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News & ArtsFriday, January 29, 2010
Religion They Want To Recruit Your Children!
Posted by Dan Savage on Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 5:09 AM
They just can't keep their filthy hands off teenagers, can they?
1
Among the many disturbing things in this article, was anybody else bothered by the fact that they gave the accused's home address in the article? Is that normal for this kind of report?
2
OMG! Mennonites?!!?? I had to read this three times before I could believe my eyes---I thought for sure they were saying "Mormon." Although in retrospect, the Germanic surnames should have been a tipoff.
All the Mennonites I know are so terminally earnest that I could never see anything them perpetrating ANYTHING other than maybe breaking into the local food bank to make a donation.
All the Mennonites I know are so terminally earnest that I could never see anything them perpetrating ANYTHING other than maybe breaking into the local food bank to make a donation.
3
You just have to love wonderfully ironic stories like this - it adds to the joy of life. This could almost be a sub plot from a John Water movie LOL.
5
[RUN PROGRAM--"LOVESCHILD EMULATOR"]
This is just further proof that the Christian lifestyle is deviant and fundamentally anti-family. Allowing Christians to raise children is clearly a bad idea, look at what they do with just a little contact with someone else's child! Attempts at normalizing Christianity are obviously a means of attacking the institution of the traditional nuclear family, and we should resist them at every opportunity.
[END PROGRAM--"LOVESCHILD EMULATOR"]
I feel all dirty now. And not in the good way.
This is just further proof that the Christian lifestyle is deviant and fundamentally anti-family. Allowing Christians to raise children is clearly a bad idea, look at what they do with just a little contact with someone else's child! Attempts at normalizing Christianity are obviously a means of attacking the institution of the traditional nuclear family, and we should resist them at every opportunity.
[END PROGRAM--"LOVESCHILD EMULATOR"]
I feel all dirty now. And not in the good way.
7
I wonder if this girl was a lesbian and her family was trying to enroll her in a fundamentalist un-gay program and some kind folks helped her escape how that would be...
8
Is it bad that what most disturbed me about this article was the father's weirdly poetic language?:
"What they did was they brought pain to our doorstep," he said. "If sunset would have fallen on us that evening, and she wouldn't have been found, it would have walked in and that would have been a nightmarish night."
Who personifies pain and talks about "falling sunsets" when their family is in crisis? Also, "nightmarish night?"
"What they did was they brought pain to our doorstep," he said. "If sunset would have fallen on us that evening, and she wouldn't have been found, it would have walked in and that would have been a nightmarish night."
Who personifies pain and talks about "falling sunsets" when their family is in crisis? Also, "nightmarish night?"
10
The pastor or whatever "told police he wanted the girl to be able to practice her faith and that he would do what it took to do so even it that meant going against the common law. He advised that he is willing to pay the price for doing wrong if that was necessary."
Manhattan Declaration, anyone? It must be so easy for these people: claim to answer to a higher power (one of your choosing, who teaches what you choose) and ergo you have to answer to no one else, even the grieving non-mennonite parents whose young child you've kidnapped.
Manhattan Declaration, anyone? It must be so easy for these people: claim to answer to a higher power (one of your choosing, who teaches what you choose) and ergo you have to answer to no one else, even the grieving non-mennonite parents whose young child you've kidnapped.
13
@11
Of Course!
And Blacks commit 82% of all violent crime and 94% of all rapes of white women in Seattle.
I totally get you.
Of Course!
And Blacks commit 82% of all violent crime and 94% of all rapes of white women in Seattle.
I totally get you.
14
@ 2
The article mentioned that they were a strict splinter group from the Mennonites. Sort of like how FLDS isn't the same as mainstream Mormonism.
The article mentioned that they were a strict splinter group from the Mennonites. Sort of like how FLDS isn't the same as mainstream Mormonism.
15
I really think this is a sad, confusing situation. Freedom of religion is lifelong -- you have a fundamental right, I think, to practice your faith even if your parents hate it. On the other hand, custodial interference isn't nothing, and I'm not generally in favor of 14-year-olds deciding who they'd rather be raised by. Except when I am, I guess. I guess ideally it wouldn't come to this -- the parents would've worked something out with the girl to leave her relationship with the Mennonite group in place to some degree, while expecting certain concessions from her that she is a still a member of the family and will have to participate in the way the family does things for at least a few more years. It sounds like a tough situation for the parents and the girl both, made only tougher by the church's attempt to intervene.
17
@8 There are people who talk like that. I tend to have an increased spoken vocabulary when I'm extremely angry, and I'm not exactly sure why. Hell, even when I'm not angry, I'll sometimes start speaking with a language more in tune with whatever I'm reading at the time, be it a Victorian-age essay, or Shakespearean sonnet.
Perhaps he had been reading poetry at the time this was happening to help cope with his horrid situation.
On a separate note, this surprises me about the Mennonites. We has a population of them in S. Carolina, and from all outward appearances, they were far less crazy than the usual Southern Baptists we had. Or perhaps their craziness was kept quiet, so no one noticed. I'm starting to wonder about every Christian sect now.
Religion lends itself to easily to cultism, and its funny how quick they are to condemn gays and feminists for being "Anti-family", yet break up a real family if one of the members wants to join their enclave.
Perhaps he had been reading poetry at the time this was happening to help cope with his horrid situation.
On a separate note, this surprises me about the Mennonites. We has a population of them in S. Carolina, and from all outward appearances, they were far less crazy than the usual Southern Baptists we had. Or perhaps their craziness was kept quiet, so no one noticed. I'm starting to wonder about every Christian sect now.
Religion lends itself to easily to cultism, and its funny how quick they are to condemn gays and feminists for being "Anti-family", yet break up a real family if one of the members wants to join their enclave.
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