. Bickford sees her daughter.
And also this attitude extends to their parishioners (or cultists, depending on the situation). Certain Pastors seem to have that “ownership” mentality about them too.
I was a six year old in an overheated church terrified that I was going to end up in flames for all my wickedness. At 74 years old I have finally put those nightmares to rest.
Absolutely. My religious lunatic mother held me HOSTAGE until the age of 18. Even then, When I refused to go to church after my 18th birthday, she thought she could extort me by doubling the rent she was already charging me like any loving christian parent would do to FORCE an argument about Jesus. If you cannot FORCE your kids to accept Jesus then by all means pad your wallet. As I recall, Jesus threw the money grubbers out of the church. And that's all my mother became to me- a Christian extortionist money-grubber who didn't care about Jesus. She only cared about FORCING me to go to church so she looked good to all her card playing christian friends. Good Grief, we were already FORCED to attend church 6 days a week plus Catholic school. What was the point? Eventually my father had a fit about the nuns demanding we all wear uniforms in school. That was the last straw for my WW2 vet father-- who said he didn't fight the NAZIs so his kids could become hostages of religious fascists in the US. Fortunately he's been dead through the trump eras. Not sure how we would have explained this fascist mess to him. BTW: Mother is long dead & I still owe her the rent money. The ONLY time I've ever been to a church since was to bury my parents. If all the brainwashing works as well on Ava as it did on me, she'll end up a good little Atheist.
Not just the christian home of today. Im 70 and my lunatic christian mother was excessively emotionally abusive using religion during my childhood during the 60 & 70s. The day she died was one of the happiest days of my life.. Thats pretty sad to say about our mothers. Religion was always used as a weapon. As a child I was confused by what Jesus had to do with the nonsense my mother tried to use against me.
That would be an appropriate approach, if the church in question merely had different beliefs or teachings. It is more than clear from the article that Calvary Chapel takes things more than a few steps further than that. Their pastor's attacks on Bradeen, all by themselves, are indicators of a brand of cult that is convinced that they are RIGHT and everyone else is WRONG. This doesn't even mention Ms. Bickford's attitude toward modern medicine and her daughter's right to physical autonomy.
Ava is 12 years old. Young, perhaps, but old enough to have some concept of what is being done to her and to understand the contretemps between her parents. Children's rights are too often trampled on by court decisions when it is assumed that the parents know what they are doing. In this case, one of them not only clearly does not, but is doing obvious and serious harm.
I do sincerely hope the Maine Supreme Court can consider than when ruling.
Exactly. Religions always see children as easy pickings for the purpose of control. That’s why we always see attacks on reproductive rights and LGBTQ rights zero in on minors first before they move on to adults.
Years ago when my daughter was very young, my wife suggested that she should be baptized. I vetoed that immediately, even though I wasn't an atheist at the time. Neither of us were regular church goers, and I had no desire to see my daughter put through that crap, never mind the fact that we as parents were more than capable of raising her well.
I guess my atheist stripes may have been showing a bit even back then!
Good on you! My parents didn’t raise me with any religion not because they were super progressive or anything, but because they didn’t know which religion to pick. I think it was also partly because they didn’t really believe in any of it. I couldn’t be more grateful I had the opportunity to experience life, study, and decide for myself.
My mother was progressive and said: "do the research and pick one you can relate to, and I'll take you." I researched, and noted that women were generally viewed as chattel, (whether they admitted it was another thing). And none of them passed the smell test for me. So she got to sleep in on Sundays. Wise woman, my mother.
We were sufficiently distanced from parental units to avoid any nagging. My mother-in-law was a piece of work, though. Once, in my presence, she had the balls to say, "I'll have this family under control in a while" (or something to that effect). I looked her square in the eye and answered, "OVER MY DEAD BODY."
I think the matter of children's rights are one element of what could be a unifying drive for this country, among other things (though I can't think of another at the moment. Generally, though, the matter of RIGHTS – rights as spelled out in the Constitution and human rights in general – have come under attack with the current administration, and a counter to that is utterly necessary.
Hopefully someone will also consider the mother's psychological condition. Being persuaded by such a cult-like church as an adult raises a lot of red flags.
To coin a phrase, "Freud would have a picnic" with the mom, I suspect. She's pretty clearly indoctrinated up the wazoo with what's going on at Calvary Chapel, to the point where her judgment should absolutely be called into question, particularly as regards her treatment of her daughter.
I have long viewed Christianity as roughly equal measures comfort myth, and revenge fantasy. This particular church evidently bends toward that second option in a major way. Why is it ever okay to present things to children as fact that most educated adults would reject if hearing it for the first time? I hope this young girl can be saved from that hideous church.
I used to have a friend who was at one point seeking to be ordained as a Catholic priest. When that ended for him, he decided that— and I quote— Christianity was the worst thing that ever happened to the human race.
As a child that suffered major abuse at the hands of my Catholic mother- I think churches should be banned for children. As in children should not be allowed in any church or church sponsored school until age 18. And home schooling should be banned also because so many parents use home schooling to do religious brainwashing on their kids. Once a child is 18 they can pick a church and go if they so choose. Right now as we've seen, religion is used as a weapon on children, or as pawns between fighting parents or as property by cult like churches trying to maintain membership by taking young hostages.
It is. I say that having attended the main Calvary Chapel church back when Chuck Smith was pastor. It is a cult. There was one leader and that leader was largely unaccountable and had the final say in matters of doctrine and practice.
Nowadays, since Smith died, every church's pastor is the regional lord. Depending on the location, you can have a nice guy with toxic beliefs trying to downplay them or a real MAGAsshole who doesn't give a fuck about the harm they cause because they are causing harm "for the Lord".
Imperial cult. It worships power. Temporal power of kings and emperors and tells the laity that things must be this way and they should just obey the people God has placed "over" them.
Whatever revolutionary good news Jesus might have preached against Empire and oppression and the accumulation of wealth in the face of human need and dignity, the majority of his followers have fully embraced Empire and oppression and wealth in the ensuing two thousand years.
That should have been the end of it. But the religious nutters won't let it go. Poor Ava will need therapy and education to break free of the trauma that her mother is inflicting. This is a child. A child who is being groomed into cutting all ties to her father because her mom's church says he is evil. A child who is likely being fed purity culture nonsense that will have her married and pregnant as soon as state law allows.
The only reason for one parent to disparage the other, regardless of the level of animosity between them, should be abuse that is proven in court.
There’s so many cult members and gurus out there now refusing the HPV vaccine for their daughters. I’d like them to meet all of my friends including myself who had HPV at some point when we were younger and needed surgeries (before there was a vaccine). To think it can easily be avoided now is a no brainer. Recently, my friend’s HPV resurfaced and she was pretty close to dying from cervical cancer.
Remember the woman who was a preteen when she was raped by her preacher and when she became pregnant she married him only to be abused the entire time and finally divorced him. Then he got custody of their daughter who was about the same age her mother was when he started raping her? Yeah, courts don’t always get it right. (Understatement I know.) The fact that in several states rapists can petition for access to the children their crime caused is disheartening, to say the least. I’m sick to death of the religious stranglehold on women.
Of course Bitchford...er, Bickford wants Ava homeschooled. Of course she sees public schools as a threat. Her daughter is set to enter middle school, a time when kids begin rebelling against their parents and really start thinking for themselves. Can't have that.
If the Maine Supreme Court has ANY sense to them at all, they will award full custody to the father, and LIMIT the mother's contact and visitation rights. Further, the mother should ABSOLUTELY get some serious counseling.
Loss of custody, hell- that woman needs to be cut off entirely. If she's allowed contact, but not control, the next things she'll do to try to sever that poor girl from her father will be 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴. There is no safe amount of time for her to spend with her daughter, not until or unless she kicks the cult to the curb and grows her brain back.
If Ava dies due to lack of vaccination(s), her harridan of a mother and Calvary Church will declare that it was "God's Will! (tm)" instead of boneheaded recklessness and willful stupidity on their parts.
Calvary. The place where Jesus met death. How appropriate a name for this church.
Lying for Jesus is totally acceptable. Mandatory even. And of course it's not accurate, it wouldn't be the Sacred Duty of Lying for Jesus if it was accurate.
I honestly think that the father was incredibly reserved in what he asked for. After all, even if she doesn’t attend this church with her mother, she will still hear about it, have decisions at home made based on it’s edicts (homeschooling wasn’t settled, for example), etc, because her mother’s entire outlook is coloured by this church. I think that a case could have been made to remove her from her mother’s custody entirely, based on this psychological harm, but he chose (for right or wrong) not to do that.
These Christofascists don’t seem to see past “but MY rights” to what is right for other people. So much for Christ’s Golden Rule!
I agree that full custody would be appropriate, but I’m sure dad didn’t want to poison the well even though mom is doing quite a bit of effort on her own with the help of the cult-church
Best NOT let Ava be home schooled. THIS is where the christians do the most damage. And then we have many red states giving them home schooling funds making it worse, like Florida who gives them $8000 for home schooling. I don't know what other states do to let christians waste our tax dollars.
OT: I read a profile of a school board candidate in the local paper today. I’ve noticed this cycle that the Moms for Liberty types have changed their verbiage. They are trying to sound more moderate. Trying to fly under the radar. Today’s profile sounded like that until she said the quiet part out loud:
“We don’t teach the Quran in schools. We don’t teach the Ten Commandments and the gospel of Jesus Christ. We don’t teach Buddha in school,” she said. “So, I’m not really sure why we’re teaching this new religion of gender ideology that didn’t exist in 2015 when I left the U.S., and now it’s everywhere.”
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m volunteering for 2 candidates and contributed $100 to each of their campaigns.
Another website that refuses to be GDPR compliant. After starting a VPN with US exit node and refreshing the page it only shows her picture and the following text:
Ive been teaching in our public schools for 3 decades. Ive NEVER once seen anything gender or LGBTQ related even mentioned, much less taught in our classrooms. Ive also coached that whole time and have never encountered a trans athlete on my team or any opposing team. These RW extremists are NOTHING but professional LIARS! NONE of them have any clue what is happening in public schools. Maybe some of us should speak about all the damage the RW is doing to our schools and students with all their hate. After all those of us IN the schools have to clean up after them every day correcting kids behavior they learn from RW parents.
This is a classic case where the mother’s mythical beliefs, based on no evidence, are competing against the well being of a 12 year old girl. From what I have read, based on the facts, the lies and distortions by the mother’s attorney, the trial court ruling should be affirmed. My main concern is with the SCOTUS, if the case ends up there. Their right wing majority has bent over backwards to side with mythical beliefs against real people rights and wellbeing.
The dumbest lawyer in America not named Larry Klayman strikes again, naming the three whole religions his tiny little mind can contain! You can all but hear that one rusty gear in his head creaking there- "Okay, I need to make this look like an attack on Christianity in particular, but I can't just 𝘴𝘢𝘺 that or I'll give away the game. Quick, Mat, think! 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬, for once in my useless life! What are some other religions?! Um... Um... Judaism! Yes! 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 a religion! We use that one as a smokescreen all the time! And... and... need one more to make it 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳 convincing... oh jeez... um... Islam! That's a religion too! 𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦, I hate that one. Oh well, too late, it's already coming out the face-hole!"
And... no. No it isn't an attack on religion, Mat. It's an attack 𝘣𝘺 religion, on the mind of a 12-year-old child, and you're just a fucking idiot.
Was it an assault or a valid challenge to the veracity of, in this case, Christianity? Seems to me that 1 Peter 3:15 says that a Christian should be ready to answer ANY challenge to his or her faith when asked.
SOMEONE wasn't up on their bible, it seems to me! 😁
Trump insisted that she had not been disqualified. Same presser where he denied saying he had said he would release video of the double tap strike on the fishing boat. Then Meidastouch played the video of his saying he would release that video.
The only reason these two parents are in court is because the mother decided she didn't have to abide by the agreement to CO-parent on matters involving medicine and religion. Once she joined this extremist church, she decided that agreement no longer mattered and her child's father had no say - even as her newfound religion was taking a toll on her child, causing panic attacks, anxiety and physical harm due to untreated illness - things this child never experienced until she was indoctrinated into this church. The church was also undermining the parent-child relationship between Ava and her father - to which the mother didn't object.
And, of course, into this hot mess steps Mat Staver and his 'Liberty Counsel' who clearly thought he'd found a new cash cow to replace Kim Davis. NONE of these people - the mother, her church, Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel - give a damn about the child's well-being. I hope the Maine Supreme Court shows some good Yankee common sense and grants decision-making authority to the dad.
It is time for the old Solomon trick. Where's my sword!
And the decision made then applies today, the safety of the child first. It seems that God would rather have a hate filled child among his flock than a whole child. Hopefully these judges see through the smokescreen.
For children in Christian homes, they're living in a hostage situation. The mental, emotional and psychological damage done to them because of religion is incalculable. Their care must be paramount and religion be damned.
The bible says, "Honor thy father and thy mother." I can't help but notice that there is no reflexive commandment, such as: "Parents, honor your children."
To the bible, children are PROPERTY, and it's pretty clear that's how Ms. Bickford sees her daughter.
Property that she can use as a weapon against her ex. Property that she sees as only hers.
And also this attitude extends to their parishioners (or cultists, depending on the situation). Certain Pastors seem to have that “ownership” mentality about them too.
I was a six year old in an overheated church terrified that I was going to end up in flames for all my wickedness. At 74 years old I have finally put those nightmares to rest.
Amazing how the terror these loving "christian" parents inflicted upon us as kids is still with us 60, 70 years later.
I know. Of the four daughters of my dad's older brother, only one is doing fine. The other 3 suffer mentally.
Absolutely. My religious lunatic mother held me HOSTAGE until the age of 18. Even then, When I refused to go to church after my 18th birthday, she thought she could extort me by doubling the rent she was already charging me like any loving christian parent would do to FORCE an argument about Jesus. If you cannot FORCE your kids to accept Jesus then by all means pad your wallet. As I recall, Jesus threw the money grubbers out of the church. And that's all my mother became to me- a Christian extortionist money-grubber who didn't care about Jesus. She only cared about FORCING me to go to church so she looked good to all her card playing christian friends. Good Grief, we were already FORCED to attend church 6 days a week plus Catholic school. What was the point? Eventually my father had a fit about the nuns demanding we all wear uniforms in school. That was the last straw for my WW2 vet father-- who said he didn't fight the NAZIs so his kids could become hostages of religious fascists in the US. Fortunately he's been dead through the trump eras. Not sure how we would have explained this fascist mess to him. BTW: Mother is long dead & I still owe her the rent money. The ONLY time I've ever been to a church since was to bury my parents. If all the brainwashing works as well on Ava as it did on me, she'll end up a good little Atheist.
💯
Not just the christian home of today. Im 70 and my lunatic christian mother was excessively emotionally abusive using religion during my childhood during the 60 & 70s. The day she died was one of the happiest days of my life.. Thats pretty sad to say about our mothers. Religion was always used as a weapon. As a child I was confused by what Jesus had to do with the nonsense my mother tried to use against me.
𝐵𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝐴𝑣𝑎 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑤𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑. 𝐻𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝐴𝑣𝑎 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛’𝑡 𝑎𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑡𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡.
That would be an appropriate approach, if the church in question merely had different beliefs or teachings. It is more than clear from the article that Calvary Chapel takes things more than a few steps further than that. Their pastor's attacks on Bradeen, all by themselves, are indicators of a brand of cult that is convinced that they are RIGHT and everyone else is WRONG. This doesn't even mention Ms. Bickford's attitude toward modern medicine and her daughter's right to physical autonomy.
Ava is 12 years old. Young, perhaps, but old enough to have some concept of what is being done to her and to understand the contretemps between her parents. Children's rights are too often trampled on by court decisions when it is assumed that the parents know what they are doing. In this case, one of them not only clearly does not, but is doing obvious and serious harm.
I do sincerely hope the Maine Supreme Court can consider than when ruling.
Amen. So to speak.
You mispelled RAMEN.
Or R'Amen.
Yes, I hope Ava has had a chance to speak in all of this.
Let me put it this way: 𝗞𝗜𝗗𝗦. 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘. 𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗦. And those rights should damned well be recognized, by the parents and by the courts.
Exactly. Religions always see children as easy pickings for the purpose of control. That’s why we always see attacks on reproductive rights and LGBTQ rights zero in on minors first before they move on to adults.
Years ago when my daughter was very young, my wife suggested that she should be baptized. I vetoed that immediately, even though I wasn't an atheist at the time. Neither of us were regular church goers, and I had no desire to see my daughter put through that crap, never mind the fact that we as parents were more than capable of raising her well.
I guess my atheist stripes may have been showing a bit even back then!
Good on you! My parents didn’t raise me with any religion not because they were super progressive or anything, but because they didn’t know which religion to pick. I think it was also partly because they didn’t really believe in any of it. I couldn’t be more grateful I had the opportunity to experience life, study, and decide for myself.
I don't know what happened in my family, I'm as atheist as they come and my sister is evangelical christian.
My mother was progressive and said: "do the research and pick one you can relate to, and I'll take you." I researched, and noted that women were generally viewed as chattel, (whether they admitted it was another thing). And none of them passed the smell test for me. So she got to sleep in on Sundays. Wise woman, my mother.
Huh ? DM had me baptized so that my paternal grandmother stop her nagging, but I was raised secular 🤔
We were sufficiently distanced from parental units to avoid any nagging. My mother-in-law was a piece of work, though. Once, in my presence, she had the balls to say, "I'll have this family under control in a while" (or something to that effect). I looked her square in the eye and answered, "OVER MY DEAD BODY."
She never dared to sound off like that again.
As Jessica Valenti of Substack "Abortion Every Day" says: "minors are always the (political) canary in the coalmine.
I think the matter of children's rights are one element of what could be a unifying drive for this country, among other things (though I can't think of another at the moment. Generally, though, the matter of RIGHTS – rights as spelled out in the Constitution and human rights in general – have come under attack with the current administration, and a counter to that is utterly necessary.
Hopefully someone will also consider the mother's psychological condition. Being persuaded by such a cult-like church as an adult raises a lot of red flags.
Jim Jones and David Koresh. Those didn't end well.
Ba-da-bing.
To coin a phrase, "Freud would have a picnic" with the mom, I suspect. She's pretty clearly indoctrinated up the wazoo with what's going on at Calvary Chapel, to the point where her judgment should absolutely be called into question, particularly as regards her treatment of her daughter.
I have long viewed Christianity as roughly equal measures comfort myth, and revenge fantasy. This particular church evidently bends toward that second option in a major way. Why is it ever okay to present things to children as fact that most educated adults would reject if hearing it for the first time? I hope this young girl can be saved from that hideous church.
I used to have a friend who was at one point seeking to be ordained as a Catholic priest. When that ended for him, he decided that— and I quote— Christianity was the worst thing that ever happened to the human race.
As a child that suffered major abuse at the hands of my Catholic mother- I think churches should be banned for children. As in children should not be allowed in any church or church sponsored school until age 18. And home schooling should be banned also because so many parents use home schooling to do religious brainwashing on their kids. Once a child is 18 they can pick a church and go if they so choose. Right now as we've seen, religion is used as a weapon on children, or as pawns between fighting parents or as property by cult like churches trying to maintain membership by taking young hostages.
[Calvary Chapel is not a cult.]
It is. I say that having attended the main Calvary Chapel church back when Chuck Smith was pastor. It is a cult. There was one leader and that leader was largely unaccountable and had the final say in matters of doctrine and practice.
Nowadays, since Smith died, every church's pastor is the regional lord. Depending on the location, you can have a nice guy with toxic beliefs trying to downplay them or a real MAGAsshole who doesn't give a fuck about the harm they cause because they are causing harm "for the Lord".
Christianity itself is a death cult.
Imperial cult. It worships power. Temporal power of kings and emperors and tells the laity that things must be this way and they should just obey the people God has placed "over" them.
Whatever revolutionary good news Jesus might have preached against Empire and oppression and the accumulation of wealth in the face of human need and dignity, the majority of his followers have fully embraced Empire and oppression and wealth in the ensuing two thousand years.
"they should just obey the people God has placed "over" them.."
Except for true, big-hearted Presidents like Obama, Clinton, Biden, Kennedy, Lincoln, etc.
Mostly because most holy books don't recognize individual RIGHTS.
A religion is just a cult that has obtained political power. So yes. Among other things.
𝐼𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑑, 𝑀𝑠. 𝐵𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑑 𝐴𝑣𝑎 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑚𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟.
That should have been the end of it. But the religious nutters won't let it go. Poor Ava will need therapy and education to break free of the trauma that her mother is inflicting. This is a child. A child who is being groomed into cutting all ties to her father because her mom's church says he is evil. A child who is likely being fed purity culture nonsense that will have her married and pregnant as soon as state law allows.
The only reason for one parent to disparage the other, regardless of the level of animosity between them, should be abuse that is proven in 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 Regime would like it to be that (their version of) Christianity is immune simply because it's Christianity.
Purity culture would be another reason for the mother to refuse the HPV vaccine.
I fear for this child's well-being if she discovers that she likes girls and her mother finds out.
There’s so many cult members and gurus out there now refusing the HPV vaccine for their daughters. I’d like them to meet all of my friends including myself who had HPV at some point when we were younger and needed surgeries (before there was a vaccine). To think it can easily be avoided now is a no brainer. Recently, my friend’s HPV resurfaced and she was pretty close to dying from cervical cancer.
Yes, as if one of the church molesters won't attempt to give the child HPV at some point.
Im 70 and I spent years in therapy to fix the shit that was done to me by a crazed catholic mother and her church.
Remember the woman who was a preteen when she was raped by her preacher and when she became pregnant she married him only to be abused the entire time and finally divorced him. Then he got custody of their daughter who was about the same age her mother was when he started raping her? Yeah, courts don’t always get it right. (Understatement I know.) The fact that in several states rapists can petition for access to the children their crime caused is disheartening, to say the least. I’m sick to death of the religious stranglehold on women.
Of course Bitchford...er, Bickford wants Ava homeschooled. Of course she sees public schools as a threat. Her daughter is set to enter middle school, a time when kids begin rebelling against their parents and really start thinking for themselves. Can't have that.
If she's homeschooled, and her dad gets her half the time, he gets a chance to limit that bit of damage.
If the Maine Supreme Court has ANY sense to them at all, they will award full custody to the father, and LIMIT the mother's contact and visitation rights. Further, the mother should ABSOLUTELY get some serious counseling.
Because SHE is one piece of work!
Loss of custody, hell- that woman needs to be cut off entirely. If she's allowed contact, but not control, the next things she'll do to try to sever that poor girl from her father will be 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴. There is no safe amount of time for her to spend with her daughter, not until or unless she kicks the cult to the curb and grows her brain back.
Agreed. Whether the court wants to go there or not, I guess we'll find out. Let's hope Hemant follows up on this one.
Mommy and her fellow kkkristians would probably kidnap the girl.
If they're stupid enough to try such a thing, let's hope they reap the consequences of their stupidity!
That was my thought as well, they would hide her.
Poor Dad will spend all his daughter time UNDOING the mother's damage. NO kid should have to go through religious brainwashing as I did.
If Ava dies due to lack of vaccination(s), her harridan of a mother and Calvary Church will declare that it was "God's Will! (tm)" instead of boneheaded recklessness and willful stupidity on their parts.
Calvary. The place where Jesus met death. How appropriate a name for this church.
> "(That’s not even close to accurate.)"
Lying for Jesus is totally acceptable. Mandatory even. And of course it's not accurate, it wouldn't be the Sacred Duty of Lying for Jesus if it was accurate.
🍹
I honestly think that the father was incredibly reserved in what he asked for. After all, even if she doesn’t attend this church with her mother, she will still hear about it, have decisions at home made based on it’s edicts (homeschooling wasn’t settled, for example), etc, because her mother’s entire outlook is coloured by this church. I think that a case could have been made to remove her from her mother’s custody entirely, based on this psychological harm, but he chose (for right or wrong) not to do that.
These Christofascists don’t seem to see past “but MY rights” to what is right for other people. So much for Christ’s Golden Rule!
I agree that full custody would be appropriate, but I’m sure dad didn’t want to poison the well even though mom is doing quite a bit of effort on her own with the help of the cult-church
Best NOT let Ava be home schooled. THIS is where the christians do the most damage. And then we have many red states giving them home schooling funds making it worse, like Florida who gives them $8000 for home schooling. I don't know what other states do to let christians waste our tax dollars.
OT: I read a profile of a school board candidate in the local paper today. I’ve noticed this cycle that the Moms for Liberty types have changed their verbiage. They are trying to sound more moderate. Trying to fly under the radar. Today’s profile sounded like that until she said the quiet part out loud:
“We don’t teach the Quran in schools. We don’t teach the Ten Commandments and the gospel of Jesus Christ. We don’t teach Buddha in school,” she said. “So, I’m not really sure why we’re teaching this new religion of gender ideology that didn’t exist in 2015 when I left the U.S., and now it’s everywhere.”
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m volunteering for 2 candidates and contributed $100 to each of their campaigns.
The fact that they try to label gender as a religion or an ideology tells you everything about their character.
The same way creationists stupidly label evolution as religion, ideology, or philosophy when in fact it's none of those things.
Or Atheism, as religion, that one drives me nuts, the name literally means no god(s)
Religion is an ideology, not gender.
4DX projection.
Bingo.
I heard someone on NPR recently talking about how “ideology” is being redefined to be a criticism.
The christofascist ideology deserves criticism.
Any links, and since she hates the US, why did she come back from wherever?
I think non-subscribers get 3-4 free articles a month.
https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/continuing_coverage/election_coverage/board_of_education/former-overseas-teacher-hopes-to-bring-international-academic-methods-to-school-board/article_c14d9c5b-95c5-51e6-a77a-8914e3bb4b57.html
We used to be able to comment but the paper turned that off earlier this year.
Another website that refuses to be GDPR compliant. After starting a VPN with US exit node and refreshing the page it only shows her picture and the following text:
"𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱
𝐴 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑑𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑐𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑓 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑦 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑.
𝑆ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑦 𝑃𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛 𝐸𝑢𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑖𝑛 2007."
Thanx.
Ive been teaching in our public schools for 3 decades. Ive NEVER once seen anything gender or LGBTQ related even mentioned, much less taught in our classrooms. Ive also coached that whole time and have never encountered a trans athlete on my team or any opposing team. These RW extremists are NOTHING but professional LIARS! NONE of them have any clue what is happening in public schools. Maybe some of us should speak about all the damage the RW is doing to our schools and students with all their hate. After all those of us IN the schools have to clean up after them every day correcting kids behavior they learn from RW parents.
This is a classic case where the mother’s mythical beliefs, based on no evidence, are competing against the well being of a 12 year old girl. From what I have read, based on the facts, the lies and distortions by the mother’s attorney, the trial court ruling should be affirmed. My main concern is with the SCOTUS, if the case ends up there. Their right wing majority has bent over backwards to side with mythical beliefs against real people rights and wellbeing.
"𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘑𝘶𝘥𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘮."
The dumbest lawyer in America not named Larry Klayman strikes again, naming the three whole religions his tiny little mind can contain! You can all but hear that one rusty gear in his head creaking there- "Okay, I need to make this look like an attack on Christianity in particular, but I can't just 𝘴𝘢𝘺 that or I'll give away the game. Quick, Mat, think! 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬, for once in my useless life! What are some other religions?! Um... Um... Judaism! Yes! 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 a religion! We use that one as a smokescreen all the time! And... and... need one more to make it 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳 convincing... oh jeez... um... Islam! That's a religion too! 𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦, I hate that one. Oh well, too late, it's already coming out the face-hole!"
And... no. No it isn't an attack on religion, Mat. It's an attack 𝘣𝘺 religion, on the mind of a 12-year-old child, and you're just a fucking idiot.
Was it an assault or a valid challenge to the veracity of, in this case, Christianity? Seems to me that 1 Peter 3:15 says that a Christian should be ready to answer ANY challenge to his or her faith when asked.
SOMEONE wasn't up on their bible, it seems to me! 😁
I'm not jesting ... and don't call me Shirley! 😁
"The dumbest lawyer in America not named Larry Klayman"
That's what I was thinking of. I miss Ed.
I thought "The dumbest lawyer in America not named Alina Habba."
At least Alina is refreshing her resume now!
I heard. Poor dear. 😃
Trump insisted that she had not been disqualified. Same presser where he denied saying he had said he would release video of the double tap strike on the fishing boat. Then Meidastouch played the video of his saying he would release that video.
Typical. The dumb fuck can't keep his lies straight!
It would be impossible by the sheer volume of them he spews, he hasn't the brain capacity.
Ever expanding list of "dumbest lawer in America not appointed by Trump."
Lindsey Halligan.
Or sickney lawhell.
Me too. But I sure respected him for his exit.
If it quacks like a cult ....
This cult is everything it's quacked up to be ... and therein lies the problem.
The only reason these two parents are in court is because the mother decided she didn't have to abide by the agreement to CO-parent on matters involving medicine and religion. Once she joined this extremist church, she decided that agreement no longer mattered and her child's father had no say - even as her newfound religion was taking a toll on her child, causing panic attacks, anxiety and physical harm due to untreated illness - things this child never experienced until she was indoctrinated into this church. The church was also undermining the parent-child relationship between Ava and her father - to which the mother didn't object.
And, of course, into this hot mess steps Mat Staver and his 'Liberty Counsel' who clearly thought he'd found a new cash cow to replace Kim Davis. NONE of these people - the mother, her church, Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel - give a damn about the child's well-being. I hope the Maine Supreme Court shows some good Yankee common sense and grants decision-making authority to the dad.
It is time for the old Solomon trick. Where's my sword!
And the decision made then applies today, the safety of the child first. It seems that God would rather have a hate filled child among his flock than a whole child. Hopefully these judges see through the smokescreen.