Christian School Confidential

Christian School Confidential has moved.

2011-11-18T07:36:00.000-08:00

For all the new posts, please visit christianschoolconfidential.wordpress.com.

Support UNITED WITH ONE VOICE!

2011-10-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

Christian School Confidential - the novel, now available!

2011-10-15T07:59:00.000-07:00

Coming soon to amazon.com. . .

Christian School Confidential
a fundamental satire
Authored by Dwayne Walker

Sarah Starr teaches fifth grade English at Diadem Christian Academy in the desert town of Crane City, California. Adam, her husband, is pursuing a masters in biblical studies when both learn troubling news. Chelsea, their daughter, claims Dr. Roger Bunyan, Jr, founder of Diadem Baptist College and pastor of their church, has molested her.

Sarah and Adam want to do the right thing by scripture. Instead of withdrawing her from Diadem Christian Academy, they keep Chelsea at DCA to teach her that Christians can resolve their conflicts in a godly manner.

Sarah's odyssey takes her on an insane journey into the absurdities of fundamentalism, internet advocacy, politics, entertainment and mass media evangelism. In the grand tradition of Terry Southern and Gore Vidal!

Click here to order.

Baptist Nuns or Troubled Girls?

2011-09-04T12:08:00.001-07:00

Left: Lester Roloff as he appears in my high school yearbook.

Anderson Cooper 360 did a two part segment called 'Ungodly Discipline' about life in the fundamentalist girl's home, Hephzibah House. It included a violent description of a forced gynecological exam by an unlicensed HH worker, the practice of shunning, talking about how you're not going to make it in the outside world and how authorities just do not want to step across the boundaries into the hurdles of parental law and church/state separation.

This is not limited to Hephzibah House, or even the IFB movement. There are many teen lockdown facilities, accused of abusive tactics, across the country. Some have been endorsed by people ranging from Dr. Phil to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Independent Fundamental Baptists occupy a special rung in the Inferno for their creative use of the teen behavioral modification industry. Many of the homes are classified as ministries of churches. That way, few will challenge their abusive tactics because government officials do not want to be seen allegedly broaching the wall of separation of church and state.

Is this hypocritical or what? The same people who called 'separation of church and state' a lie from the devil whenever their rights to proselytize in public schools are challenged are now digging that phrase back up to hide decades of abuse.

Lester Roloff was mentioned in the Anderson Cooper report. I remember a week long revival in my church, Trinity Baptist of Jacksonville, Florida, that was held by Roloff. A banner with the words 'separation of church and state' was stretched across the auditorium.

When I look back to my Christian school days, it's difficult to forget the revival meetings conducted by Lester Roloff. His meetings usually turned into sing a longs. Perfect when logic or reason won't hold the congregation's attention!

I could never figure out his cues to the girls! It seemed his girls would jump up and sing at a moment's notice before Roloff started singing. Did they work this out prior to the meeting? Were the Roloff girls able to absorb the thoughts of their leader the same way the women who followed Charles Manson were able to cue their courtroom antics?

Bob Gray, pastor of Trinity, called them 'Baptist Nuns'. His nun comment actually was a reference to the girls who stayed at the Victory Home for Girls in Florida. They attended school with us at Trinity Christian Academy and, thus, were spared the educational difficulties experienced by those subject to Accelerated Christian Education. At least, they were able to get into most community and state colleges in Florida.

When I think of Gray's term 'Baptist Nuns', I realize that's exactly how I regarded the Roloff girls! As 'Baptist Nuns'! I now realize that unconscious way of looking at Roloff girls was part of the problem. Gray, as readers of this blog know, was arrested for multiple accounts of child molestation. Years before his arrest, I spoke with someone about the rumors of Gray's crimes. "You have to understand, one of them has a troubled background." That sentiment would eventually be posted on the Fighting Fundamentalist Forum after his arrest.

The 'troubled background'? Her deposition revealed she had been forced into Roloff's Bethesda Home. Her mere presence at the facility, regardless of circumstance, would now be used against her to show that she had a troubled background.

Survivors from the different homes are finally coming together thanks to social networking sites like Facebook.

There were those who spoke out in the 1970s. They were interviewed for a 60 Minutes report on Lester Roloff. Those who came out of the Roloff schools in that era did not have the option of an internet. If they wanted to keep in contact with others, they needed to have a good memory for last names and access to a telephone book. Those coming out of this system have spoken of a practice called being 'put on separation' in which close friendships are discouraged.

It became easier to find people after the internet. There were message boards and news groups to post at. One needed to be knowledgeable concerning search engines and key words. There was also the reality, as I found out during the early days of this blog, that if you start making waves you can get kicked out by the powers that be. This would severely limit your ability to acquire information.

Facebook put an end to the ideological monopoly held by self styled gurus and message board owners. No more would you need to go through a message board to contact an individual. Facebook made it more democratic and even though you can still get booted off groups you can make contacts with individuals within the group. It's very difficult to maintain control over a whole group of people using Facebook since no one has veto power over who can or cannot enter a discussion.

Naturally, there have been critics of Facebook. Critics have charged teen home survivors with not having a sense of fair play, fighting all the time and that's just from their supporters! Harsh words have been spoken by activists against other activists. It's easy to get panicky when flame wars spring up. If we don't address them, are we aiding in a cover up? If we do, are we expressing division? Are we providing another reason we may delay progress?

Alexis Parks, in her book American Gulag, writes that a teenager's challenge to parental and social values must be treated with "respect, honest dialogue, and an example of tolerance and self-questioning." Parks writes, "Striving for independence is a necessary a stage of development as crawling is to an infant."

What is true for an individual is probably true for groups. An individual can't change unless s/he wants to. A group or nation can't change unless the majority of people want to. That can't happen without a national dialogue. We can't reason with the nation unless we can first reason with ourselves! That's the stage we're at now.

We're doing a pretty good job of piercing the national media. ABC News and Mother Jones have produced articles and profiles of survivors and both have mentioned a convention the Survivors of Institutional Abuse plan on having in February 24-26 in 2012.

This is an on-going process. Speaking as someone who, although never in a teen lockdown facility, did experience IFB education, I can say that many of us weren’t brought up learning the Seven Effective Habits of Successful People. We were not taught to work and play well with 'heathens'. Those prejudices were instilled in us during our formative years. Of course, we're going to have some growing pains! That's what all this is.

We need to accept that nothing is going to come quickly or easily. If we want success, we must sometimes make decisions based on cold reality. We're going to have to develop a degree of toleration for different viewpoints. Most of us have been alone as we carried the battle on our shoulders for decades before we even realized there were others in the battle. There are others in the battle. Some with more experience. Others with more passion. Most with their own ideas about how the battle should be fought. Some of us won't be in the battle for the long term. It will be like tag team wrestling. You're it!

Baptist Nuns or Troubled Girls? It's the Baptist equivalent of Madonna/Whore.

They are neither nuns nor 'troubled girls'. They are adult women with the same problems all of us, male or female, have when it comes to dealing with trauma while living in America during a recession. Nevertheless, the shared trauma must be addressed.

CNN: Anderson Cooper 360 Ungodly Discipline

ABC: Biblical Reform School Discipline: Tough Love or Abuse?

MOTHER JONES: Horror Stories From Tough-Love Teen Homes.

SIA Organization: Survivors of Institutional Abuse.

Our Pastor Molested Me, Now What?

2011-05-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

Our Pastor Molested Me, Now What? is not a biography but I am presenting the fruits of my efforts from 1992 to 2011 upon learning that my former fundamentalist pastor, Bob Gray (Trinity Baptist Church, Jacksonville, FL) had been accused of multiple charges of child molestation.

The problem of child abuse and collusion (its partner in crime) is worse than we expected. The cover up first begins in families, then eventually extends into the corporate world. We see the results of child abuse in everything from looking the other way when police abuse their authority, to people shrugging off various degrees of corruption in their businesses, communities, and government.

If you can cover up child abuse in your family and church, it is a piece of cake to cover up other scandals within your government. We learn to cover up from our families and so-called moral leaders. When will we grasp that the final fruit of child abuse is nothing less than the disintegration of a nation?

The major reason churches, and corporations, turn their heads when one of their own is caught abusing a child, is because they are afraid the scandal will prompt investigations leading to the loss of their personal liberties. When will government, business and church leaders realize the more they cover up the crimes of their cronies the more they put freedom at risk?

Don’t they realize that when people grasp how unreliable private industry and churches have been when covering up the dirty deeds of their child molesting friends, a knee jerk reaction amongst the citizenry, which will result in more controls, is to be expected? And rightly so!

It is a shame that I even have to mention the loss of freedom in the same context as fighting child abuse. Isn’t fighting child abuse a reason in itself? Do I really need to parade the threat of freedom’s loss in order to get churches, and businesses, motivated to police themselves?

If we do not police ourselves, people will eventually demand a tighter regulation on churches, girl’s homes and other organizations that supposedly exist to serve the interest of the American family.

This book is a tool designed to open people’s eyes to the threat child abusers, and their corporate enablers pose to the freedom of us all.

We cannot afford to wait for religious organizations to purify their ranks nor can we wait for our government to 'catch on'. It is our responsibility to arm ourselves with knowledge that will empower us to stand up to our abusers and hold them accountable.

Click here to order.

AA headmaster's resignation not tied to abuse investigation.

2011-04-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

Article: AA headmaster's resignation not tied to abuse investigation.

I am quoted in this article which mentions that 'rumors' have been spread that the headmaster was fired because he made inquiries regarding abuse. The truth is about to come out as many survivors of New Bethany are doing interviews and are giving accounts of their abuse that have long been repressed.

Here is a letter to the editor I just sent to the Amelia Monitor:

Thanks for publishing that article about Amelia Academy. I would also like to thank Dr. George Martin for making the inquiries into the abuse allegations concerning the teacher responsible for many nightmares experienced by the victims from New Bethany, a school that was closed down due to inquiries regarding abuse. It was not our intentions for anyone to get fired over this. Even though Mr. Anderson, the new headmaster states the inquiry had nothing to do with Martin's dismissal, that's a pretty difficult pill for some of us to swallow.

My former pastor, the late Bob Gray of Trinity Baptist Church and founder of Trinity Christian Academy (Jacksonville, Florida) was charged with over five counts of child molestation with many victims spanning decades. One of them clear back to 1949! I'm sure he would have passed a background check and been declared an asset to the school he founded.

We are not spreading rumors. Here are the facts: Dr. Martin communicated with New Bethany survivors after being contacted by a concerned parent to make an inquiry into abuse. He did and we now hear he was fired. Our experience has shown that when private schools have no oversight regarding these matters, the potential to either ignore or cover up such abuse is pretty high. What do you think our conclusions might be?

Pardon us if we harbor some doubt as to the integrity of Mr. Anderson's denial. If Martin was fired for making the inquiries, that is more of a threat to the safety of the children of Amelia Courthouse than a teacher who, although passing a background check, has a string of survivors sounding the warning call of abuse.

Dwayne Walker

Biblical Reform School Discipline: Tough Love or Abuse?

2011-04-12T08:59:00.001-07:00

I am so pleased to bring this article to you. I am on the board of SIA Organization and we played a role in introducing writer Susan Donaldson James to Brittany Campbell and Donna Maddox who are both in the article.

Kudos to both women for their courage in speaking out!

Article:

20/20's expose of the IFB scored a #1 with the Nation!

2011-04-09T16:10:00.000-07:00

ABC Hits a 13-Week High on Friday with Young Adults.

Excerpt:

ABC’s 20/20 finished #1 in the 10 o’clock hour for the 2nd week in a row among Adults 18-49. The ABC newsmagazine also won the hour among key Women (W18-33/W18-49) 20/20 featured Elizabeth Vargas’ yearlong investigation into the Independent Fundamental Baptist Church.

A religious subculture I never heard of? Really?

2011-04-06T12:21:00.000-07:00

Didn't Mike Wallace say something like this when Jimmy Carter ran for President?

The fundamentalists practically control the military and the rest of the country and now L.A. and NYC are finally catching on? Will be watching!

This Friday on 20/20:A RELIGIOUS SUB-CULTURE MANY AMERICANS HAVE NEVER HEARD OF, YET HAS THOUSANDS OF CHURCHES ACROSS THE COUNTRY ... CHURCHES THAT CRITICS CLAIM CAN FOSTER PHYSICAL AND SEXUAL ABUSE.

James Dean molested by minister.

2011-03-25T11:18:00.001-07:00

Article: Elizabeth Taylor revealed James Dean was molested by minister.

Michele Tresler Ulriksen, author of Reform at Victory, dead at 41.

2011-03-22T22:54:00.000-07:00

from the Survivors of Institutional Abuse.

Michele Tresler-Ulriksen, author of Reform at Victory, is reported to be dead at 41. Details are sketchy, but the spokesperson at her Facebook profile writes that Michele died of accidental overdose. The Survivors of Institutional Abuse, an organization Michele volunteered her services for, cannot give details of her death until further information. Most of her adult life was taken up with writing and publishing Reform at Victory, a memoir of her time at Victory Christian Academy in Ramona, CA, a teen lockdown facility that was closed down due to abusive practices in 1992. It also concerned Carrie Dunn, whose pseudonym in the book is Christi, a girl who died on premises after a stack of drywall fell on her.

Michael Palmer, the man portrayed in Reform at Victory as ‘Brother P’, allegedly tried to open a home in Iowa. Michele contacted the local media and authorities concerning Palmer’s connection to the abusive school he operated in Ramona, CA. The Fort Dodge Messenger published Troubling Legacy by Abigail McWilliam in 2009 that reported Palmer was scoping out buildings in that area.

“The last place she said Palmer might be opening a home is in Hawaii!” said Dwayne Walker, director of media and research at SIA Organization. “

Jodi Hobbs, the President of SIA Organization, credits Michele’s book and dogged pursuit of Palmer’s whereabouts for inspiring her to create SIA Organization.

“The Survivor’s of Institutional Abuse would not be here without Michele.” Jodi says, “Michele inspired others to speak out and share their own testimony of what happened to them. She was an advocate of getting the laws changed and spoke out at numerous events against abuse. Her tireless efforts changed many lives and gave others the strength and courage to come forward. SIA Organization’s first convention will be dedicated in her honor for her commitment and tireless efforts in getting the word out and speaking against institutional abuse.”

Condolences are being left on her Facebook profile.

Links and Articles:

Reform at Victory

Troubling Legacy by Abigail McWilliam

Lockdown: Are Teens and Taxpayers Paying the Price for ‘Christian Reform Schools? by Michele Ulriksen

How Faith Based Initiatives help unlicensed reform schools thrive by Michele Ulriksen

Christian School Confidential article about Reform at Victory.

United With One Voice!

2011-02-16T21:48:00.000-08:00

The teen behavorial modification industry is a billion dollar business leaving a trail of human wreckage in its wake. In February 20012, survivors who were abused as children in child care facilities will come together in Long Beach, CA for healing, empowerment and to share their stories with the world!

"What I want to do is bring about awareness, empowerment and healing to adults who have been in these types of circumstance."

Jodi Hobbs
President of SIA Organization
and survivor of facility in Ramona, CA

"I am happy to no longer be alone. Yet heartbroken, that there are so many of us. Together I really believe, we can finally be heard!"

survivor of facility in Arcadia, LA.

The Survivors of Institutional Abuse invite you to join us as we stand united with one voice!

For more info:

sia-now.org

Oregon is one of the few states trying to do something about a national problem.

2011-02-16T21:43:00.000-08:00

from: Child Abuse Bill goes to House Judiciary Committee

HB2721 has been introduced in Oregon to repeal Oregon's religious defenses to homicide, manslaughter and ciminal mistreatment of children so that all laws will require all parents to obtain medical care for sick children, regardles of their religious beliefs.

The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on this bill on Feburary 21. Please urge your state legislator to vote for HB2721.

For more information, please contact "Children's Healthcare Is a Legal Duty" at 503-584-1455 and the email is: rita@childrenshealthcare.org.

Bloodbath the Movie

2011-01-29T22:56:00.000-08:00

Bloodbath the Movie is a documentary about Elizabeth McGrath. She was forced to attend Victory Christian Academy in Ramona, CA. That's the abusive school which was run by Michael Palmer who, after the school was closed in 1992, was ordered never to work with children in the state of California.

I played a role in the school getting shut down by introducing a former student to a cable access producer. He interviewed her while I ran camera and helped edit the final product. The producer, a man named Jon Boag, took the video to the Department of Children's Services. Within the scope of a year, an investigation commenced and the school was closed down.

Survivors of Victory contacted me wishing to hold a reunion. Elizabeth was at the reunion and portions of the documentary were actually shot on VCA property. I was also interviewed.

Guess what? Debbie Harry is scheduled to introduce Bloodbath when it premieres at NYC's Museum of Modern Art on February 12, 2011.

For info on the movie: Bloodbath.

BIBLE MADNESS! Now streaming!

2011-01-26T22:48:00.000-08:00

SIA Organization planning Convention in 2012 for survivors of abusive schools.

2010-11-22T22:24:00.001-08:00

SIA Organization (Survivors of Institutional Abuse) will host a convention in 2012 for survivors of unlicensed girls and boys homes. The time and place will be announced in early 2011 but it is expected to take place in early 2012 in Southern California.

Los Angeles, being the media capital that it is, is a prime place for survivors of many homes and unlicensed schools to come together and have their story heard. It will also be healing and empowering to meet others that will validate what survivors have been through collectively.

The inspiration for this convention is rooted in the successful reunions that have been held by survivors of other reform schools across the country. Survivors of Victory Christian Academy held their reunion in August 21, 2010 where a tree was planted on the property that once housed VCA in memory of Carey Dunn, and other victims, who have died as a result of abuse or injury incurred at unlicensed and abusive youth facilities. Survivors of New Bethany, which was closed following an investigation into the death of Guy Richardson, held their reunion around the same time.

A video posted of the VCA reunion drew interest from survivors of other homes, including New Bethany, Hephzibah House, New Horizons, and the Victory Girls Home in Florida (no relation to VCA in Ramona). The dedication and enthusiasm of survivors to get the word out on the abuse still happening in many of these facilities has inspired us to work together.

We have done a lot on our own but more can be accomplished if we work together.

If you are a survivor and would like to be involved in the planning of this convention, please visit sia-now.org or contact: sia.jodi@gmail.com.

Reactions for 'They Didn't Forget'

2010-11-09T08:46:00.001-08:00

visit http://media.causes.com/930916 to read more comments about this video.

There are a few people who keep checking this blog but, by and large, all the action has switched to facebook. Partially because you can't get kicked off! Also, I like the idea that other people, unrelated to churches or this issue, can casually notice that a friend has been a victim, or survivor, and learns more about the issue of abuse by religious officials than if they visited a niche website.

I don't even give the YouTube address much business beyond embedding it on blogs and profiles. There are more comments about 'They Didn't Forget' at facebook's causes than YouTube.

Here's a sampling:

"This makes me so angry. I hope all these victims find closure one day. I am sure their PTSD will always haunt them. Torture and emotional rape...all in the name of God." Dwayne D.

"I'd like to revisit my reform school behind the controls of a monster bulldozer. Unfortunately, it's located in the Dominican Republic. Good work, Dwayne." Julia Scheeres

"What happened in this school was very disturbing and has shaped the character of so many. I pray that we can transform the pain and trauma into the strength of who we really are inside, courageous women full of compassion and peace."
Christa Munsell Baschung

There are other comments as well, including one heartfelt comment from a survivor of New Bethany's boy's homes.

Causes asks the question, 'What does this video mean to you?'. So, I answered it!

"This video matters to me because of the reactions. It shows there are others who have been affected and not just a hobby horse of one or two individuals. This is an issue that does affect people throughout the country.

If this is truly a billion dollar industry there must be rising groundswell of people, feeling unrecognized because of the lack of church, media, and government concerns, that grow more and more everyday. Of course, they can't take action because of attitudes that, in some cases, were literally beaten into them. Little things like saying 'you're wrong' or the reality that you have to find a political solution since church leaders, and even some children's advocates, aren't going to do anything about because they're afraid of appearing anti-religious. This means we have to take the human wreckage and literally put it in the face of those who would rather not comment. That's what this short video does.

HR911, which would have regulated these homes on a national level, appears dead in the Senate. If you look at who voted against it, it was predominately along party lines. Democrats tended to vote for regulation while most republicans voted against it. And yet, even victims of homes are shy about addressing that twist in the plot because no one wants to be called a 'liberal'---not even liberals want to be called liberals it seems!

Then there's the 'Movie of the Week' syndrome. People shy about telling their stories because they're either afraid of retribution or fear that putting their story in public would rob them of their opportunity of selling their story. Huh? Before the story can be sold, it first has to break press and become a topic of national debate. Seriously, I've met more than one like that.

The Victory story alone requires the story of six people to get a thorough understanding of how the homes came about, how they closed, and how Palmer, no longer running homes, probably because of the vigilance of survivors, now finds himself working as an escort taking teens from their parents to the various homes.

The most disturbing part is how many I've met who have confirmed a suspicion of mine. That some who were sent to the home had already been abused, or molested, by family members or church officials. One of the victims in the Bob Gray scandal revealed, in her deposition, that after she became pregnant (not by Gray) she was immediately sent off to Lester Roloff's Bethesda Home and her boyfriend shipped off to Jerry Falwell's complex in Lynchberg, VA.

It's like a throwback to the days when rich people would send their problem children far away so they'd stop being an embarrassment to their families. Some of these places are a veritable 'house of secrets' and I'm surprised more child advocates aren't looking into the abuses reported from these homes.

In the long run, it will probably be a long run. . .

As the number of people grow who aren't afraid to tell their story in public, perhaps we will see a gradual turn not just against these places but for some type of regulation.

Survivors of Institutional Abuse launch a movement.

2010-11-02T22:39:00.000-07:00

Survivors of Victory Christian Academy, an unlicensed girls home that
operated in Ramona, California, until it was closed because of abusive
practices in 1992, held a reunion on school property on August 21,
2010.

Video of the reunion premiered last week on YouTube and
received praise from JESUS LAND author, Julia Scheeres. Scheeres,
whose memoir chronicled her time at a teen behavioral modification
center in the Dominican Republic, wrote, on her facebook profile, "I
would like to revisit my reform school behind the controls of a monster
bulldozer."

Survivors of New Bethany and Hephzibah House also expressed solidarity
with the VCA women and are planning their reunions as well.

HR911, which was due to be discussed in the Senate this year but
appears dead, would regulate homes like Victory Christian Academy,
Hephzibah House, and New Bethany.

Jodi Hobbs, the woman responsible for organizing the reunion, has
formed the non profit organization, Survivors of Institutional Abuse,
which aims to unite victims of the different homes for healing and
empowerment.

Carey Dunn, a fifteen year old girl, was killed on VCA property in
1998. Heather Tierney, who was locked in a small closet called 'the
Get Right Room', recalls hearing helicopters on the day Carey was
crushed by a stack of plywood while doing construction on the home.
"I thought they were hear to rescue me." she remembers.

The women planted a tree in memory of Carey Dunn, and others who
suffered abuse, or death, at homes like Victory Christian Academy.

View 'They Didn't Forget':

Facebook: 'They Didn't Forget' at facebook causes.

YouTube: 'They Didn't Forget' at YouTube.

Survivors of Institutional Abuse: sia-now.org.

They Didn't Forget

2010-10-26T08:30:00.000-07:00

What is really interesting about my latest video is, within a few short days of the girls of Victory going to their reunion, five survivors of New Bethany also visited their place of incarceration. The women of Hephzibah House also joined together to file complaints. It's like the beginning of a growing movement.

SIA, the organization I am now part of, encourages survivors of teen residential facilities, no matter what form they take (children's homes, foster care, gay to straight centers), to have reunions. Virtual or otherwise.

Just being together and sharing experiences is therapeutic. In time, as the numbers grow, public attention will be drawn to the crimes occurring at these places.

Carey Dunn, a girl incarcerated at VCA, was killed after a stack of wood fell on her. Carey's death at VCA was swept under the rug. The women of VCA refused to let her death go unnoticed and planted a tree in her memory on the grounds of the home. They share the tree with survivors from other homes who experienced abuse.

The original proprietor of VCA set up shop in Florida after he was forbidden from working with children in the state of California. He now operates an escort business designed to shuttle young victims from their home to the teen gulags. The home he operated in Florida was accredited by the Florida Association of Child Caring Agencies. That's the same organization responsible for accrediting Camp Tracey in North Florida which also experienced allegations of abuse.

Never forget: one of the survivors in the Bob Gray case was SENT to a Lester Roloff home after she became pregnant. It's a toss up as to how many girls and boys sent to these places really need this type of treatment. During the Victory reunion, I only spoke with one person who admitted to being so far gone on drugs that she allows that the detox experienced was necessary.

Most were sent because of basic teenage behavior that clashes with fundamentalist values. Dark makeup, questioning beliefs, changing musical tastes, or worse: talking about molestation and abuse experienced in their homes and churches.

There were two I met at the VCA reunion who fit the latter category. There are others. Believe me, homes like VCA, New Bethany, and Hephzibah House are where the secrets, and skeletons in the closet, are kept.

FACCCA: List of places accredited by FACCA.
SIA ORGANIZATION: sia-now.org.
WOMEN OF HEPHZIBAH HOUSE: FOX 28 News Report.
WOMEN OF NEW BETHANY: See pictures from their reunion on the facebook page.

Pentagon declines to investigate its own.

2010-09-03T20:03:00.000-07:00

Article: Pentagon Declined to Investigate Hundreds of Purchases of Child Pornography.

Sometimes I think it's too easy taking potshots at fundamentalist preachers, although I do understand there is a strong fundamental Christian viewpoint dominant in the military.

If you accuse a pastor you will get supporters on your side. If you accuse a high ranking military official, or even a police officer, not too many people will stand by you! Not in public, anyway. So, stick to rock stars and preachers if you want to vent.

If you're really so gung ho, go for the people who can deprive you of life, liberty and justice! Now that takes bravery.

a tree was planted in Ramona

2010-08-29T13:54:00.000-07:00

The image above is a portion of between 15-20 women, each a resident of the former girls home, Victory Christian Academy (Ramona, CA). They are holding hands and having a moment of silence for those who are no longer with us. Some died horrible deaths via domestic violence. Another was killed on the premises of Victory Christian Academy.

I almost bailed on them. I'm so glad they talked me into going down there!

If you'd like to see those pictures from the Victory Christian Academy reunion held last in Ramona, CA, click here:

Fundamentalist Girls Home Reunions!

You must be a member of facebook to see these photos.

The comments from survivors of other abusive homes have been quite moving.

That little tree planting could be the start of a movement as other girls/boys home survivors begin returning to the places of their incarceration. Why? To get the closure denied them by friends, family, or, for that matter, the local authorities.

Excerpts:

"Thanks, Dwayne! MUCH has happened because of this!"

"I have tears, and they are good tears!"

Notice in the picture our tree is planted right next to the fence. The current pastor helped us dig a hole to plant it. He was told about what the women experienced. Perhaps things are changing for the better?

Visit this post to read about the place formerly known as Victory Christian Academy:

Testimonies of Victory.

This event was sponsored by the Survivors of Institutional Abuse. Otherwise known as the SIA Organization.

Visit: sia-now.org

. . .and now a word from our sponsor.

2010-08-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

"Religion and Wrestling are very similar. They usually take place on Sunday. You're watching a highly contrived drama of good versus evil. You know it's fake, but you're hoping against hope it's true."

Jeff Archer, one of the commentators in my movie, WRESTLING THEN AND NOW.

You can see him getting a choke hold from Don 'Dr. Death' Arnold in the preview of Wrestling Then and Now. Available for download!

DOWNLOAD NOW! Downloads of Wrestling Then and Now only $9.95! click here.
ORDER DVDS! DVD of Wrestling Then and Now only $12.95!click here.

Is this really a good idea?

2010-07-07T15:49:00.000-07:00

Article: Gov. Bobby Jindal signs bills allowing guns in church.
Considering all the lawsuits about child molestation and abuse, do we really want people going to church with their guns?

I can easily imagine one law abiding citizen getting carried away with shouting his amen's then and getting so caught up 'in the spirit' before he pulls out his gun and shoots it for added effect.

Launch Event postponed.

2010-07-07T05:53:00.001-07:00

Launch Event postponed until a later date.

For more info:

Launch Event postponed.

not advocating graves should be violated, just sayin'

2010-06-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

Article: Vatican 'Outraged' Over Police Raid Of Archbishops' Graves In Sex Abuse Probe.

Belgian police officials raided the graves of archbishops to see if incriminating documents, related to child abuse scandals of the Catholic Church, had been placed in the caskets. Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, Belgium's current archbishop, is quoted in the below article, as condemning the search of the cathedral, saying that is stuff for "crime novels and 'The Da Vinci Code."

SNAP, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, approved of the raid, and urged police and prosecutors to use their full powers to gain access to church records.

Now, ya'll wanna hear something that'll make some people mad? And yet, after the reading this article, seems very appropriate?

When I went to Jacksonville for the public awareness meeting regarding clergy's abuse of children back in 2008, I was intrigued by accounts of the funeral of Bob Gray. Accounts had parents of victims holding pictures of their children, at the age they were during the abuse, sitting on the front row. Apparently, people also wrote notes of closure and placed them in the coffin.

I speculated in this blog (article now removed) whether or not 'other items', not just notes from victims and their parents, might have also been placed in the casket.

Now we read that Belgian police kinda had the same idea about their religious leaders and subsequently raided the graves of archbishops?

I'm not suggesting any graves be violated, just sayin' stranger things have happened.

Survivors of Institutional Abuse - Unite! 7/9/2010

2010-06-19T17:34:00.000-07:00

July 9, 2010 Launch Event for Survivors of Institutional Abuse (Culver City, CA)

2010-06-19T17:11:00.000-07:00

In the early nineties, I met a former resident of a girl’s home called ‘Victory Christian Academy’. It was located in Ramona, California. This was a place where parents sent their children when they felt that normal methods would not instill the values they could not.

The abuse these girls endured was unbelievable. Parents were encouraged to lie in order to get their daughters to the facility.

“We’re looking at property. . .going on a vacation. . .we’d like you come!”

. . .any number of excuses to get them into the car.

VCA, surrounded by a ten foot electronic fence capable of knocking back a grown man, destroyed many lives. Some girls reported getting tackled by the staff upon first arrival. If the girls disobeyed rules they were forced to spend DAYS IN A SMALL CLOSET, dubbed ‘the get right room’.

One girl, who was a vegetarian, was not only forced to eat meat, but when she threw up, the proprietor forced the food back into their mouth, complete with vomit intact. Girls were physically restrained even though they were not a threat to themselves and others.

The abuses of this home have been documented by another former resident, Michele Ulriksen, in her book, Reform At Victory.

It was the dark side of ‘faith based rehabilitation’.

I introduced the victim I met to a cable access producer in Huntington Beach, CA.

We arranged an interview. The producer had the foresight to send this video to the Department of Children’s Services. Within a few months, this school was raided by the authorities and eventually shut down in 1991.

This was the first time I actually experienced the power a few people can have when they exercise their first amendment rights.

A few months ago, I was contacted by Jodi Hobbs, a survivor of Victory Christian Academy. She became aware of my role in shutting the school down via the internet. Jodi, along with three other survivors, has formed the Survivors of Institutional Abuse (SIA Organization) and invited me to be a board member.

I was more than happy to accept and pleased to say we are having our first fund raiser on July 9, 2010.

The Launch Event will feature the premier of our PSA, directed by Steven Kimbrough (CEO President KMGI-TV & Black Kilt Films, Inc.), who recently returned from the Cannes Film Festival promoting the Cannes 24 Hour Film Challenge.

We will also screen ‘Over the GW’, a hard hitting motion picture which exposes the abuses which have been occurring at teen behavior modification centers. The facility profiled in ‘Over the GW’, interestingly, was not a faith based center. It was secular and accepted Medicaid funding before it was closed. Yet, their methods of ‘rehabilitation’ were just as abusive as those endured by the residents of VCA.

‘Over the GW’ was referenced in a Congressional Hearing on
"Child Abuse and Deceptive Marketing by Residential Programs for Teens." See a clip from that Congressional Hearing, plus a preview of 'Over the GW', below this article.

Teen behavior modification centers, which includes everything from wilderness camps to gay to straight therapy centers to unlicensed 'ministries' is a billion dollar industry. It is not centered around rehabilitating teens who have been abused, or addicted to drugs, or toxic behavior, but, instead, offers last minute 'solutions' for parents whose children are simply embracing different values.

The mere fact that teenagers are choosing different viewpoints than their parents when it comes to sexuality, music and entertainment, matters of dress, politics, or, in more serious cases, experiencing sexual abuse in the home, or possessing knowledge of sexual abuse, is used as a rationale to send children to these teen gulags.

Julia Scheeres, author of JESUS LAND, a first person account of life in one of these homes, describes these places as, ’dumping grounds for the problem children of rich evangelicals’.

Victims of the teen behavioral modification industry are finally coming out and finding each other through the internet. One of the positive results of this has been the passage of HR911.

HR911 mandates that all homes and boarding schools must be licensed, and staff trained in spotting abuse, and reporting abuse. HR911 has passed the House and is heading for the Senate. But even if it does pass, and we believe that it will, something must still be done concerning the human wreckage produced by some of these unlicensed institutions.

Victims of these abusive schools and homes must learn how to get their self esteem back. Often in the face of years of negative reinforcement. Our goal is to provide life coaching, public awareness seminars, and providing resources for education, employment, and other services necessary for restoring the quality of life.

The teen behavioral modification industry is a billion dollar business that has crippled the self esteem of many children and adults. It took over a billion dollars to destroy those lives. It might taken even more to restore them. We need your help.

Please visit our website to learn more about our organization. If you’re in the Culver City, CA area on July 9th, please join us at the Bluebird Café at 7PM for ‘Over the GW’ and the premier of our first Public Service Announcement.

Visit the official 'Survivors of Institutional Abuse' website and click 'blog' to read more about the event on July 9. 2010:

Survivors of Institutional Abuse website: sia-now.org

Child Abuse with the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist Movement

2010-06-15T15:53:00.000-07:00

Powerful video! Just remember, there are others that didn't get mentioned. Probably because of the length of the song is short, but the list of victims is long.

Testimonies of 'Victory'

2010-06-10T14:29:00.000-07:00

My part in the closing of Victory Christian Academy, a girls home that was once located in Ramona, CA, was relatively small.

I introduced a former student to a cable access producer in Huntington Beach, CA. He interviewed her while I did the camera work. Once the video was 'in the can', the producer was far sighted enough to send the video to the California Department of Children's Services.

The home was raided not long after and, within a few months, was closed by the state.

'Brother P', the man who operated the home, simply moved on to Jay, Florida. A former student at that home accused him of rape. He is apparently opening another home, or tried to open another, in Iowa. There was setback after a 16 year old sex offender was found living on premises.

A man who shares the name of the former Victory Christian Academy founder had been the president of The Florida Association of Christian Child Caring Agencies according to this article Research on Tough Love, Christian "Reform Schools", The connection between Palmer and Roloff.

Did 'Brother P' serve as vice president for an organization to accredit his own institution? Who knows?

If you visit the FACCCA site, you will notice, by clicking 'members', that not only is Jay, Florida school still operating, but Camp Tracey, the boy's home that was scandalized by reports of violence and sexual inappropriateness, is also a member of FACCCA.

Victims of girls and boys homes are discovering each other through the internet. It took awhile, but they are coming together and finding their strength.

One of the positive results of waking this sleeping giant is the passage of HR911.

This legislation, already passed the House now headed for the Senate, if passed, will insure a federal mandate that all homes be licensed. That girls and boys home staff must be trained in how to deal with sexual and physical abuse. All abuse must be reported to the proper authorities.

A few victims of the Victory Home offered their testimonies which helped HR911 pass the House. Now, we await the Senate.

Michele Ulriksen, the author of Reform At Victory, has a page on her website detailing testimonies from the former residents of the girls home. After reading their testimonies on Michele's site, I am proud of the role I played in helping to get this home shut down.

Best wishes on the upcoming reunion of the Girl's of Victory Christian Academy.

TESTIMONIES OF VICTORY:

Interviews and Survivor Statements.

ARTICLES OF VICTORY:

Falling Lumber Kills Hesperia Girl at Academy, September 25, 1988.

Private School Raided by State, Local Officials, February 27, 1991.

Religious Reform School, State Clash, March 4, 1991.

NOTE: The second article (Religious Reform School, State Clash) mentions the Orange County television interview that I helped arrange. Although uncredited, it does make feel good every time I read it.

Secrets in the Schoolhouse, Mollye Barrows and Duwayne Escobedo, December 2, 2004.

Anchor Character Training Center, a children’s center, is unlicensed in Iowa, Abigail McWilliam, February 27, 2009.

HR911:

Child Advocates Recommend Senate Review and Revision of HR 911

NOTE: The above PDF concerning HR911 mentions Victory Christian Academy in Ramona, CA.

Official reunion site:

Girls of Victory Christian Academy.

Reunion Planned for 'Girls' of Victory Christian Academy.

2010-06-06T12:19:00.000-07:00

Survivors of Victory Christian Academy, the girl's home in Ramona, CA, that was closed down in 1991, and was the subject of Michele Ulriksen's book, Reform at Victory, will be having a reunion on August 20-22 in San Diego, CA, near the location of the former home.

The proprietor of the home simply set up shop in Florida after VCA was closed by state authorities. He was forbidden from working with children in Southern California.

Florida, naturally, greeted him with open arms. A student at the Florida home accused him of rape, and now he's apparently opening another home in Iowa.

Is this a great country or what?

Sarcasm, people!

A tour of the Ramona facilities will be part of the agenda. I was privileged to accompany some of the women on a visit to the former VCA property a few months ago. Perhaps I will write more about that at a later time.

For information regarding the reunion:

Girls of VCA blog.

Official page for the 'Girls of Victory Christian Academy':

Girls of Victory Christian Academy.

Not even Saddam Hussein deserved this. . .

2010-05-25T17:59:00.000-07:00

CIA had plan to pose Saddam Hussein - Osama Bin Laden as pedophiles.

Although, perhaps the article I linked to might deserve to be called propaganda in itself.

Check out this quote from a former CIA official:

"Saddam playing with boys would have no resonance in the Middle East -- nobody cares," one former CIA official told Spy Talk. "Trying to mount such a campaign would show a total misunderstanding of the target. We always mistake our own taboos as universal when, in fact, they are just our taboos."

The former CIA official might be right when we consider there are other countries that just don't blink an eye when a 13 year old girl is married off, against her will, to an elderly man.

Against her will? What? Like 13 year old children have rights?

Interesting, even in America, we don't seem to accept the idea of children having rights. I remember the phrase 'children's rights' being quite scorned upon in my Christian school.

HR 911 - Stopping Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens

2010-05-09T19:26:00.000-07:00

The text from this post is taken from http://edlabor.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/publications/TeenResProgramFactSheet.pdf

It has been introduced by California 7th District Representative, George Miller, and passed the House.

Don't let the year '2009', featured in the title, get you down!

Activism is about to heat up on this issue. Keep visiting this blog for more info and websites regarding what we can do to make HR911 the law of the land.

Keeping Kids Safe
The Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2009

Tens of thousands of U.S. teenagers attend private and public residential programs – including therapeutic boarding schools, wilderness camps, boot camps, and behavior modification facilities – that are intended to help them with behavioral, emotional, mental health, or substance abuse problems. Depending on the state in which the program operates, some of these programs are subject to State law or regulation, while others are not. As a result of this loose patchwork of state oversight, children at some the programs have been subject to abuse and neglect with little to no accountability.

The Government Accountability Office found thousands of allegations of child abuse and neglect at residential programs for teens since the early 1990s. Tragically, in a number of cases, this abuse and neglect led to the death of a child. To address this urgent problem, the “Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2009” would:

Keep teens safe with new national standards for residential programs that are focused on teens with behavioral, emotional, or mental health, or substance abuse problem

>Prohibit programs from physically, mentally, or sexually abusing children in their care.
>Prohibit programs from denying children essential water, food, clothing, shelter, or medical care – whether as a form of punishment or for any other reason.
>Require programs to provide children with reasonable access to a telephone and inform children accordingly.
>Require programs to train staff in what constitutes child abuse and neglect and how to report it.
>Require that programs only physically restrain children if it is necessary for their safety or the safety of others, and to do so in a way that is consistent with federal law already applicable in other contexts.
>Require programs to have plans in place to provide emergency medical care.

Increase transparency to help parents make safer choices for their children.

>Require programs to disclose to parents the qualifications, roles, and responsibilities of staff members.
>Require programs to notify parents of substantiated reports of child abuse or violations of health and safety laws.
> Require programs to include a link or web address for the website of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which will carry information on residential programs.

Hold teen residential programs accountable for violating the law.
> Require states to inform the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of reports of child abuse and neglect at covered programs and require HHS to conduct investigations of such programs to determine if a violation of the national standards has occurred.
>Provide HHS the authority to assess civil penalties up to $50,000 for every violation of the law.

Ask states to step in to protect teens in residential programs

Within three years, states must require all public and private programs to be licensed, meet standards that are at least as stringent as the national standards, and implement a monitoring and enforcement system. The Department of Health and Human Services would continue to inspect programs where a child fatality has occurred or where a pattern of violations has emerged.

House Education and Labor Committee ● February 2009 ● http://edlabor.house.gov

THE ADVOCATE by Teresa Burrell

2010-04-17T12:30:00.000-07:00

Sabre Orin Brown does not have a sexy job. She is a Juvenile Court attorney who has the unthankful job of deciding whether children should be reunited with their parents. If the parents have been wrongfully accused, and she makes the right decision, she is regarded as a hero. If she makes the wrong decision, the results can be fatal and the public outcry can be enormous. If she keeps a child and parent apart, even for the right reason, the parent can become vindictive.

The Advocate, the debut novel by former lawyer, Teresa Burrell, gives a rare insight into the world of a trial attorney. How cases are doled out to the lawyers, with little, or no control, over who their client will be. Sometimes they find themselves representing the most odious people. They must have the inner belief that the prosecution will be working just as hard to convict, as the defense will be when it comes to challenging the accusations.

An overworked, and underfunded system, on both sides, makes idealism rather difficult.

Sabre is given the case of Alexis Murdock, whose father, Gaylord Murdock, comes from a highly esteemed family in Atlanta, Georgia.

The book takes place in San Diego, California, which is interesting considering there's a corrupt cop in the picture. Considering the problems we have been having with police corruption out here in Southern California, I have to wonder if making her corrupt cop over a thousand miles away was a tactical move on Burrell's part?

It is well noted in the book that if a fellow cop accuses another of corruption, that cop will probably become ostracized from his peers if the charges don't pan out. It doesn't seem uncommon for retribution to be sought after against the whistleblower.

This is not an activist novel, though. It is a story of close calls, mistaken identities, and plot twists that, on the surface, seem to come out of nowhere. I have no doubt, though, that Burrell is writing from personal experience. This makes the novel all the more intriguing.

If you're in Southern California, you might find Teresa Burrell signing autographs at various book outlets. If you're elsewhere in the country, and want to get a glance at what life for a Juvenile Attorney must be like, I highly recommend this book.

Click here to order your copy of The Advocate.

Visit Teresa Burrell's website.

Goliath wins.

2010-04-14T06:26:00.000-07:00

I love how Rex keeps using the phrase 'child molesters not welcome'.

What he really means is child molesters not welcome unless they have short hair, wear ties, carry bibles, and operate church bus routes!

article: MONGOLS 'TAKE ON' MAYOR R. REX PARRIS!

There were reports of poll workers wearing 'vote Rex' t-shirts while working on the job. Others reported people coming up to them reminding 'em to 'vote right', before flashing Rex's image in the form of a t-shirt, etc. Lancaster Baptist College students (West Coast Baptist College) were seen popping in every hour to check the voter index. Will there be investigations?

We'll keep you posted.

Various lamentations from the facebook page:

Melody Clark Unfortunately, there seem to be that many stupid/blind/sociopathic people in Lancaster. Since agnostics, atheists, pagans, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists (and anyone else I'm leaving out) are no longer citizens in Lancaster, I suggest we all move and show him what happens to his tax base. We're not going to retire here as we'd planned. Not with this bully in office.
4 hours ago · Comment · Like · Report

Andrew Nieto Get this: the polls closed at 8:00. We at QHHS finished up and left at 9:30. I showed up at Rodio's election night party at 10:30 to find it already done and over with. I went directly from there to Rex's party at the new, not-yet-opened restaurant on Lancaster Boulevard to find it was INVITATION ONLY! Then I went directly over to city hall to find it was already closed and locked up.
6 hours ago · Comment · Like · Report

Jon White fixed!
2 hours ago · Report

Get Parris Out of Lancaster. Lancaster wakes up tomorrow, to be spied on, to have it's dogs killed, it's children and poor to be treated like criminals, it's people to be ruled by SOMEONE else's church, it's taxes given to multi millionaires, it's law enforcement to be used as a personl army, and it's private businesses shut down for a photo op!
7 hours ago · Comment · Like

Mike Burdett screw this, here i come palmdale!
7 hours ago · Report

Get Parris Out of Lancaster. We guess it's a matter of getting the kind of government the people deserve!
7 hours ago · Report

Kristin Sanders does this mean we lost?
7 hours ago · Report

Debbie Holland Makes me very glad I live in Pearblossom instead.
6 hours ago · Report

Matthew Keltner this makes me want to throw up!
6 hours ago · Report

Mike Burdett is there gonna be a recount and an investigation on this?
6 hours ago · Report

Jon White I feel betterthat I live in Palmdale, though it's still to close to Landisatser. If more (Lancaster) residents voted they could make a major change...over 100,000 residents and only a small hand full get their ass out and vote. I guess they enjoy living in bullshit, lies and dictatorship type leadership. Truthfully our plan is to leave the AV all ...
See More
3 hours ago · Report

Kathryn Sanders Yes, Kristin the citizens of Lancaster who know better lost.

I am glad that I live in Palmdale, but Rex has influence here too. Whatever he does in Lancaster affects everyone living in this valley.
about an hour ago · Report

David vs Goliath! April 13th in Lancaster, CA!

2010-04-12T21:46:00.001-07:00

This is the most exciting election that I've looked forward to!

No matter how it turns out, it has certainly energized the citizens of Lancaster, CA.

My hat is off to you!

Too bad I can't vote in it! I'll just have to 'watch', via the internet, from the OC border.

Sobering thoughts:

"~ FROM 2008 - 2009 ~
*Lancaster 93534 sex offenders rised from 102 to 120. that's 18% according to the megan's law website. *Also the FBI uniform crime report shows a 300% increase in homicides. *25% more crime than Palmdale, *and a twice the amount of rapes and arson. *Palmdale 93550 adopted sex offender residency restrictions. they went from 100 - 89.

from: Get Parris Out of Lancaster.

Brave Catholics Begin to Flood the Pews of Baptist Churches!

2010-04-10T00:17:00.000-07:00

Article: Letter SHOWS Pope Benedict stalled Child Molestation case.

FALLOUT!

CATHOLICS, IN MOMENTARY INSANITY, ARE FILLING BAPTIST CHURCH PEWS! PASTOR FRED FROM LANDOVER BAPTIST EXPLAINS ALL!

I tried to post this comment at You Tube, but it kept coming up in error. They don't like links, so I edited my comment. Here's the whole comment, reproduced here:

uh, the Catholics would do well to view this site before joining any Baptist church: stopbaptistpredators.com.

However, Landover Baptist is probably the safest place for your child, provided he, or she, is over the age of 21!

All that aside, this is a great time for me to gratuitously pull out the FIRST video that ever graced the internet which featured the famed Landover Baptist Church in Freehold, Iowa. Certainly, it's one of my prouder moments since I videotaped and edited it:

Sex Predators in Lancaster.

2010-04-08T21:48:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, this isn't an example of the 'Christian Community' Rex Parris bragged he was growing in Lancaster?

Click the image for the 'big picture'.

fundamental panicky propaganda

2010-04-07T06:46:00.000-07:00

Leave it to Lancaster Baptist Church to stoke the flames of paranoia! To make bad manners on their part, and poor choices by their mayor, and transform it into so-called persecution.

Here's another video to watch where Rex declared war against sex offenders. After watching this, look at the videos below this post. Notice the rate of sex predators has gone up since Rex, who is associated with LBC, became mayor. Most fundamentalist megachurches have been very soft when it comes to dealing with sex predators within their midst.

Rex switched agendas and made war against gangs his top priority. His chief accomplishment? Killing more than 1000 pit bulls in what has been described as a 'dog holocaust'.

All that Islam stuff is just propaganda.

For more info, visit: Get Parris Out of Lancaster.

Things are getting exciting in Lancaster, CA!

2010-04-07T06:30:00.000-07:00

I don't know whose gonna win, but every day closer to April 13th seems to bring new excitement.

Today, we have a YouTube and a link to a PR firm.

First, the You Tube:

The church in question is the independent fundamentalist Baptist establishment, Lancaster Baptist Church. The college of my former church, Trinity Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, is responsible for bestowing an honorary degree on LBC pastor, Paul Chappell. It's interesting that the number of sexual predators in Lancasters is up while the amount of sexual predators in nearby Palmdale decreased.

Click the video to be taken to its YouTube page. That way, you can see the entire image.

Second, this link to a P.R. firm that handled the campaign of Rex Parris. I find it interesting that part of their strategy included 'an army of college student volunteers knocking on doors'. Gee, think they came from Antelope Valley City College? Or. . .from the LBC sponsored West Coast Baptist College? My money's on WCBC!

http://www.englanderpr.com/case-studies/59-r-rex-parris.html.

Citizens of Lancaster taking back their city from Fundamentalist Rule!

2010-04-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

This morning, campaign in the form of 'precinct walking' began at McDonalds, in Lancaster, CA. Considering how the FFF mentions that West Coast Baptist College banned Starbucks, at one time, I have to wonder if McDonalds might be next ! lol.

Here's a youtube taken this morning at McDonalds:

Here is a video of the mayoral candidate, Arnold Rodio, talking about sex offenders in Lancaster and the disappointment that current mayor, Rex Parris, who stated he is growing a 'Christian community', hasn't done much about it.

Rex Parris is a good friend of Lancaster Baptist pastor, Paul Chappell. The fact that he may, or may not, be a member of this fundamental Baptist institution, is irrelevant. What is relevant is the careless attitude both church, and Parris supporters, have toward this issue and how it spilled over into the community at large.

Christian School balloting to play role in Lancaster, CA election?

2010-04-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

At Trinity Christian Academy in Jax, Fl, it was a common practice for students to write letters to congressmen concerning various bills that would tax the schools. Those who did not want to write the letters could do an assignment from the textbook that would involve a long essay. All voluntary of course!

Considering the letter was pre-written for students on the board, what do you think most Christian high schoolers would do?

I thought of that while reading this blog posted by Matt Keitner at blogav.org, which I reproduced below. His blog was deleted at one page. I don't think it will be deleted at blogav, but just to err on the safe side, I will publish his blog here as a community service.

You might be interested in some of the replies to his post. The infamous Fighting Fundamentalist Forum is referenced in one of the replies. I can't seem to post an exact link to the blog, so if you want to read the replies, here's what you have to do:

Go to blogav.com.
Click 'The Antelope Valley Political Scene'.
Then, click 'Rumor: Did Parris & Chappell stuff the ballot box?'

Note to citizens of Lancaster, CA:

Don't underestimate the power of Lancaster Baptist, and its various schools, to overpower the election. It wouldn't surprise me if that institution didn't follow in the footsteps of TCA and engage in creative forms of electioneering. There is a relationship between TCA and LBC when you consider TCA is part of the same ministry, Trinity Baptist College, that deferred an honorary degree on Paul Chappell. Keep an eye out for funny business!

Matt's Post:

Rumor: Did Parris & Chappell stuff the ballot box?
by Matt_Keltner » April 1st, 2010, 9:19 pm

(Note: the following is a post that I put up in my blog section of Intheav.com that was promptly deleted, not even a full 24 hours later. I posed it as a question in a public forum. It is a question that I would ask Rex and Paul to their faces had I been able to attend a campaign meeting or debate. I posted it hoping that someone could clarify if this rumor was indeed true, or simply a rumor?)

RUMOR: Parris & Chappell stuffing the ballot boxes?

It was brought to my attention, from someone I would call a relatively reliable source, that (someone in authority in Lancaster city government) and (someone in authority) at Lancaster Baptist Church have been “stuffing ballot boxes” with absentee ballots ahead of the city election.

The absentee ballots in question were supposedly filled out by the college students at West Coast Baptist College — 200 or so, to be exact.

What is scandalous about this is that it is also being reported that many of the so-called West Coast Baptist “students” named in these absentee ballots have matriculated on to other places and can’t even be considered residents of Lancaster any longer.

Is this verifiable? Can the County of Los Angeles Registrars Office investigate and confirm this? Or someone else in a position of authority over elections? If this turns out to be true, it is sleazy at best. At worst, election tampering is a federal offence and (someone in authority in Lancaster city government) and (someone in authority at Lancaster Baptist Church) should both be brought in front of a federal magistrate if they did, indeed, resort to these tactics?

(Just before this was deleted, someone under the moniker of "AV Observer" threatened that I would be taken to court and sued by both Rex Parris and Paul Chappell for "defaming Rex's pastor". Since Paul Chappell was named "Citizen of the Year" by the city of Lancaster, he is viewed as a leading official in the so-called "War on Gangs" and his sermons are broadcast weekly via radio, I believe this qualifies him as a public figurehead and revokes him from immunity to criticism, just as Pope Benedict is not immune to public criticism regarding the ongoing scandals in the Catholic Church. Since we live in Lancaster and it happens to be election season, one way to stifle a legitimate question would be to threaten legal reprise for such an inquiry...However, apparently they didn't count on me consulting an attorney who notified me that if they, in any way, come after me, I will cross-complain against them in court for malicious prosecution and violating my First Amendment rights and they will be forced to pay my attorney fees. )

END OF MATT'S POST

The Pope's Top 3, now waiting for the remaining 7 from Letterman.

2010-03-30T19:24:00.000-07:00

The headline sounds like a lazy David Letterman moment.

Top Three Reasons Why The Vatican is Not Liable for Abuse.

Hint:

They're basically the same reasons given why Trinity Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida isn't liable for Bob Gray's crimes against children.

1) Pope is head of state therefore has immunity from prosecution.

2) American bishops were not employees of Vatican at the time.

3) 1962 report that mandated that bishops not report sex abuse cases to police doesn't count since the priest could have reported the crimes if they wanted to.

Same thing, different names, with the Trinity case:

1) Pastors, especially those in Florida, have confidentiality laws working in their favor. That's sort of a 'social' immunity.

2) Messer and current company, barring, of course, Lenny Willinger, the associate pastor, were not in positions of authority when the crimes were committed (not an employee at the time).

3) The 'smoking gun', in this case, would be an audio tape of Gray admitting he french kissed a minor. In those days, it was only a misdemeanor, not a federal offense, for an adult in the 1970s to french kiss a minor. Besides, that tape was released after Bob Gray died.

Same circus different clowns. Although, if the USA declared a war on child abuse just like it declared a war on drugs, it might be theoretically possible to treat Pope Benedict like Manuel Noriega. Funny thing is, I don't see ANY President, Democrat or Republican, who would be willing to take the heat for holding the Pope and the Vatican accountable for their actions.

Mayoral Candidate of Lancaster makes dealing with Sex Predators part of his key agenda.

2010-03-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

Arnold Rodio, the primary challenger of Lancaster Baptist Church favorite, Rex Parris, puts dealing with sex predators close to the top of his primary agenda.

#1, bringing higher paying jobs to Lancaster. #2, water conservation (they are in the desert). #3, sex predators.

Glad to see he's acknowledging this problem exists. For a while, I thought I was imagining things.

From arnoldrodio.com:

The number of sex offenders in Lancaster has
increased despite the current Mayor promising fewer.
I will implement a plan for pocket parks in
neighborhoods to help keep our kids safe from these predators.

I will partner with law enforcement, non-profit
organizations, schools, and private citizens to establish
proactive crime-prevention and youth intervention programs.

Other excerpts from his page. Tell me if this doesn't sound like business as usual at most fundamentalist colleges:

It is apparent that an ominous and threatening chill hangs over City Hall. Citizens who have concerns, want to exercise their right to address elected officials, disagree with or desire to make input into the government process, have been inconvenienced, marginalized, ignored or verbally abused.

Never before in the history of Lancaster has a citizen been issued a ticket and ordered to appear in court for making comments during a public session. After conducting private meetings to “investigate” allegations of improper conduct against an appointed commissioner, another council member and a community group, the mayor orchestrated public “trials” against them from the dais. When serious complaints are made against the mayor, citizens are called names and his council majority supports bringing a law-suit against those who speak out, to be paid for by the city!

It appears deals are struck, minds are made up and often motions are made before citizens are given an opportunity to speak. Brown Act and Fair Political Practices violations have occurred. Meetings take place at the Mayor’s business office and his private residence, leaving some council members purposely uninformed. Individuals who do not live in Lancaster are appointed to Lancaster commissions, including those who have a business or work relationship with the Mayor.

This is an indictment of the past two years and must be brought to a stop.

Concerning the recent comments by Parris about 'growing a Christian community' and Councilwoman Sherry Marquez comments:

My concern is that the irresponsible comments of Mayor Parris and Councilwoman Marquez have created the impression that we are a community of small-minded religious bigots, which is just not true. Our economic recovery will come through investment and the negative publicity brought by this controversy will only have the effect of driving investors away from our community. This is especially true of investors who have beliefs that are not in harmony with the Mayor and Councilwoman Marquez. Ask yourself this question: Would you invest money in a community that labels you a baby killer? Would you invest in a community whose leaders believe that unless you believe as they do you are not a Christian?

Mayor Parris has generated controversy and lawsuits since the moment he was elected. Almost his first act was a violation of the Brown Act. I do not think our city can survive politically or financially, another two years of Rex Parris, especially if he continues promoting his religious sectarian agenda which he has already said numerous times that he plans to do. Our city needs businesses and jobs, not bickering.

The election will be on April 13th. Will keep you posted.

Lester Roloff 'Freedom's Last Call'.

2010-03-27T21:13:00.001-07:00

I feel like I jumped into the Hot Tub Time Machine, but instead of popping out at a swingin' ski resort, wound up at one of Lester Roloff's home for girls and boys circa 1976.

Lester Roloff was an icon at my former church, Trinity Baptist in Jacksonville, Florida. He visited about two or three times a year. Bible conference and whenever he happened to be in Florida. He would take the girls and boys to the downtown juice bar for a drink. Roloff also played against our top basketball players and, more often than not, won.

Michael Palmer, the fellow referenced in the posts regarding Victory Home for Girls, is a big admirer of the late Lester Roloff.

This movie, which is seen in seven parts on You Tube, was produced by Roloff. Naturally, it is uncritical of his work, but it does give a historical framework for how the current crop of homes (Victory, Hephzibah House, etc) came to be.

Roloff was not one to give detailed answers to accusers. I remember one service that was entirely in song. He might introduce a subject and make you think he was going to say something valid, then he'd suddenly lapse into song and stay that way for the entire service.

He was quoted on 60 Minutes as saying his discipline left no 'lasting marks' on the girls.

Part One shows us the layout of Roloff's Texas spread. He talks about turning himself in at the jail and discusses his diet.

This diet would eventually be abused by his followers and admirers resulting in malnutrition.

Part Two gives us a glimpse into Accelerated Christian Education. He was a big advocate for ACE. Probably their best salesman.

Part Three showcases the Bethesda Home in Mississippi. Mississippi is described as the most 'progressive' state in the union because they have not tried to regulate the Roloff Homes. The Bethesda Home is where one of the victims in the Bob Gray scandal was sent after it was discovered she was pregnant.

Part Four shows us the Lighthouse boy's home. Black students are shown eating watermelon. I'll leave it to you to decide if that is intentional, or unintentional, racial stereotyping. There are white boys as well. Roloff mentions 'accidents' at the home that 'the enemy' is using as an excuse to close them down. No mention of what exactly those accidents were.

A 'prayer to the flag' mourns the USA. I believe this is happening in Lynchburg, Virginia, home of the late Jerry Falwell's Liberty University.

There's also a bicentennial reference.

We see the Peaceful Valley Home for Senior Citizens. That's probably the only home that avoided scandal.

Part Five opens with Lester Roloff landing his plane on a field in Georgia. He's visiting the City of Refuge, a rehabilitation farm for alcoholics and drug abusers. Their problem is not 'addiction', it's 'sin'. No newspapers or television sets! The home originally belonged to the woman who designed the Texas flag.

Part Six has the narrator aghast that the state wants his homes licensed. Various scenes from rallies supporting Roloff are shown. We see him at the Corpus Christi jail. The girls seem to magically march behind him on cue without being prompted. Everybody starts singing and the news media doesn't seem to know what to make of it. He walks to his jail cell singing 'Oh, how I love Jesus'. He walks into the jail cell and the doors close on him.

Part Seven talks about his time in jail and how the USA is becoming like a communist country. The movie ends with Roloff's successor bringing us up to date with the fact that Roloff is dead but his homes are still operating.

NOTE: A website is given: www.roloffhomes.org, but it is now a non-working link. Roloff.org, which is not shown on the video, does work.

for more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_Roloff

"When You Gonna Wake Up?" by Bob Dylan

2010-03-24T20:26:00.000-07:00

Warned About Abuse, Vatican Failed to Defrock Priest.

I hate to sound so cavalier about it, but whatchagonnadoaboutit?

George W. Bush signed a document that keeps the Vatican safe from the lawsuits of American victims. That was mentioned in the movie 'Deliver Us From Evil'.

I don't think Obama has time, nor the inclination, to worry about this. So, looks like we're all stuck being a vast OMG society. "Oh, my God! The pope covered up for child molesters! What are we gonna do now?"

That can apply to the Baptist scandals, the Brooklyn Synagogue scandal, the Presbyterian church scandals, and other scandals I'm not thinking of.

The Catholic Church survived the inquisitions, prostitution scandal, being silent during the holocaust, a recent Vatican official claiming there are demons in Rome, so with all that, I believe the child abuse scandals will rank as nothing more than a historical blip.

Jerry Falwell said that the trials of Trinity, the Baptist church that inspired this blog, would amount to nothing more than a 'bump in the road'. In Catholic terms, Pope Benedict's troubles will barely amount to a 'mud puddle', let alone a bump.

All I can do is just bask in the Bob Dylan song 'When you gonna wake up?'.

"When You Gonna Wake Up ?"*

God don't make promises that He don't keep
You got some big dreams baby, but in order to dream you gotta still be asleep.

When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up strengthen the things that remain ?

Counterfeited philosophies have polluted all of your thoughts
Karl Marx has got ya by the throat, Henry Kissinger's got you tied up in knots.

When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up strengthen the things that remain ?

You got innocent men in jail, your insane asylums are filled
You got unrighteous doctors dealing drugs that'll never cure your ills.

When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up strengthen the things that remain ?

You got men who can't hold their peace and woman who can't control their tongues
The rich seduce the poor and the old are seduced by the young.

When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up strengthen the things that remain ?

Adulterers in churches and pornography in the schools
You got gangsters in power and lawbreakers making rules.

When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up strengthen the things that remain ?

Spiritual advisors and gurus to guide your every move
Instant inner peace and every step you take has got to be approved.

When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up strengthen the things that remain ?

Do you ever wonder just what God requires ?
You think He's just an errand boy to satisfy your wandering desires.

When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain ?

You can't take it with you and you know that it's too worthless to be sold
They tell you, 'Time is money' as if your life was worth its weight in gold.

When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain ?

There's a man up on a cross and He's been crucified for you
Believe in His power that's about all you got to do.

When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain ?

*These are the lyrics from the album 'Slow Train Coming'. I think Dylan takes a few liberties with his own song. He always has the habit of doing that. Well, he is the singer/songwriter, so he has that right. I just wish I could understand the new lyrics! lol!

The most applicable lyric for this blog would have to be:

'Adulterers in churches and pornography in the schools
You got gangsters in power and lawbreakers making rules.'

I just loved that album back when I was a Senior at Trinity Christian Academy (1980). I played those songs over and over again!

My name is Sharlene Davis.

2010-03-18T20:56:00.000-07:00

My name is Sharlene Davis-Curnow VCA 1988-1992.

Let’s start from the beginning; my mother married a man when I was 10, when they married he point blank told me "I already raised 3 kids of my own I don't want to do it again".

I was 13 years old when my parents had heard of this "boarding school" for girls from some of their friends at church.

At this point in my life I was mouthy and failing in school but I had not yet done drugs ect.. the worst I had done at that time was to sneak out and toilet paper a friend's house. My mother's husband was very verbally abusive, she told me she was sending me there to save me from a horrible life with him. According to my mother divorce was not an option that she wanted to do again in her life.

I went shopping with my mother for new clothes that would be suitable for the school as I was still under the impression that it was your typical boarding school that you would see in the movies.

When we pulled up the dirt road to the school I was ok until I saw the what seemed to be a 50 foot tall chain-link fence with barbed wire on the top and a very large gate that automatically opened for us to drive through.

We were met in the entry by the staff along with a couple of other girls. They allowed me to say my good byes to my mother, it was a very tearful one as up until I was 10 it was just me and my mother. She was my life.

They whisked me back to this institutional like bathroom filled with a horrible sterile smell, told me to get undressed, take a shower and wash with lice soap. I was a basket case. I had been on anti-depressants and I was told I would no longer need them so they just abruptly took me off my medication (I found out as an adult this could have caused seizures along with other adverse side effects).

I was put on buddy and did not like the girl I was paired up with nor did I like anyone there as I was your typical teenager who did not like being told what to do. I also had a pretty severe issue with lying. It seemed I would lie before I could even think about the truth.

These behaviors led to some horrible events in my life. I was placed in the GR(get right room).This room had plywood walls, industrial office carpet, 1 small light in the ceiling, and an industrial lock with a peep hole on the outside of the door. I was in there for several days on several occasions. My food was brought to me and I was allowed only to leave the room to take a shower. When I was not in GR I was sitting in the corner writing sentences all day and was not even allowed to go to school while in the corner. I wrote lines in the corner, ate in the corner, and the only time I was allowed to come out was when it was time for chapel or bed.

At one point I was made to stand all day in the dinning hall with my nose to the pole while the entire school and staff went on with their day as usual. We were made to write the book of James if someone said "oh my gosh". We had huge dorm searches where girls under things would be put on display. If a torn fingernail was found on the floor they would round us all into the dorm until someone would confess and if they didn't we would all pay the consequence. We had to endure an activity called sheep and goats. They would label each girl either a sheep or goat. Goats got nothing but to go back to the dorm and have quiet time while the sheep got to have a party.

I was called a "puke", a "liar" and several other things I have managed to block from my memory. I wrote letters to my mother that never made it to her as I was told I was trying to manipulate her.

I finally got to see my mother after the first 30 days, all I could do was cry. I tried to tell her what was going on but she was being manipulated by the staff with their fake concern, fake smiles, and were so nice to me while she was there.

I finally got smart and "got saved" several times in fact, as that seemed to be the only way I could get a second chance around there.

Life in hell went on and it was pretty much one tumultuous event after another. In 1989 my time was over, my mother took me home and I was enrolled in a Christian high school. I was out for 7 months. I did start to behave worse than before and sneak out of the house more and more. Finally my parents said “hey lets go visit Victory”. Me being so utterly stupid agreed, not that it would have mattered if I opposed. We went on a Sunday I sat through Church service with my parents and immediately after the service we were greeted by the staff at which point we were invited to stay for lunch. Needless to say once the girls left the chapel, the staff and my parents took me into a room and told me I was not leaving. My heart sunk. I remember waking up the next morning crying, thinking Oh my God I am here again.

This time I had learned how to play the game from my previous stay. So no GR or corners for me this time. However one early morning not to long after I had arrived maybe about 2 or 3 months, I was told to get my things together, get dressed, that my mother was on her way to go on a plane with me to Florida. I was actually excited as I hated the walls of the Ramona school.
My mother and I flew to Florida and while on the plane I tried to save a Mormon Man. We got to the airport in Florida and we were greeted by the staff. We were taken to the Jay, Fl school and it was this huge house almost mansion like. It was a totally different world as there were only 3 other girls there besides myself.

We ate at a normal dinning table in the kitchen and got to have seconds. We went to this little church in town ran by Brother Jimmy who seemed to spit saliva every time he preached and they had a horrible choir, the song "Turn the radio on" still is remembered. We did our school work, worked out in the yard, took trips on the tractor, chased snakes around the property and chopped of their heads. Life was what seemed to be better there. Still the indoctrination continued and we were still basically told that women were the lesser of the human species. While there I received a phone call from my mother and she told me that her and my step-father were getting a divorce. "Right On!" I thought as I was under the impression that would mean I was coming home.

Oh how life had another plan entirely for me. My mother who was manipulated by the staff decided that it would be a good idea for her to work at the Ramona school so she packed up all her belongings and moved there. She made 300.00 a month to run the kitchen. The difference between my mother and most of the other staff is she genuinely loved the girls. She thought she was doing what God wanted her to do.

Once my "time" was done in Florida I was put on a plane only to return to Ramona to live. Not as a girl in the school, but, a "staff kid". This was different. I hung out with the owner’s daughter and her husband, was taught how to drive in the staff vehicles, and would sneak into the walk in with my mom in the middle of the night to eat left over 5 layer desert.

After a few months the Ramona school was officially closed by the state of California. My mother and I stayed at the school until the last girl was either transferred to Florida or went home with their parents.

Once closed it was desolate no one was there but my mother and myself. Oh how eerie the place was and so full of residual negative energy. My mother and I packed up our van and drove cross country to the Florida school where she and I lived for the first few months in a 20' travel trailer. I would go to school but would hang out with the girls most of the time.

In 1991 my life took yet another unexpected turn. My mother told me one night that she had received a phone call from my step-father; he was going to be in Louisiana and wanted her to go there to meet him for the weekend. I begged my mother not to go as I knew how utterly manipulative he was, a real womanizer. I told her before she left that I knew if she went that she was going to get back together with him. She assured me this would not happen. So off she went, she came back and told me what I knew was going to happen all along.

She was getting back together with him! I was upset as I never developed a good relationship with him. I never thought for a minute that I would be placed back in the school as a girl in the program. Unfortunately that is what happened. My mother got married at the Florida school; I was then placed back in as a girl in the program while my mother and step-father left to go live their lives. I was told I could leave when I finished high school.

When I was placed back in the school I sometimes think that Mrs. P felt sorry for me because she would allow me to go on the weekly all day shopping trips with her and Debbie. I was able to go spend the night at Debbie's house and use the phone when I wanted with in reason.

Through my entire affiliation with the school not only were the girls dictated to by Brother P but the staff was as well, and very closely. New staff would come and if they did not fit the mold they would mysteriously disappear being "called by God to do other things".

I finished my paces early, a year earlier than I should have because I wanted to get out. All I wanted to do was to be with my mother. My mother paid for and reserved my dorm room at Pensacola Christian College as that is where I was to go after high school however, I had different plans. My mother and step-father came for my graduation and they took me cross country to go to their new home in Oregon for the summer until school started. Once we got to the West Coast I told my mother I did not want to go back to Florida. I was finally 18 and they could no longer dictate to me where I was to be.

I enrolled in the local community college in Oregon but all of a sudden I discovered men, drugs and all the things that I had been previously accused of by the school but had not yet ever done.

My life has been very hurtful and challenging. I am now going to be 36 years old. I have had 1 failed marriage and am now on my 2nd. I have a beautiful 14 year old daughter who I have had the privilege to help raise since age 3. My relationship is like no other with her as I learned one thing in that place called VCA and that is, our children are precious gifts not to be thrown away like trash. Life happens and there is no teenager on this earth who is perfect. As long as you keep open communication even if it is something as a parent you don't want to hear, it is the best gift ever. I also have a wonderful son who is 3 he was born with a rare brain defect and is a strong, brave, and intelligent boy. I have my oh so supportive husband of 10 years Al who talks with me and listens to all my horrible stories of my past. He helps me realize that I am not trash, I am a woman who deserves the best life has to offer.

So everyone that is my story, I am a survivor and I am so thankful for the life I have now.

Note from Christian School Confidential: A reunion is being planned for survivors of the Victory Home for Girls. Read this account of the 'first reunion' which occurred last week in Mission Viejo.

Article: First of many.

ALERT! BILL PROTECTING PUPILS AGAINST VIOLENT DISCIPLINE PASSES IN HOUSE!

2010-03-07T20:41:00.000-08:00

The woman responsible for The Girls of Victory web page (see post below) just sent me the following link. The House just passed a bill protecting pupils against violent discipline in private and public schools! Specifically against the violence perpetrated on students at places like Hephzibah House and Victory Home. Let's see if this passes the Senate:

House Votes to Protect Pupils Against Abusive Discipline.

webpage put up for survivors of Victory Home for Girls!

2010-03-07T18:08:00.000-08:00

A website has been set up for the survivors of the Victory Home for Girls. That's the home that used to be in Ramona, California, but was closed down on Valentines Day, 1992. Unfortunately, the founder of the home, Michael Palmer, has been operating a string of girls homes at various places around the country. They've usually been closed down, followed by Palmer's denial that he ever had anything to do with the home. Then, he sets up shop somewhere else!

There is talk about a reunion of the survivors. If you went to Victory Home, or any Palmer home, and interested in attending, visit The Girls of Victory Christian Academy.

Articles about Victory Christian Academy:

Reform at Victory - A Survivor's Story.

Survivors statements about the Victory Home.

Excerpt from The Girls of Victory Christian Academy:

Who could know, who could understand, only those who shared that space. Memories of what seemed a lifetime long ago. We will always remember even when we want to forget.

Fun times, scary times, lonely times, angry times, lost times. We cherish those who helped us through. They tried to keep us apart but we remember.

Remembering friendships and the bond we share. We will be forever friends. We will always remember even when we want to forget.

City of Lancaster yanks aid from Watchdog Group

2010-03-07T15:47:00.000-08:00

City yanks aid to watchdog group.

This is what you get for criticizing a fundamentalist mayor who wants to 'grow a Christian city'. They can't stand the criticism! So, they yank their funding. The task force has investigated allegations of racism, hate crimes, and was supported by city dollars and contributions from the United Way until the community rose up to question the fundamentalist leanings of their city council.

The task force will still continue. It will be interesting to see if a grass roots movement can thwart the infrastructure of Lancaster Baptist Church during the upcoming election.

Okay, maybe it's a bit egocentric, but if secular groups are afraid to even show movies like The God Who Wasn't There, Bible Madness, and Don't Go In The Church, which are quite mild, you have to wonder if they even have the strength to stand up to fundamentalist bullies.

Good luck, Lancaster! You're going to need it.

Ayn Rand and 'secular fundamentalism'.

2010-02-27T21:22:00.000-08:00

I have always maintained, even during the days I worked for a Humanist organization, that 'secular fundamentalism' is a legitimate term. Not in the sense that Christian fundamentalists, like Pat Robertson, refer to it.

When a Christian fundamentalist uses the term 'secular fundamentalist', they are generally referring to any Atheist who decides to come out of the closet. Why is it okay for a Christian to suddenly force Jesus into a conversation that doesn't really have anything to do with Jesus, and still come across as 'fair minded'? Yet, let an Atheist mention his skepticism, and that mere mention categorizes him, or her, as a 'secular fundamentalist'?

No, just coming out with the fact that you are a skeptic, or Atheist, does not make you a secular fundamentalist.

Fundamentalism is an attitude, not a canon of beliefs.

A secular fundamentalist, in my view, is absolute regarding issues of right and wrong to the point of being a jerk. When called upon to defend their 'jerky-ness', can't seem to produce one rational argument that makes sense for their viewpoint. All they can do is throw insults at you. Just like some Christian fundamentalists I've known!

The recent books and articles coming out about Ayn Rand's fascination with child killer, William Hickman, provide enough evidence to illustrate what I'm talking about whenever I use the term 'secular fundamentalist'.

I will admit to having been both a religious and secular fundamentalist. Either alternative made life unbearable for whoever happened to be around me. That does make me feel bad. However, I know I'm not the only one who has been addicted to acting like a jerk then grabbing theology, or philosophy, to justify it.

Any 'cure' for this problem must begin with recognition that it is a problem. The following excerpts from Murray Rothbard's The Sociology of the Ayn Rand Cult (written in 1972) illustrate what I'm talking about.

I must say, every time I hear, or read, someone use the phrase 'ideas matter', I interpret that as code for 'please ignore how my real life doesn't match with my professed ideals'. Or, to put it more succinctly: 'please ignore my hypocrisy!'.

From: The Sociology of the Ayn Rand Cult.

Tell me how Ayn Rand's 'disciples' were any different from Christian fundamentalists. This sounds like me as a Trinity student defending Star Wars because of 'the force':

Personal enjoyment, indeed, was also frowned upon in the movement and denounced as hedonistic "whim-worship." In particular, nothing could be enjoyed for its own sake – every activity had to serve some indirect, "rational" function. Thus, food was not to be savored, but only eaten joylessly as a necessary means of one’s survival; sex was not to be enjoyed for its own sake, but only to be engaged in grimly as a reflection and reaffirmation of one’s "highest values"; painting or movies only to be enjoyed if one could find "rational values" in doing so. All of these values were not simply to be discovered quietly by each person – the heresy of "subjectivism" – but had to be proven to the rest of the cult. In practice, as will be seen further below, the only safe aesthetic or romantic "values" or objects for the member were those explicitly sanctioned by Ayn Rand or other top disciples.

Those who attended Bob Jones University, or familiar with Peter Ruckman's Pensacola Bible Institute, might identify with the next passage. You might remember people asking (regarding Ruckman), 'what is Doc's position on divorce, movies, women in pants, etc?'. Or, with BJU, there was a list of businesses not to visit. Why? Sometimes it was quite murky, like a particular florist shop.

Same with Rand and her secular disciples:

Thus, one time a leading Randian attorney was giving a speech on Randian political theory. During the question period, he was caught short by being asked how he could reconcile Rand’s support for the compulsory subpoena power with the Randian political axiom of non-initiation of force. He hemmed and hawed, and then said that he had to think about this – a code phrase for hurriedly checking with Rand and the other leaders on the proper answer.

Part of the continuing need to check with headquarters came from the fact that Rand, though considered infallible by her disciples, changed her mind a great deal, particularly on concrete personalities or institutions. The fundamental line change on Branden is a glaring example, as well as the line change on other formerly high-ranking Randians who were expelled from the movement. But far more frequent if less important were changes of position on show business folk whom Rand might have met. Thus, the "line" on such people as Johnny Carson or Mike Wallace (prominent TV personalities) changed rapidly – largely because of Rand’s discovering various heresies and alleged betrayals on their part.

Bob Jones University was known for having little 'trials' for those suspected of heresy on campus. Ayn Rand and her disciples were also known for that:

We have already mentioned the excommunications and "purges" in the Randian movement. Often, the excommunications – especially of important Randians – proceeded in a ritual manner. The errant member was peremptorily ordered to appear at a "trial" to hear charges against him. If he refused to appear – as he would if he had any shred of self-respect left – then the trial would continue in absentia, with all the members present taking turns in denouncing the expelled member, reading charges against him (again in a manner eerily reminiscent of 1984). When his inevitable conviction was sealed, someone – generally his closest friend – wrote the excommunicate, a bitter, febrile, and portentous letter, damning the apostate forevermore and excluding him forever from the Elysian fields of reason and reality. Having his closest friend take the leading part in the heresy proceeding was of course important as a way of forcing the friend to demonstrate his own loyalty to Rand, thereby clearing himself of any lingering taint by association. It is reported that when Branden was expelled, one of his closest former friends in New York sent him a letter proclaiming that the only moral thing he could do at that point was to commit suicide – a strange position for an allegedly pro-life, pro-individual-purpose philosophy to take.

I have heard more than one account of people nearly starving themselves into malnutrition by following Lester Roloff's strange dietary laws. Well, Christian fundamentalists aren't the only ones with strange views of health that they use their beliefs to justify. Consider Ayn Rand's view of smoking and how that affected her followers:

The all-encompassing nature of the Randian line may be illustrated by an incident that occurred to a friend of mine who once asked a leading Randian if he disagreed with the movement’s position on any conceivable subject. After several minutes of hard thought, the Randian replied: "Well, I can’t quite understand their position on smoking." Astonished that the Rand cult had any position on smoking, my friend pressed on: "They have a position on smoking? What is it?" The Randian replied that smoking, according to the cult, was a moral obligation. In my own experience, a top Randian once asked me rather sharply, "How is it that you don’t smoke?" When I replied that I had discovered early that I was allergic to smoke, the Randian was mollified: "Oh, that’s OK, then." The official justification for making smoking a moral obligation was a sentence in Atlas where the heroine refers to a lit cigarette as symbolizing a fire in the mind, the fire of creative ideas. (One would think that simply holding up a lit match could do just as readily for this symbolic function.)

Now that I think about it, there's probably not really a contradiction between Ayn Rand's view of life and that of Christian fundamentalists. Both profess allegiance to a higher form of 'reason'.

Rand's form was Objectivism. Christian fundamentalists tended to flock around Francis Shaeffer, or any teacher of their choice who threw around scripture verses like 'come now and let us reason together'. Ultimately, individual thinking was stifled in both extremes.

Reason really was not celebrated as much as strict obedience to rules, teachers, preachers, and revered writers. If you went to movies, or read novels, or did anything that might be interpreted as 'fun', it was expected to explain why this appealed to you. Just merely enjoying something was not enough. Even sex within marriage had to be interpreted as 'worship' when not used for procreation.

What Ayn Rand provided for religious fundamentalists was the idea that even if your rejected the bible, you still had to accept certain absolutist views of right and wrong that were in line with right wing politicos.

Most of those views were generally opposed to holding leadership accountable for any wrongs enacted against their members. In fact, any wrongs perpetuated on the followers by their leaders were ultimately the fault of the followers.

No wonder some of Rand's biggest fans can be found amongst fundamentalist Christian leaders and followers!

Ayn Rand's ideal man was a knife wielding child murderer!

2010-02-26T22:28:00.000-08:00

This is pretty amazing! Ayn Rand was introduced to me at Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville, Florida. She was a favorite of two of the teachers and one of the reasons I eventually called myself an Atheist. She was definitely on the free market side, which led me to the conclusion that you can be anything you want, even a Satanist, and still be accepted in the conservative Christian community, as long as your politics are right wing.

An Atheist with a view of free market capitalism will be accepted moreso than a professing Christian whose politics tends to be liberal.

Well, it turns out she did express a great admiration for child murderer William Edward Hickman who eventually became a model for her male heroes portrayed in The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.

This really doesn't come as a surprise to me. I read about her admiration for Hickman in The Journals of Ayn Rand, but never grasped he killed and dismembered a 12 year old girl whom he liked!

In her Playboy interview, she is asked about a comment made by one of the characters in Atlas Shrugged about who the most depraved person is. Playboy even mentioned the phrase 'child molester', but Ayn Rand did not accept that even a child molester was the most depraved individual.

Nope, the most depraved individual was 'a man without a purpose'.

Keeping that in mind, let's look at some excerpt from her journals courtesy of this article by Mark Ames:

Ayn Rand, Hugely Popular Author and Inspiration to Right-Wing Leaders, Was a Big Admirer of Serial Killer.

Excerpts:

Hickman did kidnap and kill a twelve year old girl. Here is his description of how he did it:

"It was while I was fixing the blindfold that the urge to murder came upon me," he continued, "and I just couldn't help myself. I got a towel and stepped up behind Marian. Then before she could move, I put it around her neck and twisted it tightly. I held on and she made no outcry except to gurgle. I held on for about two minutes, I guess, and then I let go. "When I cut loose the fastenings, she fell to the floor. "I knew she was dead. "Well, after she was dead I carried her body into the bathroom and undressed her, all but the underwear, and cut a hole in her throat with a pocket knife to let the blood out."

Hickman embraced the philosophy of Nietzsche and used it for his defense. It was this use of philosophy to defend himself that captivated Rand, and was eventually adopted for her character's defense of acts that would be criminal in the real world:

According to an LA Times article in late December 1927, headlined "Behavioralism Gets The Blame," a pastor and others close to the Hickman case denounce the cheap trendy Nietzschean ideas that Hickman and others latch onto as a defense:

"Behavioristic philosophic teachings of eminent philosophers such as Nietzsche and Schopenhauer have built the foundation for William Edward Hickman's original rebellion against society," the article begins.

The fear that some felt at the time was that these philosophers' dangerous, yet nuanced ideas would fall into the hands of lesser minds, who would bastardize Nietzsche and Schopenhauer and poison the rest of us. Which aptly fits the description of Ayn Rand, whose philosophy developed out of her admiration for "Supermen" like Hickman.

"Other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should," she wrote, gushing that Hickman had "no regard whatsoever for all that society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. He has the true, innate psychology of a Superman. He can never realize and feel 'other people.'"

This echoes almost word for word Rand's later description of her character Howard Roark, the hero of her novel The Fountainhead: "He was born without the ability to consider others."

Ayn Rand wrote of Hickman:

Hickman represented "the amazing picture of a man with no regard whatsoever for all that a society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. A man who really stands alone, in action and in soul. Other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should."

You know, I've got to confess, there was a time when I actually confessed to a twisted admiration of criminals. Those who flaunt society's rules. I often wondered why that was. Now, after reading this article, I can understand where that twisted admiration originated from.

Thing is, it's not just me. This sociopathic mentality glorified by Ayn Rand has influenced the highest levels of our government:

What's really unsettling is that even former Central Bank chief Alan Greenspan, whose relationship with Rand dated back to the 1950s, did some parasite-bashing of his own. In response to a 1958 New York Times book review slamming Atlas Shrugged, Greenspan, defending his mentor, published a letter to the editor that ends: "Parasites who persistently avoid either purpose or reason perish as they should. Alan Greenspan."

As much as Ayn Rand detested human "parasites," there is one thing she strongly believed in: creating conditions that increase the productivity of her Supermen - the William Hickmans who rule her idealized America: "If [people] place such things as friendship and family ties above their own productive work, yes, then they are immoral. Friendship, family life and human relationships are not primary in a man's life. A man who places others first, above his own creative work, is an emotional parasite."

And yet Republican faithful like GOP Congressman Paul Ryan read Ayn Rand and make declare, with pride, "Rand makes the best case for the morality of democratic capitalism." Indeed. Except that Ayn Rand also despised democracy, as she declared: "Democracy, in short, is a form of collectivism, which denies individual rights: the majority can do whatever it wants with no restrictions. In principle, the democratic government is all-powerful. Democracy is a totalitarian manifestation; it is not a form of freedom."

With heros like these, it would be amazing if I, or anyone influenced by Rand and the fundamentalists who admired her, didn't develop any personality disorders!

This article by Michael Prescott is also quite illuminating.

Romancing the Stone-Cold Killer: Ayn Rand and William Hickman.

I remember reading The Journals of Ayn Rand when it first came out. The editor just didn't see fit to tell us the girl Hickman was accused murdering was not only twelve years old, but dismembered. Prescott mentions this.

Ayn Rand seemed to have a sneering attitude toward young victims:

" '[My hero is] very far from him, of course. The outside of Hickman, but not the inside. Much deeper and much more. A Hickman with a purpose. And without the degeneracy. It is more exact to say that the model is not Hickman, but what Hickman suggested to me.' "

I could say that about Ted Bundy or Charles Manson! It's not what Charles Manson was, it's what Charles Manson suggested to me! Hmmm, what does Charles Manson suggest to you?

Okay, more excerpts:

The editor also provides the briefest and most detail-free synopsis of Hickman's crime possible: "He was accused of kidnapping and murdering a young girl. He was found guilty and sentenced to death in February of 1928; he was hanged on October 20, 1928."

As far as I can tell, this is the one and only reference to Hickman's victim to be found anywhere in the book. Ayn Rand never mentions the victim at all in any of her journal entries. The closest she comes is a sneering reference to another girl, "who wrote a letter to Hickman [in jail], asking him 'to get religion so that little girls everywhere would stop being afraid of him.'"

Notice that the editor does not bother to tell us that the victim in question was twelve years old, that Hickman tormented her parents with mocking ransom notes, that Hickman killed the girl even though the parents paid the ransom money, or that Hickman cut the girl in half and threw her upper body onto the street in front of her horrified father while scattering her other body parts around the city of Los Angeles.

Rand is quite critical of the jury:

Rand discusses the jury in the case: "Average, everyday, rather stupid looking citizens. Shabbily dressed, dried, worn looking little men. Fat, overdressed, very average, 'dignified' housewives. How can they decide the fate of that boy? Or anyone's fate?"

Their sin, evidently, is that they are "average," a word that appears twice in three sentences. They are "shabbily dressed" or, conversely, "overdressed" -- in matters of fashion, Rand seems hard to please. They are "dried" and "worn," or they are "fat." They are, in short, an assault on the delicate sensibilities of the author. Anything "average" appalls her. "Extremist beyond all extreme is what we need!" she exclaims in another entry.

Well, she sure got it! The only people who seem to admire her these days are the extremists.

Speaking of 'fat people', according to Barbara Brandon, Ayn Rand developed a weight problem of her own from eating too much Godiva chocolates.

I shouldn't criticize, of course, since that's the kinda thing that happens to 'ordinary' people.

All this is ultimately used to condemn Christianity:

But of course we know the real villain in the picture. Not Hickman, but Christianity! More specifically, "All the criminal, ludicrous, tragic nonsense of Christianity and its morals, virtues, and consequences. Is it any wonder that he didn't accept it?" So it is Christianity that is characterized as "criminal," just as it is average Americans who are excoriated for their "sins and crimes."

In case there is any doubt as to Rand's position vis-a-vis Christianity, a few pages later we find her fulminating against the depravity of:

"... the pastors who try to convert convicted murderers to their religion... The fact that right after his sentence Hickman was given a Bible by the jailer. I don't know of anything more loathsome, hypocritical, low, and diabolical than giving Bibles to men sentenced to death. It is one of those things that's comical in its stupidity and horrid because of this lugubrious, gruesome comedy."

Remember, though, I was introduced to her writings at a Christian school. One of Billy Graham's daughters expressed an admiration for Ayn Rand. She's not exactly an unwelcome presence in the libraries of many Christian homes and universities.

When today's 'Christian heros' are put on trial for child molestation, and as the recent case of Matt Baker demonstrates, murder, it shouldn't come as a surprise they have defenders who regard their trials as either 'a bump in the road' or as persecution for a higher ideal.

Ayn Rand might not have been a Christian, but, when it comes to defending that which is indefensible, she has probably influenced American Christianity probably more than most American Christians would care to admit.

Ah, the ironies of life!

What a day for crimes against children in Long Beach, CA!

2010-02-25T18:05:00.000-08:00

These cases have nothing to do with clergymen, but it's still a local case for me and a bit too close for comfort.

First, the head of California's largest mental institution was arrested for molesting a Long Beach foster child for more than a decade. Plus, four other cases stemming from the 1970's:

Article: Official charged in molestation.

Second story:

Ronald Alcala, a freelance photographer, who served time for attacking an 8 year old girl with a pipe, was also convicted and sentenced for killing 12 year old Robin Samsoe back in 1979. He has other victims who died violent deaths but somehow Alcala kept getting his convictions overturned.

What's up with that?

He was convicted again today. Think he'll get his conviction overturned again?

A really weird moment in the trial was when a mother testified that two gold earrings, owned by her daughter, were found in his pouch.

His defense? A clip of himself on 'The Dating Game' where he is wearing similar ear rings.

Article: Photographer convicted of killing 5 women 30 years ago.

Third story:

A sex offender apartment house in Long Beach has just been gutted and undergoing renovation.

Here's an article about the people who lived in this house:

Interview with a Rapist.

Here's a brief mention of the uproar after it was discovered 12 sex offenders were living in the house:

Sex offender apartment rehabilitated.

Interestingly, the house isn't that far from where Paula Jones, who sued Bill Clinton for sexual harassment, used to live.

Mackenzie Phillips accepts Darkness2Light Courage Award.

2010-02-20T22:53:00.001-08:00

Lawyer to Missionaries is ON THE RUN!

2010-02-16T08:45:00.000-08:00

I really have nothing to add to this story beyond I'm amazed at the people who have jobs these days. At first, this lawyer to the missionaries in Haiti claimed he just shared the name of someone wanted for human trafficking. Now, he's on the run!

Jorge Puello, Adviser To U.S. Missionaries, On The Run From Authorities.

The musical road in Lancaster, CA.

2010-02-14T17:15:00.000-08:00

Just so you can know it's not all scary politics in Lancaster. It does have its bright moments! I must have had the radio going full blast the last time. Next time, I'll keep the volume low and roll down the windows.

Let's use the way back machine and look at the ghost of Lancaster's past.

2010-02-11T21:34:00.001-08:00

NOTE: I just received a request from one of the principals involved in this dispute to remove that individual's name from the blog. This individual went back to the FFF and deleted the contents of the original posts. Therefore, this is the only place where you will see what used to be posted in the FFF. The contents are that important that I'm keeping the story up but deleting the names.

I'm getting some new readers from Lancaster, CA, who aren't familiar with the Fighting Fundamentalist Forum, perhaps the only place you can go to get an uncensored opinion of what's happening in the world of independent fundamentalist Baptists.

To save the newbies some time, I'm going to highlight some of the more disturbing threads regarding Lancaster and the world of Lancaster Baptist Church. My statcounter tells me Lancaster Baptist is also monitoring my page. So, if you're upset with me, take it up with the webmaster behind the FFF.

Thread: Important Information about Sex Offenders.

This thread begins with a series of e-mail exchanges between (name omitted) and LBC's Associate Pastor Tim Christoson concerning a West Coast Bible College student who was registered as a sex offender in Indiana. California law apparently did not require him to register as a sex offender because he was 13 years old when the offense happened. This exchange happened in 2008.

From the associate pastor:

Just for the record, regarding XXXX (name omitted by Christian School Confidential), he had an offense as a 13 year-old, and due to his age and the nature of the offense, he has not been required to register in CA (based on our state's criteria). He is required to register in IN until he's 25, then he'll roll off their list. I consulted with deputies in both Lancaster and Indiana, who indicated he is well within his rights to live here on the campus and attend school here, and also consulted with Christian Law Association, and they agreed. Just as an extra step of care, we have not assigned him to serve in children's ministry (as you know, many students serve in children's ministry).

Name omitted responds:

You got me disturbed with your answer that he is required to register in IN but not in CA. So I did some research for my personal edifcation. I checked the CA website and he is not registered. That bothered me to know that if someone commits that type of crime in another state, they wouldn't be required to register in CA. However, this is what I found on the CA website:

Registration of Sex Offenders Who Come to School or Work in California. Students and employees who reside out of state but go to school or work in California must register as sex offenders here if they are required to register in their state of residence. Penal Code 290, subd. (a)(1)(G). An employee is defined as a person who is employed in California on a full or part-time basis, with or without compensation, for more than 14 days, or for an aggregate period exceeding 30 days in a calendar year. A student is defined as a person who is registered in an educational institution, as defined in Education Code section 22129, on a full or part-time basis. The student/employee must register in the jurisdiction where he or she attends school or is
employed.

The person in question eventually moved back to Indiana.

The associate pastor responded:

The young man is now back in Indiana, a few of the college administration who were not aware of the situation are now going to review it.

Did they take care of the problem by sending him back to Indiana? Or, was it just another case of a student returning home because the semester ended?

Name omitted posts:

The deputy in charge of sex offender registration there told me XXXXX plans to return to WCBC in the fall. In my humble opinion, this move to Illinois was to get him off the radar before his return to WCBC and LBC in the fall. I ask you this - if XXXXX left WCBC in May, at the end of the semester, what purpose would WCBC have to be still talking to the Indiana Sheriff's Department about him? Expecially in light of the fact that the Illinois Sheriff's Department has information that says he plans to return to WCBC in the fall?

If LBC has not properly dealt with this problem, and there are more sex offenders on campus, it might just be a reflection of the city of Lancaster which has been used by Los Angeles as a dumping ground for pedophiles. Of course, my new readers probably know this already.

Thread: High Rate of Sexual Offenders.

Excerpts:

"There are a disproportionate number of sexual offenders being located in our community and our children are too important to us to allow them to be the next victims. " - Sharon Runner

"The Antelope Valley had more parolees and ex-sex offenders than any other area in California, Ledford told ABC7. " "The fact of the matter is we are a dumping ground," Ledford said.

Ledford is a former mayor of Lancaster, CA.

A citizen writes:

The sheer number of homes housing sex offenders and the number of ladies who go soulwinning every week means that ladies/teens/college ladies are knocking on at least one sex offender's door EVERY WEEK. I mean, if one out of 408 people are registered sex offenders, and we assume there are two people living in each house (a very conservative guess), that mean there is a sex offender living in every 204th house. If we assume four people live in each house, that number drops to one sex offender for every 102 homes.

At the very least, LBC should be using the megan's law site to come up with modified maps for the ladies/teens/college ladies to use - keeping them away from these criminals. Not that walking down the street in broad daylight in Lancaster is safe anymore. Let the men knock on these doors. Or it should be gently suggested that ladies only go door knocking in the company of their husbands if they wish to be safer.

For the safety of the ladies/teens at LBC, I hope some protections are in place.

In spite of this, it seems the emphasis of both the mayor and the pastors is NOT SEX OFFENDERS, but instead gangs.

Thread: Pastor Chappell Named Citizen of the Year.

Excerpts:

“No one is more responsible for the success of the Antelope Valley War on Gangs than Pastor Chappell. He got the resources together; captured everyone’s attention; and, recruited the involvement needed to help the Antelope Valley turn the corner in making our community safe again,” remarked Mayor Parris.

Another factor in the selection of Dr. Chappell as Citizen of the Year is the economic impact Lancaster Baptist Church and West Coast Baptist College have on the community. Dr. Chappell’s church and its affiliated educational institutions go beyond improving the spiritual, charitable, and educational well-being of this community. The “something extra” they provide has turned out to be invaluable to the area.

Well, if LBC provides the primary financial boom in Lancaster, it's obviously not coming from the real estate market.

Thread: Does this story describe the Antelope Valley today?

Excerpts:

I do not know what the local forclosure rate is, but houses are not selling...even with price drops.

And I know of real estate agents who suggest their clients completely avoid the east side of Lancaster due to the high crime rate (the bad side of town where LBC/WCBC is located).

Another poster sarcastically replies:

For those who are stuck there, I am SO SORRY!

But on the bright side, look at all those new prospects for the bus ministry!

NOTE: I realize these posts are a couple years old and there's been a change in mayors, but I doubt the recent comments, and facebook postings, by Councilwoman Sherry Marquez are likely to make people pack up their bags and move to Lancaster.

I enjoy the desert and think Lancaster has potential, but not with the current administration.

All this reminds me of the book In His Steps where an entire city is changed when everybody asks the question, "What would Jesus do?"

In the case of Lancaster, it looks like those currently in power asked the question, then decided to do the opposite. And those are His biggest fans! Most already know my Atheistic leanings. That said, why do I get the feeling Jesus would prefer Atheists who actually embody his teachings as opposed to those acting in his name who are obviously his biggest embarrassment?

It seems the more people insist on literally accepting him as God in the flesh, the less they tend to emphasize actually following his teachings. Whereas those who look upon him as a good teacher, but not necessarily divine, are the ones who seem to practice loving their neighbor, turning the other cheek, feeding the poor, and all the other things most have come to associate with Christianity.

A 'spiritual' Civil War in Lancaster?

2010-02-10T21:54:00.000-08:00

Lancaster is becoming one very interesting, but scary place. I'll have to digest the material I've been receiving before seriously attempting to write about it. I might even owe a bit of an apology to the freethought group that didn't want to show Don't Go In The Church along with either Bible Madness or The God Who Was Not There as a double feature.

In the meantime, while I'm digesting the material and figuring out how best to approach it, here's an article from the local blog which seems to be the antithesis of the Antelope Valley Press in that they're actually reporting on what's going on concerning the dark side of Lancaster, CA.

I was also surprised to see this blog (Christian School Confidential) quoted. My blog's not credited, but it's obvious that's where it came from. You can see the exact quotes elsewhere on Christian School Confidential. Just keep scrolling and reading.

That's fine with me!

Facts are facts so let's get them out there.

Hat is off to the brave people of Lancaster standing up to the local tyranny of fundamentalists.

I must say, not even the fundamentalists from my part of the South are this bad! You have to go back to the days of J. Frank Norris shooting D.E. Chipps in Fort Worth, Texas, to find this kind of drama.

from: Human Relations Task Force Condemns City Officials Actions while City Emails appear on local blog.

Excerpts:

Along with Task Force members meeting and discussing the events in questions, emails surfaced that appear to have come directly from the Lancaster Mayor’s office and the Lancaster City Managers office.

The emails were posted to a local blog website and appeared to be placed onto the website by a blogger proclaiming to be a Parris supporter. The blog was called, “Christianity is now a Hate Crime”. The emails appeared to have been written by Mayor Parris and City Manager Mark Bozigian and addressed directly to Mr. Darren Parker, President of the Antelope Valley Human Relations Task Force. The emails detailed Mayor Parris challenging the authority of the Task Force as well as it’s president Mr. Parker.

One email, appeared to have been written by Mark Bozigian in which he stated he was writing the email from his home, also questioned the credibility of the Task Force and it’s authority to investigate the remarks by the Mayor and city Councilwoman. The email also called into question Mr. Parker’s alleged statement that Lancaster was a “Hate Capitol” and at one point states, “your response will in large part shape my recommendation to the City Council as to the City’s future relationship with AVHRTF.”

The AVNEWS interviewed Mr. Parker Tuesday who stood behind the decision of the Task Force saying that 40 members went to the task force meeting and voted unanimously to “censure” Mayor Parris and Councilwoman Marquez. In reference to the unanimous decision, Mr. Parker stated “it was not an individual effort….it was the communities collective effort”.

When asked about the emails being posted to a local blog site, Mr. Parker stated that he had nothing to do with the emails and said "subsequently, for me to see that (the emails) on the blogs. I was blown away, No officer of the Task Force sent those out.”

When asked about the legitimacy of the Task Force Mr. Parker stated "“I actually have an email statement from the Executive Director and the President of the Human Relations Commission that clearly defines the Task Force and their involvement in its creation and the special relationship we have with the Human Relations Commission.” Mr. Parker went on to say that the Task Force was formed in 1996 at the direction of The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

“The leadership of Lancaster was not around when this Task Force was formed and I think that they contested it because it was uncomfortable. Now they should fully understand by the paper (Valley Press) this morning and letter subsequently sent by the commission that in fact we are an independent entity that they can’t control…the only ones who can control it are the members of the body"

So, we have emails from the City of Lancaster challenging the legitimacy of the Task Force which was established under the direction of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

Those familiar with the tactics of fundamentalist preachers like Jack Hyles, Peter Ruckman, and institutions like Bob Jones University, and others recognize the 'my way or the highway' approach they take with congregation members. Now, imagine a small city, controlled by fundamentalists, employing the exact same tactics with Los Angeles County!

Mayor Parris wants names:

When asked about one email that seemed to ask for the personal information on Task Force members by Mayor Parris, Parker stated, “Its been a longstanding policy of the Task Force that the officers information is available, but for the members the information can only be obtained from each individual member… We would not compromise any organization without their consent.”

Responding to comments as to Parker labeling Lancaster as a “hate capitol” Parker claimed he was misquoted by Mayor Parris saying, "that was misquoted from the New Yorker almost ten years ago…my comments toward that were that someone asked me when the (Marquez) incident first broke if I thought Lancaster was going back to becoming the ‘Hate Crime Capital’ and I said absolutely not.”

“He (Parris) took it out of context. He only took the part he wanted to question me on", Parker added

Parker went on to say that this is the first time such questions about the credibility and authority of the Task Force have been raised by the city of Lancaster.

Taking quotes out of context. Another fundamentalist tactic. Kinda like Frank Garlock did when he quoted John Lennon writing about Jesus the foreign mechanic in A Spaniard In The Works without clarifying that Jesus was actually meant to be pronounced as 'Hey-zeus'. Pardons, I can't figure out how to put the proper dashes over the letters.

Jesus is a common Spanish name, but that didn't stop Garlock and fundamentalists from misquoting Lennon, then adding, "This is what John Lennon thinks about Jesus!"

Here's a tactic familiar to anyone who grew up in fundamentalism. Refusing to discuss an issue unless you speak DIRECTLY to the person involved. Yet, when you DO try to speak to the person involved, they refuse to speak with you:

Prior to the meeting of the Task Force, Parker stated that he attempted to contact Mayor Parris and even spoke with City Manager Mark Bozigian in attempts to have Mayor Parris and Councilwoman Marquez speak to him in reference to the statements in question and that he never heard from “anyone”. “I asked him (Bozigian) to leave a message to the Mayor to let him know I wanted to talk with him before any of this (Task Force Meeting) would happen", Parker said.

However, in the email allegedly written by City Manager Mark Bozigian it states, “my questions are: Did you attempt to have a discussion with either Sherry or Rex regarding your concerns prior to your public comments or prior to convening a AVHRTF “emergency meeting?” and have you reported your concerns and knowledge of “harmful threats” to the Lancaster or Palmdale Sheriff’s stations?”

This would indicate that the writer was attempting to find out if Mr. Parker had made attempts to speak to Parris or Marquez, prior to the meeting.

The comments begin.

from 'Lancaster', but obviously originating with Christian School Confidential:

02/10/10 - 05:39 PM
lancaster says...
Paul Chappell received an honorary degree from Trinity Baptist College in Jacksonville, Florida. That’s the college founded by Bob Gray, who was arrested on multiple charges of child molestation. Gray died just a few days before his trial was set to begin. Chappell, the man who wants to protect the children of Lancaster, to my knowledge, has not commented in public about the situation concerning his late friend.

Response:

02/10/10 - 05:51 PM
mattkeltner says...
lancaster: “Paul Chappell received an honorary degree from Trinity Baptist College in Jacksonville, Florida.”
So, in other words, he didn’t earn that degree, it was bestowed upon him — probably for a “small” donation, no doubt.

Actually, I'm clueless as to the mysterious world of honorary degrees within fundamentalism. However, that is how it works in other universities. Steven Spielberg, for instance, received an honorary degree from USC, but he also donated a lot of money to the college. Then again, no one disputes that Spielberg's achievements were well earned.

On the other hand, I'm not aware of a 'Paul Chappell Center for Bible Study' on the campus of Trinity Baptist College! lol.

More to come. . .

Jailed Missionaries will be released.

2010-02-10T18:47:00.000-08:00

Like Bob Gray once said, "I stand corrected."

The Haitian missionaries will be released. I'm sure there will be books written, a Larry King appearance, a promotional tour, and maybe, just maybe, Laura Silsby will be able to pay off her debts. Hallelujah!

Okay, discuss amongst yourself the meaning of sarcasm.

Haiti Judge to free US Missionaries.

Lancaster, CA must be the wet dream of every fundamentalist pastor.

2010-02-09T21:40:00.000-08:00

Check out these articles!

Lancaster mayor is anything but politically correct.

Excerpts:

Parris is the guy who tried to ban dogs known to be favored by gangs, proposed restrictions on landlords who want to rent to tenants with Section 8 federal housing vouchers, helped fund a program to bus homeless people out of town and shut down a local motel to prevent the notorious Mongols motorcycle club from meeting in Lancaster.

Supporters cheer him for ratcheting up public safety, coming to the aid of local merchants and kicking aside roadblocks for developers wanting to do business in town.

"He doesn't pussyfoot around," said Bishop Henry Hearns, who served 18 years on the City Council, including two terms as Lancaster's first African American mayor.

But critics say Parris, who was elected last year, is an arrogant bully and an unstoppable control freak. "King Rex" they call him, or "T. Rex." Scott Pelka, 52, a self-described archenemy of Parris and long-time Lancaster resident, said the mayor has created a "dictatorship" in which challenges to his authority are simply not tolerated.

If this sounds like Bob Jones University on steroids, check this out:

"He's arrogant. He's self-serving. He doesn't really care what people think," said Arnie Rodeo, 55, a local businessman who ran for mayor against Parris last year and lost by 351 votes. "He surrounds himself with 'yes' people."

Johnathon Ervin, 30, believes his refusal to be a Parris "yes man" got him fired in August from his position on Lancaster's seven-person Planning Commission -- a post to which Parris had appointed him a year earlier.

Ervin, an Air Force reservist, was alone in voting against allowing a Wal-Mart super center on the Lancaster-Quartz Hill border -- a project supported by Parris but fiercely challenged by many area residents.

Here's an article published by Pray Lancaster which is actually in favor of Mayor Parris.

Article: Faithful flock to mayors' breakfasts

New Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris amplified those sentiments. He recalled a trip to the Great Wall of China with his clergyman, Pastor Paul Chappell of Lancaster Baptist Church. Parris said he wondered aloud how Chappell had built a Christian university within a decade, and staffed missions in China with graduates of that school. The answer, Chappell supplied with a grin, was, "It's what happens when you pray."

Yeah, it's probably what happens when you bully your congregation and don't pay your teachers a lot. Teachers, in this country, don't really get paid what they're worth. Fundamentalist high schools, though, are notorious not only for low wages, but for practically demanding that their teachers like it!

The sentiment in a lot of fundamentalist schools seems to be:

"If you're teaching it's because you're CALLED! Not because you want to make money."

What have we learned? The mayor is a member of LBC. We've already established Sherry Marquez works at LBC. Ultimately, the real power in Lancaster IS Lancaster Baptist Church's Pastor Paul Chappell.

Think Darth Vader bowing to the emporer.

Actually, I shouldn't say that. I think Parris and Chappell might enjoy that imagery.

Welcome to 'Christian' Lancaster.

2010-02-09T16:03:00.000-08:00

It's official! Lancaster is a 'Christian' community, although our definition of Christian, according to this Channel 7 news report, simply means 'being a good neighbor':

If being a Christian means simply being a 'good neighbor', why did the mayor, according to the AV Press article want the community's electorate to 'validate a Christian stance in the April municipal election, in which a ballot measure endorses prayers at city meetings, specifically with permission to invoke a specific deity, including Jesus'?

If you want to read the full article from the AV Press, you have to pay $. Ergo , this might not be prominent news on the web. Thank you 'free' press!

Visit the 'underground believer blog' Welcome to Christian Lancaster for the complete story.

I do have this on record: Councilwoman Sherry Marquez is employed by Lancaster Baptist Church. She apparently works in administration.

For more info: Remove Councilwoman Sherry Marquez From Office facebook page.

Here's a really quirky story from that stalwart of sites the Fighting Fundamentalist Forums.

I'm not allowed to post there, but I have to give them credit for allowing this thread to stand. It concerns allegations that a student from the Christian school operated by Lancaster Baptist Church was spanked by a teacher, then other students were made to join in and spank him. When it was over, they were allegedly told not to tell anybody about the incident.

from: Lancaster Baptist School Alleged Abuse and Cover Up.

excerpt:

4 independent sources... a junior high student was behaving poorly and being disobedient. Instead of following the typical methods of discipline, the teacher allegedly had the other boys in the class line up and hit this child - one by one. Then the teacher himself allegedly struck the child.

I was told this child was bruised from the assault and that the parents were counseled not to report it to the authorities or take him in for treatment/evaluation with a doctor. During a school chapel, the students were allegedly ordered not to discuss the situation. The teacher was reassigned to a maintenance position for the balance of the school year.

The City of Lancaster is also home to the Challenger Memorial Youth Center. The ACLU is suing the Challenger Memorial Youth Center for abuse charges and graduating a student who did not know how to read and write.

Article: Juvenile school sued.

To my knowledge, that school is not related to Lancaster Baptist Church.

The ACLU is rather busy in Lancaster since, according to the Underground Believer article I just linked to, they are suing the City of Lancaster for sectarian prayers that are held before each city council meeting.

I must admit, Lancaster is becoming my new favorite city! Don't know why, but whenever I think of Lancaster, I have this song going through my head:

Lancaster Baptist Church outdoes itself.

2010-02-07T21:12:00.000-08:00

When I made the movie, Bible Madness, I transferred what I experienced in Jacksonville, Florida (Trinity Baptist Church) to Southern California. One of the criticisms I experienced from the movie is that there's not really a Trinity Baptist Church styled fundamentalism out here. People out here don't go door to door soulwinning. Nor do they pray in public or have strict rules concerning separation. Not like we were used to in Jacksonville.

Well, the folks at Lancaster Baptist Church in Lancaster, CA, just a hoot and holler from Hollywood, USA, have not only dominated their town but are currently 'out-Trinity'ing' Trinity. Whereas Trinity might be a Great White in a bigger gulf, Lancaster Baptist is a giant fish in a very small pond. But they have been very successful in dominating that town.

Here's their most recent bit of notoriety.

Mayor Parris, a good buddy of Pastor Paul Chappell, recently made the statement:

“We’re growing a Christian community, and don’t let anybody shy away from that,” he told an audience of 160 people, mainly pastors and their spouses, during his State of the City address Tuesday at the John P. Eliopulos Hellenic Center.

from: intheav.com.

Sherry Marquez, also an employee of Lancaster Baptist Church, and not to be out done, took a few moments to trash Muslims:

Did ya' catch what she said about crimes against young girls? Yeah, I'm glad she opposes horrific crimes against young girls when it's the Muslims doing it. Now, if only she'd take a few moments and address the crimes against young girls in her own world of independent fundamentalism.

I know, molesting young girls isn't the same as killing young girls.

Wow! I bet that makes victims of abuse feel better, doesn't it?

All this ridiculousness aside, I'm glad to see someone in Lancaster is about to stand up to the nonsense perpetrated on that community by Mr. Chappell and company.

The local Atheist group was afraid to show my movie Don't Go In The Church. That's the movie I screened when I did this:

To refresh your memory, here's what the 'loyal opposition' wrote me when I attempted to screen both Bible Madness and Don't Go In The Church in Lancaster, CA:

from: The Movie They're Afraid To Show In Lancaster.

Hello, Mr. Walker,

I apologize for not getting back to you sooner. I've actually been giving your offer a lot of thought, but I don't think we're ready for a screening, at least at the moment. Mr. Chapell is very politically powerful in our town, having played a large part in getting our currect mayor and at least one council member elected. Confronting him publicly with your film could have very serious consequences for our relatively small group.

I hope you understand our situation, and I wish you all the best.

The Atheists might be shivering in their boots, afraid to confront Mr. Chappell. In fact, when I showcased my movie, Wrestling Then and Now, at the Antelope Valley College, the gallery owner kept trying to get me to STOP mentioning my Atheist connections. That's how scared they are, rightly or wrongly, of Chappell in this town.

No one wanted to screen Don't Go In The Church or Bible Madness, but they did want to screen wrestling. Since I'm fed up with taking stands for people who won't take a stand for their own interests, I thought, "If they want wrestling, I'll give 'em wrestling!"

I got wind of Mayor Perris's comments, and the warm, loving thoughts of councilwoman Marquez, through the recent Atheists United newsletter.

All my e-mails and articles about abuse in that fundamental community went unheeded. The 'loyal opposition' was fearful and silent, and Lancaster Baptist Church was lulled into a false sense of security. Because the loyal opposition was silent, the good city council member from LBC now attacked the Islamic community.

They are not going to take it!

I'd like to take this moment and thank Paul Chappell and Sherry Marquez for waking me out of my apathy. You make me feel like a prophet!

Ah, Lancaster! Right up there with South Park. You make life interesting, that's for sure! A wonderful desert town next to a military base with a shadow government of fundamentalists. You're like Roswell, New Mexico without the charm of space aliens. lol!

Facebook page: Remove Councilwoman Sherry Marquez from Office.

NOTE: One thing I neglected to write in all my articles about Lancaster is that Paul Chappell received an honorary degree from Trinity Baptist College in Jacksonville, Florida. That's the college founded by Bob Gray, who was arrested on multiple charges of child molestation. Gray died just a few days before his trial was set to begin. Chappell, the man who wants to protect the children of Lancaster, to my knowledge, has not commented in public about the situation concerning his late friend.

Here are links to all the posts I've written about Lancaster Baptist Church:

The movie they're afraid to show in Lancaster.
More citizen of the year.
Antelope Valley Press article.
Lancaster is like Transylvania in the desert.

More on Pete Townshend.

2010-02-05T15:30:00.000-08:00

Check out this article written by Pete Townshend one year before he was arrested.

Article: A different bomb.

It concerns a friend of his who committed suicide. She revealed to him that she was molested by her father. Repeatedly.

Excerpt:

One day, in an open counselling session at which adult men and women of all ages were present, she suddenly revealed her central issue. From as early as she could remember, as an infant girl she had been sexually abused on a regular basis by her father, and in his presence by several of his friends. At first, she referred to her father as a 'priest'. Later she revealed that these were members of some kind of religious cult. A charity with which I am involved paid for her to go for treatment for depression at The Priory last year. She was greatly improved when she came out. Partly I think because her story was believed.

Everything seemed fine, but then she started to slip:

For all of us who helped her, including several women who themselves experienced similar sexual abuse as children, her suicide was both a tragedy and an act of brutal insanity. What pushed this woman to the brink was not self-obsession - though God knows she enjoyed her share, like any individual ensnared in alcohol or drug addiction - it was the fact that she discovered her father was in a new relationship and had access to some young children.

He addresses the abuses portrayed inTommy:

In my writing in the past - especially Tommy - I have created unusually unmerciful worlds for any infant characters. I am often disturbed by what I see on the page when I write - never more so than when I draw on my own childhood. Some people who were abused in their childhood have written to me to say how much they identify with the character of Tommy. But what is powerful in my own writing, and sometimes most difficult to control and model, is the subconscious material I draw on. It is what is subconscious in me that makes me scream for vengeance against my friend's abusers, rather than an adult understanding of what went wrong.

He admits to being abused as a child:

I remember no specific sexual abuse, though when I was young I was treated in an extremely controlling and aggressive way by my maternal grandmother. This is not unusual. It might be described by some as insignificant. Almost everyone I know experienced similar stuff at some time or other - many friends experienced more extreme 'abuses' and have no obvious adult vices as a result.

The article takes an interesting turn. He explains how porn sites use software triggers so that if you visit a porn site, even more pop-ups will appear that showcase something worse. In this case, he experienced a pop up that actually showed an infant being raped. The caption read: sex with children is 'not illegal in Russia'.

This image drives him to infuriation. He is smart about this and consults with his lawyer:

The awful reality hit me of the self-propelling, self-spawning mechanism of the internet. I reached for the phone, I intended to call the police and take them through the process I had stumbled upon - and bring the pornographers involved to book.

Then I thought twice about it. I knew I must NOT download anything I saw. That would be illegal. I spoke off-the-record to a lawyer. He advised me that I most certainly should not download the image as 'evidence'. So I did nothing. I mentioned this shocking internet experience to a few people close to me. It became clear very quickly that some people I spoke to thought that if I had searched using the right words, my exposure to that terrible image would not have occurred.

It might be strange to hear that I was glad I found it. Until then, like my ostrich-like friends, I imagined that only those who communicated on the internet using secret codes, private chat-rooms and encrypted files would ever be exposed to this kind of image. But I learned through this accident that such images are 'freely' available through the machinery of common search engines and User-Groups, and are openly available for sale through subscription via credit card. I was then concerned that there would be those 'providers' of paedophilic porn who felt the need to regularly 'refresh' their supply of images, as is the pornographic 'norm'. It is a chilling thought isn't it?

Indeed it is! Why did he write this article?

Why am I suddenly writing this today? My friend who committed suicide was the victim of an active but secret ring of paedophiles. They are still at large today. Only those who knew my friend, and believed her story, feel any urge to speak up against her abusers. But we have no proof. It is frustrating, but for her, at least, the pain is over. It has all gone public now. On the internet, vigilante groups and individuals work obsessively both to trace and block certain porn sites and to offer - through 12 Step programmes for sex-addiction - probably the only way out for some ensnared by addiction to what the internet has to offer.

His research leads him to a conclusion that I have not read---EVER! It almost flies in the face of what articles have presented in America:

It is not statistically true that all abusers of children were once themselves abused. That can happen, but often
- as in the case of my suicide friend - abuse is part of a reward system of power conferred from one adult person to another. But among paedophilic pornographers I believe validation matters more than cash.

In the end, he does not recommend any activist take matters into their own hands:

The subconscious mind is deeply damaged and indelibly scarred by the sight of such images. I can assure everyone reading this that if they go off in pursuit of images of paedophilic rape they will find them. I urge them not to try. I pray too that they don't happen upon such images as did I, by accident. If they do they may like me become so enraged and disturbed that their dreams are forever haunted.

He went to group meetings for abuse victims and obviously knows whereof he speaks.

Okay, enough of this! Visit the article yourself to read the full story. I am speechless but grateful he had the courage to write this. British police, btw, believe Townshend's motives and 'cautioned' him. He agreed to this and admitted that was a mistake. There's no doubt he considered himself an 'internet vigilante'. He also revealed that John Entwhistle wrote 'Fiddling About' in Tommy because the subject matter was just too painful for Townshend.

I also feel validated, in a way. I've always felt that Tommy was the first major cinematic/rock effort to address child abuse. Whatever went through director Ken Russell's mind is something else! However, the man who originated Tommy freely admits:

Sometimes this all feels so bloody futile. But I am determined to do my bit. I made a lot of money out of that poor little sap in Tommy. Now I understand how easily he could be recreated as a real child in our present society. I feel driven to try to change things.

From: Pete's diary.

This excerpt of 'Fiddle About' from the play is more chilling than the movie:

You know what I think I'm going to do? Go into the next room and put on my DVD of Tommy!

Girl buried alive and the world shrugs.

2010-02-05T15:09:00.000-08:00

Interesting point of view concerning girls who are buried alive, stoned, or killed, because they were raped and abused.

At least, in America, we don't kill victims of sexual abuse. We just ignore them.

Does that make us slightly better? Hmmmm. . .

Article: Male Monsters -- Girl Buried Alive for Being a Girl and the World Shrugs

Excerpt:

Sometimes I feel like we were all born into an alternate universe, a psychotic, twisted, perverted version of what life should be. Our existence is marked by unimaginable violence, hideous acts of evil against the most innocent among us. It's like living in a perpetual horror movie.

Pete Townshend addresses Sex Offender criticism.

2010-02-05T09:12:00.000-08:00

Article: Pete Townshend Defends Himself Against Sex Offender Criticism.

I remember when Pete Townshend was arrested for child pornography. He was later cleared of those charges, but that has not stopped child advocacy groups from condemning his performance at the upcoming Super Bowl.

One thing I have always told people since beginning this blog is I never trusted men who advocated for children. This puts me in a weird position. The reason I started this blog is because NO ONE, get that? NO ONE was saying or writing anything about Bob Gray and the other people who might have known about his victimization of children. He was given a free pass.

That would not just be Tom Messer, the current pastor of Trinity. That would also be, in my constitutionally protected opinion, Jerry Falwell who just went nuts with a piece of sleaze called The Clinton Chronicles. Falwell promoted this video while Bob Gray was serving in Germany.

Why was Gray in Germany? Because a victim, and her family, confronted Gray about molesting her as a child.

That was around 1992. I found out through a phone call.

As the years went by, I saw the most ridiculous theater of errors played out in the media.

First: Jerry Falwell recommends First Baptist Church over Trinity Baptist Church as a place for Tanya Flynt Vega. She is the daughter of Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler, who accused Flynt of molesting her as a child.

I called her up! I was surprised by how easy it was to get in touch with her. She lives in Jacksonville. I told her what I knew about Bob Gray and how surprised I was that Falwell would recommend a Southern Baptist church over an independent Baptist church. At the time, Falwell was independent Baptist.

Could it be that he knew better than to send someone claiming to be a victim of child molestation to a church that was pastored by a man who was also accused (then privately) of the same thing?

It wasn't long after that Falwell joined the Southern Baptists. Please don't try to argue semantics with me on this.

I've heard it all: "He didn't really join the Southern Baptist Convention, he just donated money to them."

Say what? I do have an article I could scan and post from a Christian paper documenting Falwell's entry into the SBC.

My opinion is he knew how corrupt the independents were and, for professional and personal reasons, tried to wash his hands of them. That opinion would be challenged after I learned the SBC, when it comes to protecting abusive pastors, is just as corrupt as the independents. View Stop Baptist Predators for more information.

Second: After Gray was arrested, I thought for sure The Florida Times Union would publish articles about how widespread the cover-up went, but that never happened. Not even after Falwell visited Trinity, in what I believe was pure PR, to tell them all this would be a 'bump in the road'.

I was still quite nervous about this subject, though. I already knew of one male child advocate who was later found dead. His body in the desert. The police saying he had child pornography on his computer.

In 2003, I heard about Pete Townshend's arrest. He also claimed to be a child advocate but police accused him of having child pornography on his computer.

You don't hear a lot about female child advocates being arrested for this, but you do hear about males being arrested. Whether this is a police frame up or not, I knew I wanted to write about this (the Bob Gray scandal) from the vantage point of being a former student of Trinity Christian Academy, the school founded by Gray. Not as a child advocate.

If there's something internally corrupt about the world of child advocacy that causes male predators to infiltrate their ranks, or people to look suspiciously at male child advocates (as I did), I wanted nothing to do with it.

The thing about Pete Townshend is he has consistently written about child abuse. Both in his art and in his interviews.

Tommy was about child abuse! Tommy Walker is made deaf, dumb, and blind after seeing his stepfather kill his father. His stepfather then finds a prostitute for Tommy which further keeps him deaf, dumb, and blind.

That movie, and the rock opera, made such an impression on me when I saw it.

It was 1975. I was 13 years old. I watched the scenes where Tommy is abused by his cousin Kevin, then molested by his Uncle Ernie, and thought, "Man! This must go on everywhere!"

Remember, in those days there was not a lot of talk concerning child abuse. So, Townshend was a pioneer in addressing the issue in his art.

Townshend claims he was doing research on a project about abuse when he stumbled upon the wrong webpage. This is why you must be VERY CAREFUL when you take up advocacy. If you're going to troll the web to find predators on your own, unless you're connected with the police don't be surprised if people think YOU are the predator.

Geoffrey Hill, the advocate who was found dead in the desert, told me he believed police intentionally made child pornography in order to plant it on people's computers. Reason? Land grabs in the San Bernardino area. The thing is, that story persists to this day! Others have also made the same accusations against the police departments in that area. It doesn't help their case that key police leaders are active in evangelical churches that have also been accused of hushing up child abuse amongst their faculty.

Hill, by coincidence, used to be a pastor at Calvary Chapel.

Let's get back to Townshend:

I think Townshend was careless and should not have attempted his own investigation.

We must also consider this: no one has stepped up and accused him of abusing them as a child. He's certainly rich enough, an easy target, and has enough enemies in the child advocacy movement to back them up, but not one person has done so.

The child advocacy movement has to reform itself.

It needs to be more careful about picking its battles.

It needs to take into account how loose our sex offender laws are.

It is true that urinating in public is bad manners. It can also get you classified as a 'sex offender'.

If child advocacy is to be taken seriously, we need a set of standards and practices. And we should not be too quick about alienating people who might have something valuable to contribute to the discussion.

For more info about Tommy, click here.

I know Haiti is a country in need, but. . .

2010-02-05T08:54:00.001-08:00

Okay, we all have debt and the economy has taken a downturn. I don't think you can attack people and make them seem responsible because of the misguided decisions by corporate and government leaders that led to our horrible economy. People do make bad decisions and even responsible people have found themselves between a rock and hard place.

That said, no matter how much I might want to help the people of Haiti, if I had this much debt and collection agents after me, I think I'd just stay home:

Missionary Stumbles on Road to Haiti.

Ministry of Greed--on sale for .01!

2010-02-04T17:26:00.000-08:00

Hey, check it out! Ministry of Greed by Larry Mertz is on sale at amazon for .01!

This book is notable for Bob Gray making an appearance after Jerry Falwell screwed Jim Bakker out of the PTL Club. Gray preaches a message criticizing Falwell's actions. Falwell gets in touch with Gray. Reporters then ask Gray for clarification, to which he answers, "I stand corrected."

Interesting. . .

Doesn't that sound like something Martin Luther would say if he were a 21st Century slacker?

"Here I stand. . .corrected."

I've always wondered what Jerry Falwell said to Bob Gray that caused him to change his mind. It's not every day that an absolutist fundamentalist minister backtracks on a sermon.

Click here and get your copy before it's sold out!

Did US Baptists 'cross the line'? Gee, ya' think?

2010-02-04T10:10:00.000-08:00

Here are two interpretions of the situation regarding the missionaries taking the kids, who already have parents, across the border from Haiti to Santo Domingo. Polar opposite views, but similar in that both are critical of how the missionaries thought they could avoid the proper paperwork regarding orphans.

The 700 Club is critical that they did not seek the proper paperwork. I don't see Pat Robertson exactly standing strong with these missionaries.

For the record, outside of the pastors who supported Laura Silsby, I'm not exactly seeing the Southern Baptists, or any major Christian group, taking a strong stand in favor of her efforts.

This article takes a more tougher stance. It does show how those not affiliated with the Baptist, or evangelical, subcultures view their efforts to 'dominate' the world because it's commanded in the bible. Actually, the great commission doesn't exactly say 'dominate', but that never stopped 'em from trying!

Yes, they were wrong, but to condemn their actions absent the criticism of the arrogance embedded in most Christian (not just fundamentalists, mind you) organizations, is hypocritical.

Article: Did U.S. Baptists Cross the Line Between "Good Intentions" and Child Kidnapping In Haiti? by Michael Rowe.

Excerpts:

> It appears that a significant number of American evangelical Christians believe that the world outside the borders of the United States is little more than their personal Biblical coloring book, with God on one page and the Devil on the opposite page, and bright colors for everything.

> The children in question were not orphans and the Baptists had no right to take them anywhere. One of the children, 9-year old Benatine Poulimé was weeping hysterically and insisting she wasn't an orphan, and that she wanted her mother.

> "I said I wanted to get off the bus," Poulimé said, describing how the missionaries told her that she had to remain. The little girl told CNN that the Baptists loaded her onto the bus just yards from her home. "I was crying. I said I wanted to go to my mother."

> While the desire to "save" the children is admirable, and easy for anyone with a shred of human empathy to relate to, the execution of that impulse, in this particular case and fashion, plays into the most grotesque stereotypes of American arrogance abroad--the notion, however specious, that Americans go where they want, do what they like, and take what they please, be it land, culture, or even, as in this case, children.

> If indeed there are further, harsher clampdown on legitimate foreign adoptions because of this case, the New Life Children's Refuge and the pastors of their respective churches can take some of the blame for the needy, legally adoptable children who may never find loving homes outside their broken country.

HBO pondering movie about Anita Bryant. Will there be violence?

2010-02-02T10:13:00.000-08:00

HBO eyes bio-pic about anti-gay activist.

Anita Bryant was the first celebrity I didn't encounter at Trinity Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida.

Let me explain:

You know the motto 'a day late and a dollar short'? When I first visited Trinity back in the 70's, everyone was talking about Anita's visit. It was a week prior to my first service at Trinity.

Missed her by one week!

Everybody seemed excited about this Christian celebrity in their midst.

This actually confused me. You have to remember, this was back during the days when fundamental Baptists were a little more pronounced against going to movies or having anything to do with the world of entertainment. Even Ron Reilly, our youth pastor at the time, said quite clearly: "It's a sin for any young person to go to a movie theater. I don't care if it's Bambi!"

Today, if you ask anyone at Trinity, or most fundamental institutions, about movie going, they won't even admit there was a time they opposed it. You'll probably get, "Are you still living in the 70s?"

Of course, that confirms that I'm right. It's their way of acknowledging, "Yes, we did preach that it was wrong, but today we've changed our minds."

You have to wonder, if they can change minds about something they regarded as evil less than twenty years ago, what will they change their minds about in the future? Hmmm. . .how about whether or not gays are going to Hell? Wouldn't surprise me. I have a very clear memory of Trinity leaders saying gays cannot be saved. No way. No how. Of course, that has gone a subtle revisionism over the past decade.

Back to Anita:

When I first came to Trinity, everybody was so 'ga-ga' over Anita. I was confused because she did compete in Miss America, which meant a bathing suit competition. Remember, we're talking about people who have split families over 'mixed swimming'. That is: men and women swimming together no matter how modest the bathing suits.

Why did Anita get a pass on issues of 'biblical separation', whereas the rank and file member of Trinity would be dragged through the coals for either going to movies, or the beach? Well, like Carrie Prejean, the bikini clad Christian with the boob job, all is forgiven in Christian America as long as you're a card carrying homophobe with a conspiracy theory to match.

The fellow who drove me to church, a week after Anita, spoke of entering a 7-11. Somebody was saying bad things about Anita Bryant, so he intentionally bought Florida Orange Juice (which Anita pitched back then), made a fist like he was about to punch someone out, and said, "Give me one Florida Orange Juice for Anita!"

He never smacked anyone, but it was not unusual to see certain fundamentalist leaders, while preaching against homosexuality, make a fist with their hands and act like they wanted to beat them up. At one point, I did have a teacher who bragged about beating up gays in downtown Jacksonville. When I mentioned this to other leaders, they looked upon me like I was the one with the problem.

Why? Because I don't think we need to physically assault people to prove our point?

It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, is made from HBO's intention to make this biography. However, judging from another article, violence linked to Anita Bryant isn't anything new.

Article: Anita's New Hate.

Excerpt:

On June 21, 1977 32-year-old Robert Hillsborough lay feet away from the doorstep of his San Francisco home bleeding to death from fifteen stab wounds inflicted by a young man that stood over him screaming “FAGGOT! FAGGOT! FAGGOT!” According to an eyewitness account, one of Robert’s four assailants looked at him and said, “This is for Anita Bryant.”

Southern Baptists WOULD NEVER engage in child trafficking, would they?

2010-02-01T13:10:00.000-08:00

This is a very peculiar situation in Haiti. 10 people from the Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission are arrested for transporting children from Haiti into Santo Domingo. Of course, it is in Haiti where many government entities have been destroyed. Still, it's a hot spot for child traffickers, so you'd think you would be extra cautious when transporting children across international borders.

Not for this group of Southern Baptists! They apparently didn't think anything of crossing the borders with undocumented children. After all, they have it on the good word of a church pastor those kids are legitimate orphans.

It would eventually be discovered that some of those children had parents who were still alive.

Innocent mistake? Naivete concerning international law?

American superiority by thinking the government of Haiti is so far gone they wouldn't care if we took a few across the border?

A slap dash rescue effort without research into legal niceties?

Child trafficking? By Southern Baptists?

Excepting for all the accusations against Southern Baptist ministers for pedophilia and child abuse, could child trafficking be possible?

It could very well be naivete. However, sometimes naivete can also be an excellent cover for evil deeds.

A very confusing situation. Haiti has agreed to let the ten missionaries be tried on American soil.

Guilty or innocent, I believe they'll probably be found 'not guilty' and go on to write best selling books.

Articles:

10 Americans Arrested In Haiti, Accused Of Child Trafficking.

Idaho church prays for Americans held in Haiti.

Removing the statutes of limitations, regarding child abuse, in Florida.

2010-02-01T08:48:00.000-08:00

There is a movement to amend the Florida Constitution to REMOVE the statutes of limitations restrictions when it comes to child abuse. North Carolina, to my knowledge, is the only state that does not have a statutes of limitations when it comes to child abuse.

This proposal is actively OPPOSED by the Florida Catholic Conference.

Check out the Q&A regarding answers to critics. I was not aware that if you were molested BELOW the age of 11, the statutes of limitations do not apply. Where you aware of that?

My favorite is this:

Statutes of limitation are necessary to protect defendants against long delays in the filing of criminal charges and lawsuits. Delays promote false claims and “frivolous” lawsuits.

DELAYS? Excuse me, but people who want to stop the flood of child abuse cases are worried about DELAYS? That's all they campaign for when THEIR PEOPLE ARE THE ONES ON TRIAL!!!!

Critics of child abuse cases WANT DELAYS! Remember how the Bob Gray case was delayed for over one year? And then it didn't even make trial because Gray died of a fall within a few days of his trial. Delays are the critics friends.

I don't doubt critics make that argument, but it's like a gluttonous cigarette smoker complaining that the gym closes early.

for more info:

Response to our critics.

Protect Our Kids First.

meditation on THE LOVELY BONES

2010-01-28T07:01:00.000-08:00

C.S. Lewis wrote a misogynistic story where a male student brings his wife or girlfriend to a tutorial session. It's obvious C.S. Lewis hated the intrusion of a female presence in his male dominated world. He is suddenly transported into her mind to a landscape where the top of trees are green blobs. Like children would draw in kindergarten. It practically stifles the poor professor until he snaps back to reality.

That's what I thought of while watching The Lovely Bones, a movie which fascinated me. Yet, it also creeped me out and I'm not certain I can recommend this.

I haven't read the book, but if it's anything like the movie, The Lovely Bones is the most unsatisfying look at a serial killer who gets away with his crimes against children. Yeah, I'm dropping spoilers like mad!

The undercurrent of this movie is obviously exploiting our current fascination with 'God's blonde'.

'God's Blonde' is my term for children who fit that picture perfect image of the Brady Bunch ideal. The concept behind 'God's blonde' began when I visited a mental hospital with a friend who was doing collections. While he was engaged in his work, I looked around the office. Behind me were hundreds of photos of people, including children, who were found dead.

Nobody had been able to identify them. I was amazed this many people were currently missing, and yet somehow the fact that hundreds were dead and missing, with no one claiming them, somehow eluded the news media.

This showed me how selective the news media is when it comes to missing children. Hundreds of children are either missing, or found dead, every year, but we only allow ourselves to notice this in small doses. Then, the media will drop someone like Caley Anthony on us.

You can bet that whoever the current missing child of the year is will be a white blonde female.

All the African American, Hispanic and Asian children are left to fend on their own. But time stands still for 'God's blonde'!

No disrespect to the Anthony family. This is more of a criticism of the media for overlooking a very serious problem we're having with child abduction, murder, and, its kissing cousin: child molestation.

We don't exactly see how the child murderer in The Lovely Bones does his despicable deed, which is a good thing. Susie Salmon, the main character is raped and killed, as are most of the other victims.

Once she is killed, we're in special effects land. All the victims of the killer/rapist unite to tell Susie, "Get over it! Step into the light, already!"

She does not want to.

Susie observes her parents reactions to her death. She wants to go back, or try to have her body discovered so the killer can get caught.

Neither happens.

This is the most fantastic realistic piece of fatalism and defeatism I have seen in years. Period. One must usually watch subtitled foreign movies to see work this depressing. Yet, I'm thinking about the Mary Poppins song, "A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down."

Is The Lovely Bones some kind of medicine? If it is, the special effects are the heaping tablespoons of sugar to make this poison--or, medicine, sorry--go down.

The predator is never caught. Like reality, he evades punishment until he dies in an act of neglect.

The parents eventually 'get over it'.

Susie 'gets over it' as well.

I guess the moral of the story is the sooner we just ignore tragedy, and stop with all this accountability nonsense, the better off we are. When it comes to crimes against children, closure and the legal system are on two different paths.

The thing is: that is reality.

Most child molesters/murderers will never get caught.

A very unsatisfying thought for reality, or a film laden with fantasy images.

When I saw this movie last night, it was difficult not to think about the situation that existed at my former school, Trinity Christian Academy, when Bob Gray, the founder of the school, was arrested for multiple counts of child molestation. Of course, his trial was delayed until he died, thereby giving his fans and followers an excuse to say, "He never had his day in court! Let it go."

When all the children of the killer meet Susie, an image began forming in my head of all the victims in the Trinity case (or, for that matter, all victims of child abuse), meeting each other, as children, in some kind of netherworld. Mainly for support, since they can't actually do anything in 'real life'.

This prompted the thought in my head: "Well, Bob Gray was only arrested for multiple child molestation, not murder!"

Okey-dokey! I could not believe that ridiculous thought popped up in my head.

I found myself having a grim laugh in the theater over that insane quote you just read.

That said, in the grand tradition of making lemonade out of lemons, there are probably many friends and family members of child sex predators probably saying, or thinking, the same thing. Just trying to give the best spin to the most deplorable situations.

I'm not saying that all who molest children will necessarily murder them, even though I'm shaking my head as I write this sentence. Just like children who abuse animals will most likely grow up to abuse humans, I doubt very many child murderers simply stopped at killing their prey.

Do your own research, but my gut instinct, based on reading articles and viewing reports, tends to believe that most child murderers did molest their victims before snuffing the life out of them.

Just like torturing animals leads to violence against people, I think an argument can be made that child molestation may be the next step to murdering children to keep them silent.

Matt Baker, a Southern Baptist minister, was recently found guilty of murdering his wife.

True, she was an adult. Remember, this crime occurred after years of reports that he molested minors. You can read more detail in the links below. His case does seem to illustrate that every crime against a child that goes unpunished ultimately emboldens the abuser to up the ante.

It shouldn't come as any surprise if it's discovered an adult who molests children might actually kill somebody to cover it up.

One thing I did like about the movie was its beginning. We're in a food court and the narrator is telling us she is being stalked by a man. We see a man who looks like a stereotypical stalker. However, we're told that is not the man.

When we meet the serial killer, he's someone who could be right at home at Disneyland or Bob Jones University. Short hair. Moustache. Nothing really radical about his dress. He could be a teacher! A master at blending in to the moral standards of society.

Outside of that, I don't know if this is a movie I'd recommend for anyone who has lost a child to violent crime. Or, to an abuse victim.

I'll probably see this movie again. It did touch some deep psychological cord and that's actually the problem.

It is so grim, yet sugarcoated with amazing special effects. I don't think I'd recommend bringing anyone who experienced such trauma to The Lovely Bones unless your goal is to plunge them into cruel depression and thoughts of suicide.

Once you get the awe of the otherworld out of the way, The Lovely Bones is a story of parents whose child is molested and killed. They never experience closure. And the predator dies in an accident. By a stupid fall! Not because he was executed, or because Mark Wahlburg's character beat him over the head with a baseball bat. Wouldn't that have been a more satisfying ending?

It did remind me partly of the Bob Gray saga. Gray never was brought to trial. He also died in a fall. And people were left feeling depressed and trying to pick up the pieces.

Articles:

Roger Ebert review: After the rape and murder, the really cool part starts.

Stop Baptist Predators articles about Matt Baker:

It shouldn't take a murder.
Complicity of Baptist Leaders.
Baptists threw kids a rattlesnake.

When Faith Hurts - Part Two

2010-01-24T17:58:00.000-08:00

I haven't read 'Part Two' yet, but plan on it. Since I mentioned Part One in the previous article, I want to make sure you see this:

Article: When Faith Hurts, Part 2.

Just a brief glimpse tells me this article is worth reading.

Check out this excerpt:

It is,therefore,not surprising that child abuse often causes lasting damage to a child’s sense of spirituality.Unfortunately,the child protection community has largely focused on addressing only the child’s
physical and emotional damage—leaving many victims to struggle alone with the reality of God and the reality of their abuse.
For these children,and for our profession,we can do better. Though it is unlikely that interviewers would intentionally demean a child’s spirituality,this may be done unwittingly.In one case,for example, the interviewer was closing the interview by giving the child some personal safety messages.

Specifically,the child was asked who she could tell if she was touched inappropriately.The child responded “I can tell Jesus.”An
interviewer searching for a more practical answer might easily ask “who can you tell on Earth?” Such a question might frustrate a child who believes that Jesus is still on the earth.A better response would simply be to ask “who else can you tell?”

When Faith Hurts

2010-01-24T10:29:00.000-08:00

I stumbled onto this report about the effects of clergy sex abuse on the spirituality of children. It's written by Victor Vieth, who is the director of NDAA’s Child Abuse Programs (National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse and National Child Protection Training Center at Winona State University). The NDAA is the National District Attorney's Association.

Here is their website: National Child Protection Training Center.

This particular article is called 'When Faith Hurts: Overcoming Spirituality-Based Blocks and Problems Before, During, and After the Forensic Interview'.

A perfect article for police and social workers! Interesting reading, and advice, for the rest of us.

Article: When Faith Hurts.

Excerpts:

“You can make sense of sexual abuse and no God, or God and no sexual abuse. But how do you tolerate the two realities together?”—Diane Langberg, PhD

Predators often 'bargain' with God:

When the perpetrator is a member of the clergy, the impact on the victim’s spirituality may be even more pronounced. Clergy abusers often use their religion to justify or excuse their sexual abuse of children. According to one study, clergy in treatment for sexually abusing children believed that God would particularly look after the children they had victimized and otherwise keep them from harm. Through their religious role, these offenders also engaged in “compensatory behavior” and believed that their good works in the community would result in God excusing their moral lapses with children.

This excerpt sounds very familiar:

Although survivors may shy away from involvement with religion, one study found that hard core offenders often maintain a significant involvement with religious institutions. Specifically, adult sexual offenders who maintained religious involvement from childhood to adulthood “had more sexual offense convictions, more victims, and younger victims.”

Spirituality: help or hindrance? If it happens early, perhaps they might turn from spirituality. If their parents defend them, and help their children come to some type of closure (note: 'get over it!' does not count as 'closure'), the greater the odds they'll retain their spirituality.

Excerpt:

Victims of severe abuse may remain “stuck” in their spiritual development such as remaining angry with God. Children abused at younger ages are “less likely to turn to God and others for spiritual support.” Nonetheless, even victims describing a difficult relationship with God “still rely on their spirituality for healing.” Victims who experience “greater resolution” of their childhood abuse are able to “actively turn to their spirituality to cope…rather than attempt to cope on their own.”

Some perpetrators use backwards views about sex to further confuse a child about his sexuality:

A child growing up in a church teaching that homosexual conduct is sinful may be told by the perpetrator “you see how your pee-pee gets big when I touch it? You’re gay." The pastor will condemn you if you ever talk about it.”

Others just know how to get their victims to feel like it's their fault:

A child’s emotional reactions to maltreatment can also be manipulated. In one case, for example, a child recounted how she taught herself to initiate sexual contact with her father as a means of “getting it over with.” Manipulated by her father, the child came to believe that her initiation of sexual conduct was sinful and that, even worse, she was causing her father to sin.

What role have various churches played in helping the victims to heal?

Not much:

Many institutions of faith are more interested in addressing the spiritual needs of perpetrators than they are victims of abuse. If a popular member of a congregation is accused of molesting a child, it is predictable that many members of the congregation will support the alleged perpetrator. Even if a perpetrator confesses to the crime, many faith leaders will urge reconciliation between the perpetrator and the child. Indeed, many perpetrators count on the church’s support.

Here is what one child predator said about churches:

I considered church people easy to fool…they have a trust that comes from being Christians…They tend to be better folks all around. And they seem to want to believe in the good that exists in all people…I think they want to believe in people. And because of that, you can easily convince, with or without convincing words.

Remember where all this is coming from! Not from an Atheist group. Or a group known for criticizing religion. This is coming from the National District Attorney's Association. Prosecutors. Most fundamentalist preachers I have known, and heard, tended to be pro-prosecution. That is, until the tables get turned. Suddenly, we all hear about 'persecution' and how freedom is somehow at stake.

Yeah, I believe it is. If churches can't get some control over this situation, of course there will be legal ramifications that can affect your freedoms.

The main reason we have laws usually begins when people, businesses, or cherished institutions cannot control themselves and become a threat to the public at large. Either by stealing from them. Selling substandard products that can physically hurt the consumer. Or, letting child molesters roam freely in the pulpits and Sunday schools under the name of 'reconciliation and forgiveness'.

I do take issue with the article's claim that church people want to see the good in everybody. My experience is the total opposite. Largely because of the verse, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God".

Most within the independent fundamental Baptist movement tend to see the bad in people, except for their leaders, of course.

Like Jack Hyles said of Lester Roloff, "If I walked in and saw him kissing another woman, I'd swear he was giving her mouth to mouth resuscitation."

Gabriel Byrne admits to being molested by priest.

2010-01-21T08:35:00.000-08:00

Gabriel Byrne, star of one of my favorite movies, Gothic, in addition to playing Uther Pendragon in Excalibur, has gone public with the news that he was abused by a priest. He moved to England at the age of 11, according to this article, to 'train as a priest' in the Catholic church.

This is not the first time he spoke of this issue. A wikipedia article (see below) mentions 'reports' that he admitted to being abused by priests during his childhood.

Byrne's interview with Irish broadcaster, Gay Byrne, seems to mark the first time he's spoken in public about this issue.

Excerpt:

'It was a fact of life amongst us that there was this particular man, and you didn't want to be left in the dressing room with him.'

Byrne was abused by a member of the clergy when he moved to England at the age of 11 to train as a priest.
He revealed to Irish broadcaster Gay Byrne: 'It didn't go on over a prolonged period but it happened at a very, very vulnerable moment.'

Byrne, a father of two, admitted the abuse he endured had left him 'deeply hurt' and had taken him many years to come to terms with.

from perezhilton.com:

"There were certain boundaries, sexual boundaries, that were crossed… I didn't feel that I suffered at the time.. It took many years to come to terms with it and to forgive those incidents that I felt had deeply hurt me. Again, I didn't think it severely impacted me at the time. But I suppose when I think about my later life, and how I had difficulties with certain issues, there is the real possibility they could have been attributable to that."

Ironically, his current role is as a therapist. Byrne plays Dr. Paul Weston in the HBO series, In Treatment.

Articles:

Gabriel Byrne speaks of childhood sex abuse at the hands of the clergy.

wikipedia:

wikipedia article on Gabriel Byrne

China and their men problems.

2010-01-13T21:27:00.000-08:00

Hey! Did you read about China having too many men but not enough women?

Here's an article about it:

One-child policy condemns 24m bachelors to life without a wife

Well, believe it or not, my latest video actually deals with this issue! I shot and edited these videos so Wendy Fang could have a DVD to show to immigration.

First, here's a brief intro to her case:

Here is a two part interview with Wendy Fang.

This video was made for immigration, but now immigration insists she must return to China and live with her daughter for two years.

For more info, read the You Tube description below these two videos.

PART ONE:

PART TWO:

From the You Tube description:

Wendy Fang is a professional athlete who immigrated from Shanghai to the United States. She became a successful businesswoman and has dual citizenship in both China and the USA. Wendy made annual trips to her hometown. It was during one of those trips when she discovered an abandoned baby in an alley.

The parents abandoned the infant because she was in violation of China's 'one child per family' rule, now in effect. Male babies are more highly valued than females, so often parents will kill the female in order to keep room for a male infant.

Wendy adopted the baby and named her 'Shanghai'. She literally saved the child's life.

She legally adopted Shanghai and wanted to raise her daughter in the United States.

The United States Consulate denied her this request. They required she live with Shanghai for two years. In order to do that, she would have to return to China. She would never make the money she makes in the United States, and would not be able to adequately support her family.

Shanghai has been raised by friends and family. Today, only Wendy's father is left to raise Shanghai. He is over eighty years old. If he is unable to continue doing so, Shanghai will be sent to an orphanage.

Mother and daughter will be separated. Possibly forever.

Wendy wrote her representative, Dianne Feinstein, asking her to support the Foreign Adopted Children's Act (H.R.3110), which would make it legal for immigrant parents to bring their adoptive children to live with them in the United States.

I am aware there is controversy regarding this bill, but it does not seem right to me that a mother and daughter should be separated for this long.

Criticize the bill all you want, but what is a mother to do? Abandon all and return to a substandard life? Or, as an American citizen, raise her daughter in the United States like any other single mom?

This video is a heartfelt message to the House, Senate, and President Obama.

Please pass the Foreign Adopted Children's Act (H.R. 3110).

tommesser.com

2010-01-11T08:44:00.001-08:00

Yes, Virginia, there is a Tom Messer dot com. While taking a stroll through the FFF, saw a post by Christian911 pointing this out. C911 included C's response to Messer's latest article, Is the Independent Baptist Movement at a crossroad?

I have no idea who C911 is but the reply to Messer's article is very appropriate. C911 claims to have been an independent Baptist for over 2 decades and a graduate of Trinity Baptist College. C911's response was promptly removed from Messer's blog, but now that Christian School Confidential seems to be getting a new wave of readers, thought you might appreciate this response.

You don't have to be Baptist to appreciate C911's comment. If you've ever been in a position where the obvious was being denied by people in authority, you'll appreciate this letter.

First, visit Tom Messer's blog, read his article, then check out C911's response. I'll admit, the whole 'is fundamentalism at a crossroads' discussion is a cure for insomnia. Messer bases everything on the idea that people are actually motivated by their stated beliefs and ideals, when, in reality, people are motivated by wants, lusts, and fetishes, and simply use philosophy and/or religion as justification for their decisions.

You know, even after I graduated from Trinity Christian Academy back in 1980, it wasn't long before I realized that all the 'controversies' in fundamentalism (KJV-Only, dress standards, Billy Graham, sex education, rules about going to malls, movies, etc) were actually cover ups for some deeper personal dramas. I just didn't know what the dramas were!

Today, I know.

Tom Messer's articles:

Is the Independent Baptist Movement at a crossroad? Part One.

Is the Independent Baptist Movement at a crossroad? Part Two.

There are some interesting comments. Interesting not for what they say, but what they don't say.

Example:

As a Christian first and then a church member and lastly a baptist; I can only pray for the leaders that are caught up in the situation that keeps us from being effective as a movement. We must desire a great movement from our Great Lord.

Hmmm, exactly what 'situation' are we talking about that keeps IFBs from being effective? Any takers?

or, how about,

I hold great fondness for my heritage, but also great sadness at what has become.

Exactly what did it become? And why?

I would love to see Independent Baptist Churches welcome church leaders like me who are ministering outside of the movement. To me, this is when the movement will cease to be divisive and start to partner with literally thousands of church leaders around the world who, like me, are more concerned with building God's kingdom than any one denomination or movement.

That's what a lot of us were saying in the 80s! What makes the IFBs the IFBs IS the fact that they are divisive. People go to IFB churches to have their prejudices confirmed. Not to be led down different paths. If people really wanted diversity, the Unitarian churches of America would be packed.

Ultimately, the best comment made is the one that was removed. You can read C911's post by visiting http://www.fundamentalforums.com/trinity-baptist-college/77907-indep-baptist-movement-at-a-crossroads.html.

If you're in a hurry, skip on down to point 'e'.

Here is the response:

Hello Tom

You asked for comments on your topic or question "Is the Independent Baptist Movement at a Crossroad?"

a. Some of us do not see it as a "crossroads", but rather a "dead end". Maybe the points following will give some insight into some of the reasons.

b. "Independent" was originally the term used to describe that it was a movement independent of authority, control, manipulation, or leadership from a person or group outside of the local church. The authority and leadership of a local church ought to be Jesus Christ and His Word. Tom, your article shows you are looking for replacements for Lee Roberson, John Rice, Jack Hyles, Jerry Fallwell, Tom Malone, and others. Instead, every believer ought to independently seek the leadership and Lordship of Jesus Christ and His Word alone. As a pastor you should know this and practice this.

c. "Independent Fundamental Baptist" (IFB) is another tradition of men that is no where found in the Bible. Instead, fellowship with people in spite of their "label" and because of their faith in Christ, IFBs rather cling to their isolated groups while often condemning those with the slightest differences.

d. "Baptist Movement" is another tradition of men not found in the Bible. Yet many IFB are as committed and convicted about being a "baptist" as they are being a born-again believer in Jesus. How sad. These labels are further encouraged by the traditions of IFB in the use of "Dr." as in Dr Messer, Dr Willinger, Dr Shoemaker, Dr Gray, Dr Burge, Dr Hyles, and the list goes on and on. Have any of you IFBs read what the believers in the Bible called the spiritual leaders of their day? They called them by their first name (Paul, Peter, John, James, etc.) Why didn't they call them Dr Paul, Dr Peter, Dr John, etc.? Am I stepping on some toes here? After all, who would have dared called Bob Gray just plain "Bob" or Lee Roberson just "Lee"?

e. Maybe the "crossroad" you perceive, is because many believers took a different "road" when it was made public that you Tom covered up Bob Gray's pedophelia, and Bob Gray's untruthful statements in his leaving the pastorate at Trinity. The other "road" is filled with believers who believe the biblical practice of church discipline should have been excercised and the local church should have been warned that there was a wolf among them who preyed on the sheep. Ah but instead Tom and the deacons of Trinity instead bought Bob Gray a nice home, and provided him with a nice salary to live out his days in Germany. This type of coverup caused the divisions that the Apostle Paul spoke about to the Corinthians.

This is a big reason why you see the "division" from you, when you wrote "it appears that there is division among groups of people that used to be in fellowship with one another." Yes we are divided (separated) from you because of your sinful coverup, and your refusal to repent and make it right.

f. IFB has an unbiblical focus on large numbers. Tom, I noticed in your article that you reference 7,000 at a Sword Conference in 1974 and 4,000 at one of your meetings 16 or 17 years ago.

Mat 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Mat 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Instead, quality is preferred over quantity. Remember the Apostle Paul well said:
1Co 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but GOD GAVE THE INCREASE.

There is much more I could write, but I think your question has been answered adequately enough. After more than 2 decades as an IFB and a graduate of Trinity Baptist College, I have shed those traditions of men. Now I am happily serving in a local church without the issues above that brought the IFB to what might be at best a "crossroads" but more than likely a "dead end."

Signed
I Have Decided To Follow Jesus

Trinity cases - Dead in the water?

2010-01-05T11:29:00.000-08:00

I just got off the phone with the Duval Clerk's office. I spoke with two people, one woman who handled the appeals. We looked up all the case numbers. It looks like all the civil cases are dead in the water.

At the moment, all I have to go by is what I hear from either the press, or the lawyers connected with the cases. I have asked them what the circumstances currently are with the civil cases involving Trinity. Will they be happening? Are they in limbo?Are they dead but we don't want to say so? Haven't received any reply, although I've freely posted just about everything else sent to me not related to Trinity.

If I'm to go by the previous conversations I just had with the Duval Clerk, I'm finding myself forced to say to the victims/survivors, "It was a good fight, but let's wrap it up. The trials aren't going to happen and the best you can do is concentrate on your own recovery."

I've been waiting for practically a year for an answer to the simple question, "What's up with the civil trials?" If I am wrong, you guys know how to correct me. Post a comment or send me an e-mail to info@christianschoolconfidential.com, but I'm tired of waiting for the 'official story'. Any feedback, no matter how negative, is still worth more than silence.

As far as I'm concerned, this whole issue seems to have died with Bob Gray. I think it best we all adopt that attitude as long as silence concerning these cases reigns.

If you wish to do your own research, visit or call:

http://www.duvalclerk.com/oncoreweb/

Disney Worker faces 200 counts of child porn.

2010-01-03T09:18:00.000-08:00

Remember, folks, this is coming on the heels after a child porn ring was discovered operating out of Six Flags:

Disney worker faces 200 counts of possessing child porn.

Disney Resorts has some work they need to do if they want critics to stop harping on them regarding things like this. The Orange County (FL) Sheriff's department offered Disney the chance for a program designed to teach 'cast members' the signs to look for when it comes to stopping child predators. Disney said 'no thanks' and, to this day, remains in eternal fantasy land where this issue is concerned. No idea if they've had second thoughts. Doubtful they would tell you anyway.

More Disney pedophiles:

Article: Disney pedophile is actually a youth pastor.

Article: Matthew Mancuso.

Excerpt: "Mancuso took pictures of the sex acts with the child. Some of the photographs were taken during two visits to Walt Disney World. . .Offering toys, gifts and trips to Disneyworld or Disneyland is a common tactic of pedophiles. It should be a red flag to any parent, when a male relative, friend or neighbor offers such a trip for your child.

Nancy Grace interview about Mancuso:

Nancy Grace/Mancuso transcript.

EXCERPT:

CNN CORRESPONDENT, MATTINGLY: Somebody in the public recognized that bedspread from a resort in Orlando, and that`s how...

GRACE: Disneyland!

MATTINGLY: ... police got involved.

GRACE: Why are you saying "a resort in Orlando"? It was Disneyworld, right?

MATTINGLY: It was a Disney resort. They have many of them down there.

Thank you, Nancy, for clarifying that! lol.

Article: Online Sex Sting Nets Theme Park Workers.

NOTE: Observe Disney taking the Southern Baptist Convention's tactic concerning 'background checks'. Activists know most child predators are not caught, consequently will pass most background checks.

Patrick Stewart on Domestic Violence

2009-12-30T09:42:00.000-08:00

Patrick Stewart, from Star Trek: The Next Generation, talks about growing up with domestic violence. Pretty powerful. Notice how he talks about the police, and other authorities, taking the side of the abuser and saying, "Perhaps she provoked the violence."

Domestic violence is closely related to child abuse. I've always maintained that if our government were to replace the war on drugs with a war against child abuse, and domestic violence, we might see a decrease in drug use. What do you think DRIVES people to drink and drugs in the first place? Generally, it's a coping mechanism for dealing with abuse within the home.

Thanks to Diann Diaz, an activist on this issue, for posting the video.

Diane's web page: http://dianndiaz.blogspot.com/

Searching for Angela Shelton

2009-12-28T10:09:00.000-08:00

Searching for Angela Shelton paints a very disturbing picture of child abuse in America. It seems everyone in this country, from the family to the court system, is, in some way, guilty of enabling molesters.

The premise is novel. Angela Shelton, the actress, begins by calling everyone who happens to share her name. During her intro phone calls with all the Angela Sheltons, our Angela brings up the topic of sexual child molestation.

Wow! That's gotta be a real winner at parties!

"Hi, I'm (fill in your name), did you know a disturbingly high amount of people with our shared names have been sexually abused?"

It almost seems forced, were it not for the fact that every Angela Shelton interviewed has either been raped as an adult, sexually molested as a child, or both. The implication being: if this is the case with everyone who shares the same name as the director, what must the reality be for all the non Angela Sheltons of the world?

Of course, by the time we get to the part where Angela Shelton, the director and actress, reveals the details regarding her case, we suddenly forget the novelty of Searching for Angela Shelton.

We find ourselves focused on the sad, abominable reality that everyone one of us, to some extent, has experienced yet tries to ignore and deny.

Her father, according to the testimony of both Angela and her brother, left Angela's mother for the mother's best friend. Angela was given a choice as to which parent she wanted to live with. She chose the father because his new wife made great kool aid.

Hey, she's a kid! What else is she going to base a life altering decision on?

During this time with her father and stepmother, the dad gets a brilliant idea for 'sex education in the home'.

Well, I can tell you from personal experience at the fundamentalist school I went to, they totally opposed sex education in the school. I've always wondered how parents in denial, who refuse their children objective sex education, instruct them in private. If any of them are like Angela's father and step mother, we have a very serious problem with incest in the American home.

Like Angela's stepmother, some of these places, and families, make very good kool aid.

Her case did go to court. Her father never served jail time. In fact, the wonderful people at the courthouse were so disgusted by the case they tried to get Angela to drop it and move on.

What gives?

None of the perpetrators in this movie ever served jail time, which means that it's up to the victim to achieve closure on his, or her, terms. In Angela's case, that means visiting her mother, grandmother, stepbrother, and father for some answers.

Her mother, grandmother, and stepbrother, are very supportive of Angela.

The movie takes an interesting turn when the stepbrother, who happens to be gay, discusses the conflict he felt regarding his sexuality.

Was he born that way? Or, did the sexual abuse turned him onto it? Politically correct answers, and even scientifically correct answers, pale in the eyes of a gay teenager trying to come to terms when sexual abuse enters the picture.

All of this is extremely relevant in the stories regarding the various cases against my former church/school that is the basis of this blog. When I went to Jacksonville to host the public awareness meeting on the clergy abuse of children, the conversation came up about one male victim. This person did not pursue a legal case like another (non gay) male victim did.

This person happened to be gay, and I found myself engaged in conversations where the statement was made: "If he was gay, it's because (the predator pastor who molested) made him like that!"

I countered that line of reasoning.

I don't believe that sexual molestation turns a child gay, but I do believe there is the strong possibility that a child predator might sense the future sexual orientation of the child, take advantage of it, thereby sending the victim on an odyssey of sexual confusion during his later years as an adult.

Searching for Angela Shelton explores this issue in a way no other movie has. In fact, I don't believe there is a movie that's explored this subject! Not in this way. That makes Searching for Angela Shelton groundbreaking.

The climax occurs when she confronts her father. We've heard the testimonies of her stepbrother. Support from her mother and grandmother and aunt. Now, when Angela meets her father, we are introduced to his selective memory.

He blames it all on nudist camps.

Angela surprised me by saying she did not have a problem with nudist camps.

I'm with Angela on that one.

Why should we let sexual predators, and those who enable them, become our moral arbitrators?

Why should we allow predators to have an easy way to deny their actions? There are so many predators who want to blame their behavior on pornography, movies, music, drugs, alcohol, but they don't want to embrace the consequences of their own actions. Angela does not let her father get away with that kind of deniability. Nor should we give predators the gift of easy escapism that can only come from blaming others.

The message of Searching for Angela Shelton seems to be that finding closer outside of an apathetic legal system can only come from confronting your predator.

That is difficult! Kudos for Angela Shelton for doing this, much less doing it on camera. Most of us would have a difficulty doing that even if there weren't any cameras.

That is the challenge. Angela does point out that a victim must be ready for that kind of confrontation. You can't just force someone to confront the person who helped make their life hell. Yet, it is a necessary difficulty.

Searching for Angela Shelton is a great meditation on what it takes for a victim to become a survivor and then, ultimately, lead their way to triumph. It's not an easy road. There will be some 'bumps in the road', a phrase that stands in my mind thanks to the late, ever ironic, Jerry Falwell.

You might remember after Bob Gray, the former pastor of Trinity Baptist Church (Jacksonville, FL), and founder of Trinity Christian Academy, the school I graduated from, was arrested on multiple accounts of child molestation, Jerry visited the church and told them their court troubles would ultimately amount to a 'bump in the road'.

Victims will also have bumps in the road. They will be pretty agonizing bumps, too. There might be moments when they have acted out their behavior on others. That must also be confronted.

If you can do so, accept the bumps, and endure to the end, you will be 'saved'.

That seems to be the message of Searching for Angela Shelton.

This movie can be ordered at Searching for Angela Shelton.

You can also watch it for free by visiting: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/searching_for_angela_shelton.

Precious

2009-12-20T13:31:00.000-08:00

I wrote one of my new twitter friends, a Hollywood agent, venting my feeling that the subject of child sexual molestation, and more specifically, its effect on adult survivors, seems to be a skittish topic. Granted, the subject of child abuse is common. Usually it's the violent kind of abuse. Not sexual. Those that do cover it seem to have their victims committing mass murder, rapes, drug overdoses, and other sorts of crimes.

My criticism that there are millions of people who experienced abuse who have not done any of those things. Consequently, whenever someone of note admits to being abused as a child, and if it's connected with some crime they were recently caught at (i.e. Mark Foley, Ted Haggard, etc), most victims will not want to associate their names with those types. Or, those kind of movies.

That class of 'victims' appear like they're blaming the past for terrible deeds done in the present. If they hadn't got caught in the first place, they would have skipped happily along in denial. Those kind of stories turn child abuse into some kind of 'get out of jail' card for those who are already bound for jail.

The agent I contacted did not believe this to be the case.

Getting any movie made is difficult, she noted, but there have been movies about child abuse, which she sent me.

I had seen most of the movies, and they usually involved soap opera involving the rich and powerful, a victim rising up and killing her perpetrator, or worse. So, the lady I communicated with advised, "See Precious and Searching for Angela Shelton."

I saw Precious yesterday, on her advice, and I must say this movie has stuck with me.

In order to properly discuss this movie, I will have to expose a spoiler. However, this movie is so good, even revealing the spoiler won't spoil it. Like any good movie, or book, it doesn't just get its power from the mere plot. It gets its power through the dedicated performances, the subtle script, and the execution of the fantasy sequences that Precious uses to escape her predicament.

Precious (played by Gabourey Sidibe) is an obese 18 year old, attending a school in Harlem, with a very abusive mom waiting for her. Mary, her mother does not work. She encourages her daughter to go on welfare, then throws things at her when she falls an inch short of her advice. Precious has one child by an unknown father. She will give birth to another child by the time the movie ends.

Who is the father of the child? This unknown male source?

The climax of this movie has Mariah Carey, stripped of all her diva attire, playing Mrs. Weiss, a social worker, getting to the bottom of this dilemma.

Mrs. Weiss, upon figuring out the deceased father of Precious is responsible for the first child, and the mother's current boyfriend responsible for the second, asks, "When did the abuse start?"

The mother, played by Mo'Nique, reveals it began when Precious was an infant. The mother was, in fact, a witness. She would keep the infant by her side at all times. It was while having sex with her husband that Mary notices her husband fingering the infant.

Not even Precious knew that! How could she remember? That final scene is the most effective, tear jerking moment that the movies, en masse, have delivered all year. Probably the entire decade!

The baby of Precious is nearly wounded when Mary throws a television set at her. Precious is holding the baby when the set hits them both.

Precious, amazingly, ends with triumph. The truth now revealed. The victim now vindicated. Walking with her two children whom she just saved from her abusive mother into a new future. A new life.

What will the future bring? Who knows! Nobody goes to jail. Nobody gets the death penalty. Nobody goes to court. Yet, the exposure of the truth, the shear utterance of facts, provides Precious with her own sense of triumph.

My only quibble is the fact that it is set in an inner city. Yet, that is the reality of her situation.

Just like the story of Mackenzie Phillips abuse can be marginalized as a story that can only happen with fast living rock stars, people can marginalize Precious as just a story of a poor soul in the ghetto.

That is why we need more movies like this! Movies about survivors from different economic classes to show this problem is widespread.

I'm tempted to mention American Beauty, since that does center on the suburbs, and a minor is molested by the end of the movie. American Beauty, though, is not a movie about surviving abuse. Abuse just plays a role in the story which, ultimately, is about an adult male coming to terms with his life.

The abuse portrayed in Precious is happening everywhere. Not just in Harlem.

What makes the situation of Precious so unusual is the fact that. . .it doesn't seem to be unusual.

During the last three years of writing this blog, I have read about cases where infants have been abused. Given the context of this blog, it has been in either missionary schools (see 'All God's Children'), or in the house of the devoted (see 'Deliver Us From Evil').

Loyal readers of this blog might remember the case involving Dave Hyles, son of the late Jack Hyles (pastor of the 'World's Largest Baptist Church'), being investigated for battery upon an infant. The book Fundamental Seduction mentions 'Mrs. John R. Rice' (wives of fundamentalist preachers seem to lose their entire names, not just their last!) stopping Dave from shaking a child.

I do find it interesting that Precious is distributed by Lion's Gate.

Lion's Gate also is responsible for Deliver Us From Evil and Hard Candy.

Hard Candy is a movie about a pre-teenage friend of a victim who tracks down a pedophile, and, through intelligence and manipulation, stops him from committing his crime ever again! I won't reveal the spoiler of that movie. I don't recommend that victims of child abuse seek closure the way our heroine does in Hard Candy.

Lion's Gate might be the company we can rely on for decent movies about surviving abuse.

Okay, next movie to be reviewed: Searching for Angela Shelton.

In the meantime, check out these links:

Roger Ebert reviews Precious.

Precious (wiki)

The Lionsgate surviving abuse collection:

HARD CANDY
strangers shouldn't talk to little girls!

DELIVER US FROM EVIL

PRECIOUS

twitter me!

2009-12-14T13:07:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm finally joining the twitter revolution and learning some bells and whistles about blogger! Have now uploaded most of my videos pertaining to abuse to twitter. Will eventually add a video bar to this blog.

In the meantime, visit me@ twitter.com/dwalker25.

Roman Polanski film screened at Trinity Christian Academy by alleged felon!

2009-12-13T19:09:00.001-08:00

I just watched Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist and am completely speechless. Here's a movie that shows children as little more than punching bags and cheap labor, by both 'the good guys' and 'the bad guys'. Everybody blames the children first. Most don't even recognize them as people. Exactly the kind of movie I think needs to be made about the present state of fundamentalist girls and boys homes!

This most sensitive movie about child labor and abuse was made by Roman Polanksi, currently under house arrest for raping a 13 year old girl.

It occurs to me that Roman Polanksi's Chinatown also has abuse at its center. Most great works of art and literature are centered around certain types of abuse. Chinatown culminates in the revelation of an incestuous relationship between a rich father, his daughter, and the daughter they fathered.

The incident with Roman Polanksi and the young girl occurred after Chinatown was released. After Chinatown, he gave us Tess, a movie about a woman making her way through the cruel world. Polanksi develops a reputation for making sensitive films about women.

After that we have an action movie with Harrison Ford, a dumb pirate movie, and a murder mystery, until Polanksi finally comes to his senses and gives us The Tenant. This movie concerns the victims of the Holocaust. After The Tenant, we have Oliver Twist, which is an adaptation of the Dicken's novel about unwanted children, orphans, and women of foul reputation who actually come from pedigreed backgrounds.

Are these choices related to guilt and introspection? Subconscious, of course. Things never confronted with the full force of an awake mind but, in the accepting environment of art, can be recycled into either redemption, a gradual cinematic confession, or both?

To take more cynical bent: were the post Chinatown themes Polanksi chose to work with a grand exercise in the politics of CYA? In case the criticism and controversy flared its ugly head, these movies could be offered as proof that he was indeed, at heart, a kind, sensitive man who would never harm a fly? Let alone a 13 year old girl on qualudes?

Some themes are just inescapable.

When I first learned about one of the accusations against Bob Gray back in 1992, I had just started a cable access show in Long Beach, CA. I don't do that anymore. When I look back at those interviews, the majority of them center on religion and abuse.

I was not an activist. I was not circulating petitions. I think learning about the charges against Gray definitely shifted the focus of my material.

Who are you going to talk to when you hear about something like that?

Who are you going to talk to if you EXPERIENCE something like that?

Here's a more disturbing question: who are you going to talk to if you INSTIGATED an act of abuse?

Art.

Whether you have been abuse, or have abused, or just a bystander: art is a poor man's therapist.

Okay, Polanksi's not poor, but the rest of us can make YouTubes, write books and articles, songs and poetry, paintings and photographs, that reflect the inner turmoil and conflict that cannot be expressed in the real world. You can try to express it, but you'll probably be told to 'get over it!'.

Art never tells you that.

Here's an article that I found on the World's Socialist web site.

I know, how appropriate!

I found the one site still praising Polanksi's work, and they're 'buncha socialists'!

The article, all biases aside, does give a concise view of Roman Polanksi films. It also talks about his 'sensitivity' to the issues which the writer uses as proof that we're just a buncha hooligans who won't stop 'all manner of pious and self-righteous bleatings'.

Whatever. . .

Here's an interesting piece of trivia:

I came away from Roman Polanksi's Oliver Twist thinking about the first time I saw Roman Polanski's Macbeth. It was at Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville, Florida. 1980. Roman Polanksi's Macbeth, by the way, was produced by Playboy.

Our English teacher screened it. There were a few topless scenes in the movie, which our teacher covered up with his hands over the projector lens.

My former English teacher would eventually face, according to according to wftv.com, 'decades of sex harassment and abuse allegations'.

A teacher who would be allegedly charged with a felony? Teaching in a school founded by a pastor, who would eventually be arrested on felonious charges of child molestation? And we're watching a movie made by a film director, who, decades later, would also arrested for a similar felony?

My point?

No point, really.

Just trying to comprehend the grand irony of it all. . .

Articles:

An Evaluation of Roman Polanksi as an artist. (Part One).
An Evaluation of Roman Polanski as an artist. (Part Two).

Oliver Twist:

Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist, a review by The Little Professor.

Excerpt from The Little Professor:

"Oliver spends the entire film being carried, pulled, pushed, and generally manhandled; for all that he's the film's subject, he spends most of the time being an object. "

Yeah, I think most victims and survivors feel the same way!

Darrell Gilyard admits to fathering child.

2009-12-12T13:04:00.000-08:00

Darrell Gilyard, the pastor lionized by luminaries like the late Jerry Falwell, and Southern Baptist pastors like Jerry Vines, admitted he did father the child of a woman who accused him of raping and impregnating her during a 2004 counseling session.

Try to ignore some of the ignorant comments underneath the article. It seems every article dealing with Darrell Gilyard on the Florida Times Union web page has at least one, sometimes several, racist remarks. Strange, not even the Florida Times Union seems to object!

Article: Former pastor admits to fathering child.

John Phillips and LOLITA

2009-12-12T10:12:00.000-08:00

Has anybody ever read LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov? I read it a few years ago before the Bob Gray scandal broke.

The main reason, of course, was to read the source material for the Stanley Kubrick movie. What changes were made as the novel was translated into film?

The most obvious change was the actress playing Lolita was not 12 years old. If you read the book, it would be very disturbing to see an actual 12 year old actress play this role. Instead, he got 14 year old Sue Lyon to play the role. I know, big change, right?

Kubrick also played down various aspects of the book which, if literally portrayed, would be the most expensive work of child pornography ever produced!

I don't believe Nabokov was a pedophile. Of course, I don't know that as a fact. No one does.

Nabokov does not seem to suffer from the stigma of Lewis Carroll.

Carroll was known for pedophilia, but let's not allow that to stop us from enjoying the new Walt Disney remake of his book, ALICE IN WONDERLAND! Just temporarily ignore the fact that Disney hired a convicted child molester, Victor Salva, to direct POWDER, and you can enjoy living in fantasyland all your life! Besides, without praising Disney films, how would ex-fundamentalists, especially those from Disney's arch-enemy, the Southern Baptist Convention, be able to prove they're cool?

Nabokov was not an activist. He was an artist, but I'm not finding any articles that indicates he had a problem with pedophilia. I now believe the mere fact that he was able to write about it should be offered as proof that he was not.

Those who might lean toward that pedophilia tend to want to cover it up. The last thing they want to do is openly broadcast it. If anything, his book demonstrated a network of child predators might exist, and he clue'd us in on their tactics.

When I read Mackenzie Phillip's book, I thought of LOLITA. In Phillip's book, John, her father, practically encourages his rock star friend, Mick Jagger, to engage in sex with young Mackenzie. He seems to have his personal network of enablers.

I've speculated openly on this blog whether or not such a network exists, or existed, amongst fundamentalist preachers who've engaged in this crime. In LOLITA, the rivalry between Humbert Humbert and Clare Quilty seems to imply the existence of a network.

The movie downplays the drugs that Humbert uses to have his way with Lolita. In the book, he drugs her. He takes her while she is passed out. The movie does not bring in drugs, consequently we're left with the view that this is a consensual relationship.

In Mackenzie's book, John Phillips drugs her and has his way with her while Mackenzie is passed out. Mackenzie gets hooked on drugs and, as an adult, goes to her father for more. He gives her the drugs, she passes out, and he has his way with her. At no time in Mackenzie's book do we read that she is EVER FULLY AWAKE during these encounters. She went to him FOR DRUGS NOT SEX. The sex only happened after she passed out.

This is what passes for 'consensual' whenever we hear critics of Mackenzie overuse that word. I guess they're hoping no one will actually read the book to find out that 'consensual' somehow includes being passed out on drugs while your father gropes and mauls you.

Barry Crimmins writes an excellent article about 'consensual' and the role drugs played in the abuse of Mackenzie Phillips. It's worth reading, especially if you've never read Mackenzie's book and, for whatever reason, continue to hold on to the word 'consensual' as an excuse to ignore her message.

Article: Child abuse. No laughing matter.

Mackenzie Phillips and Darkness2Light and the problem of stereotyping professions

2009-12-10T14:00:00.000-08:00

I just received a comment responding to this article, about Mackenzie Phillips.

The author of the comment, Meggs, also has a blog called Speaking Out which concerns surviving incest and abuse.

Meggs highlights two events that happened during the past year that deserve our attention.

The first concerns Mackenzie Phillips being given the Darkness2Light Voice of Courage award for speaking out about her experiences.

Meggs writes: Of course, no one in the media wants to focus on the work she is now doing to help prevent child abuse and incest. They all want to dwell on the drug use.

Isn't that the truth! It's all show biz, and trying to make it out like the John Phillips scandal is just an anomaly related to the world of rock stars, like others want to make clergy abuse simply an anomaly of a group's beliefs, standards and practices.

Hey, I keep saying you can't become a Jesuit priest through mail order! You have to go to universities, get credentialed, and the Catholic Church does have its standards churches must adhere to. They're not autonomous, and yet, they were the first religious group that introduced America to the fact that child abuse can happen anywhere.

Sure, Baptist churches, especially independents, might have low standards for their ministers, but, as the Catholic scandals demonstrate, even organizations with high standards and no autonomy can be guilty of turning a blind eye regarding pedophiles.

So, while everybody's patting themselves on the back, thankful they're not subjecting their kids to the abuse of rock stars, fundamentalist preachers, or Catholic priests, there always seems to be someone in any given family, or friends of any given family, who will take advantage of the ignorance that results from stereotyping Hollywood or religious figures.

This is everybody's problem. Hollywood and religious leaders just get stigmatized became they're in the public eye.

In addition to the honor given to Mackenzie by Darkness2Light, Meggs also pointed out an interesting project called 'Searching for Angela Shelton'. This documentary has Angela Shelton taking a trip across America to interview other women who also have the name, Angela Shelton.

It's an amusing premise that's brought into harsh reality when we realize all the Angela Sheltons in this movie have either been raped, or sexually molested, when they were children. Some were also raped when they were adults.

Hmmm, you know, if we treated the Angela Shelton cases like the media treats Mackenzie Phillips, or like other bloggers treat cases of clergy abuse, I can just imagine someone saying, "Well, stop naming your kid Angela Shelton!"

I know! I know! Bad taste. But I keep reading people saying things like, "If you're a pedophile, the best place for you is as a deacon in a Baptist church!" When it happened at a synagogue in New York, a lawmaker actually said, "If you're a pedophile, the best place for you is in a synagogue!" When Mackenzie's story broke, along with the Roman Polanksi arrest, bloggers at Huffington Post were also singing the same tune.

"Pedophilia is wrong, unless you're a famous artist or movie director."

If we're really serious about dealing with the topic of child abuse, some ideas and tactics are just going to have to be abandoned on the highway.

One of those ideas concerns stigmatizing various professions. Some people, in the depths of their subconscious, have the false idea that as long as they're not subjecting their children to:

a: Hollywood moguls
b: religious leaders
c: people in the arts
d: politicians (intern scandals)

. . .that their children are safe from predators.

Nothing could be further from the truth! Stereotyping professions creates a false sense of security. Sometimes the most dangerous place for a child is in his, or her, own home.

Here are some links and video clips related to Mackenzie Phillips and the Angela Shelton project:

From: Official blog of Darkness2Light.

Searching for Angela Shelton.

Adam Horowitz in the news.

2009-12-10T10:35:00.000-08:00

Click on the icon to read the latest article about Adam Horowitz, the attorney for victims of Bob Gray, defending Lavetta Elk, and how understanding Native American culture proved crucial to winning that case.

In another case involving abuse, Horowitz criticizes the attorney's for asking abuse victims questions like, "You've had a couple of abortions. How did that make you feel?"

Article:

Epstein Attorneys Scolded for Asking Alleged Abuse Victims About Abortions, Sex Positions.

Why are these artists defending pedophiles?

2009-11-28T10:44:00.000-08:00

Article: Why are these artists defending pedophiles?

John Hari, a writer for the London Independent, gives us an interesting meditation on why artists are flocking to defend people like Roman Polanksi or John Phillips. He brings out sources I've never read, but points of view I've heard before.

I've had this happen. I'll write or say something about preachers caught molesting children, only to have some men crawl out of the woodwork and talk about ancient Greece, Egypt, the Pitcairn Islands, or boys schools in England, and how children have benefited from sexual relationships with adults. I will then respond, "Why don't you speak about this in public? Or, better yet, write an article and I'll post it on my blog?"

Silence. That statement usually keeps them quiet. And the people who make these statements? They have been well educated men. Some with PHD's. Yet, with all their intellectual grace and stamina, they refuse to stand up for their own beliefs in favor of child/adult relationships.

They'll site how society persecutes them. Then, I'll talk about my experiences with this blog and say, "Victims, and those who support them, feel the same way! They don't want to stand up against their molesters because they're afraid of persecution as well!"

So, we have a situation where both victims and their perpetrators, apologists, and would be molesters, both feel this need to express things in private they refuse to express in public.

It's almost a matter of 'who gets there first?'.

If more survivors speak out, their voices will drone out the apologists for abusers.

If they are silent, give it time and the voices of those who apologize for abusers might become the predominant voice.

Something to think about. At least, that's what was going through my mind as I read the above article.

I like how Hari writes the most painful thing is the fact that he admires the work of these artists. It's very similar to people who accept the charges leveled against Bob Gray, yet were influenced by his sermons.

It does underscore what I've been saying all along about Hollywood's relationship to abusers and victims. There are more movies about people being falsely accused of molestation than movies about people surviving it.

It's estimated there are over 3 million victims, and even more that has not been reported. Don't you think they're looking for a little cinematic validation?

They're certainly not going to get it from their pastors. There are a few books, but not enough. At the moment, the best survivors can do is visit web pages, message boards, and, if they're lucky, maybe a nearby support group?

Bob Jones University---rockin' and hoppin'!

2009-11-27T17:32:00.001-08:00

I have no idea if this You Tube is authorized by Bob Jones University. My guess will be 'not'.

Still, a pretty accurate depiction of life at Bob Jones University. Yes, that is actually 'young Mr. Spock' who, by tripping through a fundamental time warp, found the one place in this universe he can really let his ears go outta style: BJU!

When I was a fundamentalist attending BJU, I thought they were the center of apostasy. Today, I look at a video like this and laugh. If BJU is smart, they'll do the same.

Santa's operation shut down because of sex offenders.

2009-11-19T08:49:00.001-08:00

Letter to Santa program shut down because of sex offenders.

One sex offender is enough to shut down Santa's letter's to kids program, but not enough to shut down the churches, theme parks, and other organizations who have experienced their own problems with offenders.

North Pole shut down until further notice.

Merry Christmas, everybody!

NOTE: Anybody catch the story last September about a child porn ring that operated out of Six Flags?

Check out this article: S'ville man charged in child porn ring.

Excerpt:

Garcia and the other man allegedly made sexual comments about young boys at the amusement park, photographed them and talked about viewing boys in the park's bathrooms.

Folks, this is disturbing. I have since communicated with a variety of people in churches to ask them if it's normal for men to bring young girls into bathrooms in mega churches. The answer is 'no', but in theme parks nobody seems to care. Most dismiss this as silly, until you see an article like the one above.

Thing is, to the average theme park custodial worker, who might be getting slightly above minimum wage, they have no idea if those are single fathers or not. To them, it's just an adult male entering a restroom with a young girl. Those places are practically 'no tell motels' for pedophiles.

I submit the idea that these theme parks are more hotbeds of abuse activity than most mega churches. With the exception of the reports concerning Bob Gray at Trinity, most of the allegations seemed to have taken place off church property. Except, of course, for Christian camps.

Not all theme parks are ignorant. Sea World in Orlando co-operated with the Orange County Sheriff's Department and let their employees take a course that demonstrated how to spot sex offenders, and what to do upon catching them. Disney declined to have any part in the program. Six Flags isn't in Orlando, but they could obviously use a program like that.

There are only three institutions who can adequately deal with this problem: government institutions, private institutions, and the family.

None of these three seem to even want to acknowledge the problem exists. But ignorance of child predators will ultimately effect us all. If private institutions and the family don't deal with it, in time, enough victims could pressure government authorities into stiffer regulations for churches, theme parks, and other family based businesses. So, if all these people in private industry (and I include the Southern Baptists under 'private industry', along with theme parks) fail to address this problem, they only have themselves to blame if they ever find themselves saddled with even more regulations in the years to come.

Care about freedom? Then send a child molester to jail! It only takes one to shut down 'Santa's operation' in the North Pole.

Imagine what a couple hundred accusations could do to everyone else.

Would it really have made a difference?

2009-11-12T08:16:00.000-08:00

Just a few months after Bob Gray was arrested on molestation charges, a number of people on the Fighting Fundamentalist Forum made the point that, if he were truly innocent, he would storm the pulpit and deny it ever happened.

Gray did not do that.

His lawyers entered a 'not guilty' plea on his behalf.

As far as Gray's own words?

One victim reported him being apologetic to her.

Gray did sigh a lot on the interrogation tape, admit french kissing a minor, and then said, "There's never any excuse to do wrong."

That's about it!

He never actually took to the pulpit and denounced 'false charges'. That was used against him in the court of public opinion. And yet, I'm wondering if that would even have helped him?

Wayanne Kruger (aka, Rae Elizabeth Klein, author of Inborn Justice) is a staunch child advocate who stood behind her daughter, Desiray Bartak in a landmark decision where an abuse victim, waving anonymity, sued her molester and won a million dollar settlement. Desiray would eventually address a crowd on the Capitol steps as she received the 'Making a Difference' award from the National Organization of Women.

Rae and I are working on a documentary called 'Leaving the Lion Behind', about her efforts to stand behind her daughter, and bring more accountability into the system.

Rae's story appeared in the same People magazine that mentioned Michael Jackson's arrest for charges of child molestation. They met, pictures were taken, and we're hoping to negotiate something with the Michael Jackson estate over the use of those pictures.

Rae believes Jackson was not guilty of molestation.

She writes:

"We were in the same People magazine and when I saw this, I do not think there was a dry eye in our house! Especially since we just came back from Jane Whitney with Latoya Jackson.

As a PhD and when we spoke I will say without certainty; Michael was NOT molested. He was abused in every way imaginable, as he has stated. There were times he had to use shoe polish (he told me) to cover up the whips, bruises, open wounds if he was in public. The websites and you tube that is going up about the hideous allegations disgust me. Those who knew him and his family, children and fans. IMO.

Men who are that abused become more withdrawn into a delusionary world and create in their mind, with such talent as Micheal had, what he could play out in life. Everything was grandiose. Michael could pull that off. He was, the King! They do not become perpetrators as what was stated in my opinion and 25 years of experience. Michael did not have the hand to spank his own children, let alone hurt another child."

You can read more of Rae's opinions on her myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/talkandtell.

Here is a video of Michael Jackson's statement after the police interrogated him.

What I'd like for you to do is: substitute your favorite preacher, who has been arrested for similar crimes, speaking with the same tone as Michael Jackson, and ask yourself, "Would it have made a difference if (fill in the blank) made just an impassioned a plea?"

That was one of the big accusations thrown against Gray!

He was accused of being guilty BECAUSE he did not stand up and shout, "I am innocent." Yet, we have MJ doing that, in very graphic terms, and it still doesn't seem to fly in today's world. Child molestation is one of those crimes that, once it's been attached to your name, is practically impossible to rid yourself of.

Rae is one of the few advocates I've met who realizes that false accusations happen. Sometimes to cover up actual molestations by diverting attention to a scapegoat. Our dedication to attacking a scapegoat often pulls rank over standing up for victims of sex crimes. it just taints the reality of true child abuse cases happening throughout our nation and the world.

Lancaster is like Transylvania in the desert.

2009-11-10T09:13:00.001-08:00

That was a great night in Lancaster! However, I still can't get over how even the most 'liberal' groups and organizations seem to cower in the face of Paul Chappell, pastor of Lancaster Baptist Church. The mayor is allegedly a member of his church, and I have read articles where city council meetings have been held in his church. The members, though, are known to turn their backs on former members who have alleged abuse in his church.

I originally approached a local Atheist group to show 'Don't Go In The Church', but they didn't show it because of Chappellaphobia.

Well, while the gallery show was going on, somebody asked me how I got involved with videotaping wrestlers.

I became involved when Jeff Archer, of the Atheist Coalition in San Diego, who was also a wrestling promoter, invited me to videotape the match between Kasie Cavanaugh and Bryan Walsh. Killer Kowalski, now deceased, was the referee. Jeff was also responsible for the 'self help' video Killer Kowalski would later pay me to make.

I didn't meet Jeff Archer in a vacuum! Many of the Atheist, and Humanist, groups in Los Angeles do the same kind of work that Christian charities do. So, I look upon the Humanist Association of Los Angeles, Atheists United, and the other groups, in the same vein you'd look at the various Christian children's funds.

Still, one of the people responsible for the gallery show told me later she wished I hadn't mentioned the phrase 'Atheist Coalition'. She could see a growing pallor in the guy's face.

I smiled and nodded. Agreed. But nothing's going to keep me silent! I'm not going to hide from the word 'Atheist', even if local Atheist groups seem to want to hide from it.

Just like villagers in Transylvania stop talking whenever the name 'Dracula' is mentioned in vampire movies, Lancaster liberals, and some skeptics, seem to stop talking whenever the name 'Paul Chappell' or the word 'Atheist' is used in a conversation.

The reason Paul Chappell, who is allegedly 'cleaning up' Lancaster from its gang problems, has not yet responded, in public, to the scandals regarding the molestation charges that were against Bob Gray, and other Baptist leaders caught with their hands in the cookie jar, is because those who SHOULD KNOW BETTER are buying into the fear. At some point, someone has to stand up and say, "The emperor has no clothes, and it's time to say so!"

In spite of all the posts I've made on this page regarding fundamentalist corruption in Jacksonville and in Lancaster, nobody has yet to show up and make a public challenge whenever I've done these public events.

I am glad the article mentioned 'Don't Go In The Church' (see below). It did provide some context as to why I found myself in Lancaster in the first place.

The fear is bogus, people!

It's time to start speaking out these issues. Especially when it comes to issues regarding the clergy abuse of children. There are more supporters of survivors than you might think, but we're still cowering in a baseless fear.

There's no excuse for that.

complete Antelope Valley Press article.

2009-11-10T07:40:00.000-08:00

NOTE: Click image for the big picture.

This article appeared in Friday's edition of the Antelope Valley Press. It appeared in their Friday supplement section. Very impressed to see it shares the same page that features a review of Michael Jackson's This is it.

The article manages to include Don't Go In The Church!, working at Disneyland (without mentioning the name), a bit about growing up fundamentalist in Jacksonville, and professional wrestling, without missing a single beat!

Film documents devotion to violent craft.
By Lavender Vroman
Antelope Valley Press, Showcase Editor
November 6, 2009

When director Dwayne Walker started making the documentary “Wrestling Then and Now,” he didn’t have much sympathy for those who participate in the violent, flashy sport.

When I first put this movie together, I kind of had a superior attitude toward some of these wrestlers,” said the 48-year-old filmmaker, who lives in Long Beach.

“Some of these young wrestlers are just putting their bodies through so much hell and getting paid very little for it.”

After abandoning the project, and then returning to it about six years later, Walker found himself working on the custodial staff at a major amusement park.

“My body was just rebelling against me. It just wasn’t used to that,” he said. “My paycheck, it was like working two or three jobs and only getting paid for one job. Now, I’m re-editing (the film) and I’m realizing, ‘Hey, aren’t I doing the same thing?’”

Walker said he realized the wrestlers were more noble than him because they don’t complain about the damage inflicted on their bodies.

“They’re sacrificing their bodies because of something they want. Suddenly, these wrestlers are serving as an inspiration to me. Suddenly, it was like this weird thing where this movie was inspiring me.”

Walker ended up quitting his amusement park job to pursue more satisfying endeavors. The completed documentary “Wrestling Then and Now” will premiere Saturday, Nov. 7, as part of “Sound of the Body Slams: Wrestling in Documentary Film” at Antelope Valley College.

The event will also feature a screening of director Arthur Cauty’s “Hard Knocks” which explores the skill, aptitude and dedication required in wrestling; an appearance by wrestling tag team The Ballard Brothers; and a discussion with Walker.

The film festival is recommended for mature audiences. Walker said his documentary contains some adult language and wrestling violence.

“Sound of the Body Slams” coincides with the college art gallery exhibition, “Beyond the Ring: The Art Careers of Professional Wrestlers,” which features the works of Steve “Strong” Cepello; Marc Letzmann, aka “Excalibur”; Jerry “the King” Lawler; Pete Bregman; and Ted Lewin, author of “I was a Teenage Wrestler”.

According to Walker, the film festival and exhibition came about after he sent Antelope Valley College a copy of his short film, “Don’t Go In The Church!”, which deals with the subject of child abuse by Protestant clergy. He also threw in a copy of “Wrestling Then and Now.”

Walker said he contacted art gallery director Christine Mugnolo, who told him she was interested in the wrestling documentary and wanted to organize an art show.

“I’m kind of on cloud nine, the fact that this movie inspired this gallery show,” the director said.

“Wrestling Then and Now” explores the East Coast’s independent wrestling scene, including the injuries, the women’s division, overzealous fans and the system by which wrestlers “pay their dues”.

It features interviews with such “old school” greats as Killer Kowalski, Nikolai Volkoff and Don “Dr. Death” Arnold, and younger wrestling stars, including Homicide, Lowlife Louis Ramos and the Mambo King.

The East Coast wrestling community is a far cry from the ‘glitz’ of the World Wrestling Entertainment empire, Walker said.

“It’s more of a blue collar crowd. You can actually meet the wrestlers, they can sign autographs, you can have conversations with them. It’s my understanding that there really isn’t an indie scene like that out here in Southern California. In New York and New Jersey, it’s a part of people’s life.”

Growing up surrounded by Christian fundamentalists in Jacksonville, Fla., Walker said his childhood love of movies was squelched by his church’s strict disapproval of the cinema.

“I really fell into it hard, too, to the point that I wound up giving up movies for a while.”

When Walker went to college, he started seeing films again. “Unfortunately, I just couldn’t recapture that first love that I had for movies,” he said.

His passion for the cinema didn’t return until the late 1990’s, when he began videotaping wrestling matches in Southern California.

“It just took me away from all of this gloom and doom and hell and damnation,” Walker said.

Through his videography work, the director met wrestling writer and radio show host Evan GInzburg, associate producer of last year’s Oscar nominated drama “The Wrestler” starring Mickey Rourke.

Ginzburg regaled Walker with stories of wrestlers he knew on the East Coast.

“Eventually, he told me enough stories. . . that I said, ‘Ok, maybe I should take him up on this,” Walker said.

The director stayed with Ginzburg in New York for three weeks in 2002, doing nonstop interviews with wrestlers.

“Every single person practically had a hard luck story but there were all about the same thing, ‘This isn’t going to make wrestling look bad is it?’” the director recalled.

“My movie, believe it or not, besides all the hard luck stories, is practically cotton candy because I’m paying tribute to them.”

After a conflict over footage of one of the featured wrestlers, Walker set the project aside. It wasn’t until “The Wrestler” was released that he was inspired to revisit and re-edit the film.

“Wrestling Then and Now” is on sale at Walker’s Web site, walkertown.com.

As for AV College’s elevation of wrestling to an art form, Walker said he wholeheartedly agrees with the approach.

“I do think of it as an art form. I think of it as an extension of the morality plays back to the medieval era. To me, at its best, I see it as like the medieval theater where you have the good guys and the bad guys. When you look at it like that, the question of ‘Is it fake?’ doesn’t even play into it.”

Used by permission.

If you're in Lancaster, CA today. . .

2009-11-07T10:10:00.001-08:00

I'll be at the Antelope Valley College screening my movie at 7:30 PM. Arrive early and see the gallery show!

>

Tom Messer to speak at Florida Baptist Convention

2009-11-07T10:00:00.000-08:00

Christa Brown sent a head's up that Tom Messer, current pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, will be speaking at the Florida Baptist Convention. Trinity, which used to be in the Southern Baptist Convention, appears to be two stepping its way back in!

Messer will be speaking on 'Transition: Leading the church to adapt for greater effectiveness'.

You can see his picture just below Richard Land, who will be speaking, ironically enough, on the 'Persecution of the American church: welcome to pastoring in a persecuted environment.'

What some call 'accountability' others call 'persecution'. In a subculture where paying your taxes is regarded as 'persecution', I think some women who recently got stoned for adultery (some, for even wearing pants) in the Middle East might beg to differ.

Link: Official website for Florida Baptist Convention.

Christa Brown's article: Tom Messer is speaker for Florida Baptist Convention.

Here's my comment which can be found underneath Christa's article:

I'm really not shocked anymore. Kinda just a bit numb. I'd like to see a convention where every preacher who has ever been accused of molesting children, or covering up molesters, appears on the program. We might moving toward that anyway.

The more they put their heads in the sand, the more this seems to be a reality.

I remember being totally shocked when Jerry Falwell publically admitted he recommended First Baptist Church over Trinity Baptist Church. The recommendation was for Tonya Flynt, who just wrote a book accusing Larry Flynt, Falwell's good friend of molesting her as a toddler.

Everybody denied Falwell and Flynt were friends, until Falwell died, then we learned they were in fact friends. Still, I was thinking, "The guy's independent! Why would he recommend a Southern Baptist church over his own 'non denominational' denomination?"

So. . .I actually called Tonya and mentioned the Gray situation. Remember, this is years before Gray had been arrested. I told her I thought it was really odd he recommend this church over Trinity UNLESS the rumors were true. That Gray molested children, and he did not want to gamble on sending someone, known for speaking out loud against her molestation, to a church pastored by someone involved in that particular crime.

She might have had children during that time also. I'll have to look into that. When you look at this way, Falwell might have spared Larry Flynt's grandchild from possible Gray abuse. Isn't that interesting?

Somewhere around this time frame, Falwell went into the Southern Baptist Convention! In fact, I have a Christian newspaper in the garage where that is a headline. There's an article about Falwell joining the Southern Baptist Convention.

So. . .once upon a time, when Southern Baptist Convention preachers got in trouble, they used to leave and become independent and blame their separation on 'liberalism' and 'apostasy'. Today, when independent Baptists get in trouble, they now seem to RETURN to the Southern Baptist Convention.

Guess birds of a feather must stick together?

Article about screening to appear in Antelope Valley Press this Friday.

2009-11-03T17:19:00.000-08:00

I had an interview with Lavender Vroman, a writer with the Antelope Valley Press. The newspaper of Lancaster, CA. A lot of material covered, from the inception of the movie to 'why Lancaster for your screening?'

I have no idea what will, or won't, be used in the article,. Hopefully it will attract people to the screening of my movie, Wrestling Then and Now. As far as the rest of the subject matter we discussed? That will be at the writer's discretion. Let's just say that the creation of Wrestling Then and Now was quite interesting. It truly was a rare opportunity where the creator became inspired by the creation. Very inspirational.

Killer Kowalski, the late wrestling legend, paid me $1000 to make a self improvement video. This video consisted of Killer Kowalski explaining how he gets through the hard ships of life. He put a lot of strength in the phrase, "I Am."

I don't have that video, and I practically have an all points bulletin for anyone who happens to have 'Walter Killer Kowalski's Miracle Video' to get in contact with me. In that video, he talks about using the phrase 'I Am' to pick yourself up. I tried, using his method, and it does seem to work.

Well, if anyone has read Dan Brown's latest book, he keeps harping about some lost freemason saying that will transform the individual. I'm going to give it away since I believe Kowalski has the better answer.

Dan Brown's book, The Lost Symbol, speculates the saying is 'Praise God'. It's apparently somewhere on the Washington monument. According to the book's hero, 'Praise God' is part of our freemason founding father's grand goal of a nation devoted to transforming men into gods.

Sorry, Dan!

Kowalski's method of saying 'I Am' is clearly the 'magic phrase', if you believe in that sort of thing. An unbeliever can say 'I Am' and it will be an affirmation that he, or she, is worthy of respect by the pure virtue of existence. A believer can also say 'I Am' with the knowledge that it is also a reference to a deity.

Either way, 'I Am' is a powerful phrase that can be used by both believer and unbeliever. Hence, its uniting power. Plus, with the knowledge that it's both an affirmation of self, and a name for the deity, ultimately puts the person saying it on an equal level with the alleged deity of your choice.

Men into gods!

The theme of Dan Brown's book.

Yet, Kowalski improves on Brown: believer and un believer can be both united, and find strength, through the power of 'I Am'.

Nope, it wasn't a theological scholar who brought that to the public. It was our theological Prometheus, Walter 'Killer' Kowalski!!!

Yes, the foolish things of the world confounding the wise. . .

"Wrestlers make great fundamentalist preachers!" I said to Lavender, "If I ever get a chance to make my dream project, Most Say Nothing, I want professional wrestlers playing the roles of fundamentalist preachers!"

You do hear Kowalski mentioning 'I Am' in the movie, but I think the meaning will pass over people's heads. Unless, of course, someone finds 'Walter Kowalski's Miracle Video' and puts it on the market!

Saturday, November 7, will be devoted to wrestling and the art it inspires. Kasie Cavanaugh, aka Jayne Tryka (gym teacher in original Scary Movie) is slated to appear, as is Bryan Walsh. The Ballard Brothers, from the movie Hard Knocks (which will also be screened) will be there for Q&A between movies.

Lancaster, California residents! Keep an eye out for the paper on Friday. If the article has an internet presence, I'll be sure to link it.

Official gallery link: http://avc.edu/academics/vapa/artgallery/

Walter Kowalski's Miracle Video:

http://www.angelfire.com/wrestling3/thenandnow/merchandise.html.

Scroll all the way down for mention of the video. I'm sending a letter to that address to see if it still works. If it does, I'll let 'ya know!

Cases related to Bob Gray and Trinity Christian Academy.

2009-10-28T19:54:00.001-07:00

Bob Gray was arrested on charges of child molestation back in May of 2006. This blog has kept tabs of all the major developments in the trial; however, the fact that I am a graduate of Trinity Christian Academy's Class of 1980 (the school Gray founded), and a former member of Trinity Baptist Church (the church Gray once pastored), might have affected my objectivity a bit.

Maybe I'll write about that one day!

Thankfully, Christa Brown of stopbaptistpredators.com was astute enough to create a page devoted to the major issues involved in the various cases against Trinity Baptist Church.

Conservative Babylon also gives a very thorough account of the Bob Gray saga.

Visit Baptist Scandals: Trinity Baptist in Jacksonville, Florida, or Rev. Bob Gray to bring yourself up to speed on this sad drama. However, keep visiting 'Christian School Confidential' for updates on the future trials.

Three are waiting.

Here are the complaints that have been filed, including those that have been tossed:

The Civil Trials against Trinity Baptist Church:

Download as PDF files:

All of these cases, except two, have been tossed. Jane Doe #2 and #3 appear to still be on the dock.

Jane Doe #1
Jane Doe #2
Jane Doe #3
Jane Doe #4.
Jane Doe #5.
Denise Green

Civil Cases Tossed
(from Duval County Clerk, if you wish to research).

NOTE: Dates refer to when they were posted on the Duval County Clerk's web page. They do not refer to when the decisions were made.

Jane Doe is tossed, 3/19/2008
Jane Doe appeals, and still tossed.
Jane Doe #4, 12/6/2007
Jane Doe #4 is tossed. The above document contains the lines:

The Court concludes that the Plantiff's claim "the Defendant's silence and/or inaction in the face of an affirmative duty to disclose their knowledge of Rev. Gray's sexual behavior constitutes fraudulent concealment. . . for purposes of deflecting the statue of limitations" is without merit.

Jane Doe #4, 1/25/2008
Jane Doe, #5, 10/26/2007
Jane Doe, #5, 12/17/2007
Jane Doe, #5, 1/11/2008
Denise Green, 4/28/2008

Depositions:

Four depositions were used during the writing of Our Pastor Molested Me, Now What?. They may be obtained by contacting Official Reporters, Inc., 201 East Adams Street, Jacksonville, Florida 32202, (904) 358-2090. You must give them the case name, number, and division. That information is listed below.

CASE NAME:
State of Florida vs Robert Calhoun Gray
DIVISION:
CR-E
CASE NUMBERS:
16-2006-CF-07704-AXXX
2006-CF-7704-AXXX
16-CF-2006-07704-AXXX-MA
16-2006-CF-07704-AXXX-MA (Division CR-E/SAD)