Scandals today, and be forewarned: the first deals with sexual assault. If you want to skip over it, the next one starts about nine paragraphs down, with the word TODAY in all caps. Yesterday, a nearly 300-page report from a third-party investigation revealed that the leadership of the Southern Baptists buried sex abuse claims for more than 20 years. They ignored accusations or attacked sex abuse survivors to protect the church from legal liability, describing survivors as “‘opportunistic,’ having a ‘hidden agenda of lawsuits,’ wanting to ‘burn things to the ground,’ and acting as a ‘professional victim.’”
So great that there is some verification of what has been swirling around for decades. Who didn’t know that the church had turned evil, and more than the Southern Baptists. Who didn’t know that the 2016 election was marred from the start with shady dealings, Republican shady dealings. Who didn’t know from the start of the chump administration (and before) that Bannon personified evil. Who didn’t know that billionaire money bought the integrity of Republicans. Who didn’t know that Zuckerberg was/is the Zombie Apocalypse. In fact, I am still dealing with the fallout from a Facebook data breach several years ago, before they banned me for calling chump the traitor that most non-MAGAts now know him to be. Has there ever been a time when so much information is available to us all, yet propaganda rules. May the layers be peeled back and the truth revealed. May there be ears to hear.
"Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!" (Sir Walter Scott, 1808).
It makes me sick to my stomach when patriarchal power is used to exploit women and children — and men. It takes dreadfully twisted minds to turn the tables on the victims! Russell Moore’s words sear the core of my being.
“[The] report is so damning that Russell Moore’s first reaction was to say: ‘I was wrong to call sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention…a crisis. Crisis is too small a word. It is an apocalypse.’ The investigation, he says, ‘uncovers a reality far more evil and systematic than I imagined it could be.’ ‘How many children were raped, how many people were assaulted, how many screams were silenced,’ he asked, ‘while we boasted that no one could reach the world for Jesus like we could.’
“Stop the presses! Breaking news! It turns out that the leadership of the Southern Baptists are bald-faced hypocrites!”
Well, uh, many of us have been aware of that for some time now. It explains why the SBC and the GOP have fit so well together since Saint Reagan’s days. Remember the term, “Moral Majority”? Their current political hero is himself a serial philanderer and an accused sexual predator. The news is that they can no longer hide the fact of rampant sexual predation which raises the question of what, if anything, the members, especially the women, are going to do about it.
It's really not surprising about the SBC, aka the State Religion of the Confederate States of America, the church FOUNDED to preach that slavery was"god's will." Turns out "the Righteous Gemstones" is a documentary, not a comedy.
For many Americans, family life is organized around religion. And they’ve taken it to a new level by making it political. But maybe that’s not new. Be sure to read the quote by Carter.
I remember reading about Jimmy Carter leaving the Southern Baptist Church in 2006. . “Jimmy Carter Leaves Southern Baptists” There’s a difference between Baptist and Southern Baptist.
2006 on Jimmy Carter: End of Tradition
“My grandfather, my father and I have always been Southern Baptists, and for 21 years, since the first political division took place in the Southern Baptist Convention, I have maintained that relationship. I feel I can no longer in good conscience do that,” Carter was quoted as telling the Journal-Constitution.
The former president told the paper he will continue as a deacon at Baptist church in his hometown of Plains, Ga., and that he and his wife, Rosalynn, will associate with Baptist groups “who share such beliefs as separation of church and state … a free religious press, and equality of women.” https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/story?id=95311&page=1
I would add Sen. Cassidy 's remarks about maternal mortality rates in Louisiana as a scandal, though there will be ways to justify his reasoning. Black mothers die at higher rates because of racism. That's the short of it. Not scandalous enough to too many Republican voters though.
Does anyone expect anything else, sadly? From big religion? And from Zuckerberg? So far nothing of the sort from us Unitarians, but who knows, anything is possible, although I certainly hope not! Also, even though my brass quintet contains an atheist (the trombone player) and an agnostic (me, the tuba player), we are happily engaged in playing for St. Paul Reformation Lutheran Church. So I'm rooting for the right kind of religion (cross culture), even if I'm not a part of it.
Thank you Dr. Richardson! One question from today’s coverage leaps out at me. What gives the FTC the authority to indemnify Facebook for “any and all claims prior to June 12, 2019.” By what authority does the FTC have the power to shield a company from the courts? They are different branches of government. This would be akin to the FDA shielding Perdue Pharma from opioid lawsuits by giving them a paltry administrative fine. I don’t see where the FTC has that authority.
Mark Zuckerberg began his climb to extreme wealth as a sexist, socially frustrated, thief (of Harvard student pictures). With Facebook, he has dishonestly violated all norms of privacy and destroyed “friend” as a meaningful description of a close relationship. A despicable human being whose damage to social relationships is incalculable and irreversible.
I fear it's going to be a long hot summer (like in the early '70's), leading up to the elections in the fall. If the dems have any sense about them, they will use this report on the SBC to their advantage. Them's that cloak themselves in the Constitution, and all that is red, white and blue and motherhood are abusing women and girls and I suspect boys. Did they learn nothing from the Catholic church???? Yup...it's the patriarchy! Somewhere in the '90's I bought a refridgerator magnet that says "I will be a post feminist in the post patriarchy"..... looks like we are still here. Thanks HCR!
“Members also called for an investigation of the escalating sex scandals, which had become so toxic after Trump’s election that In setting up an investigation, church members were leery enough of the leaders investigating themselves that they set up a task force to manage a third-party investigation.” We have a chance to vote out the party of evangelicals and TFG in the coming elections. Including tomorrow. The history of how evangelism infiltrated our politics and government is “damning.”
The Loudoun County Democratic Committee's take on this was a bit more partisan😉:
"From the start, everyone – Democrats, Independents, and even some Republicans – knew it was nothing more than a stunt: a right-wing charade to win national headlines by harassing the duly elected Loudoun County School Board members who didn’t embrace the regressive vision of education dictated by Ian Prior and Fight for Schools.
"Well, in the end, they lost. And lost badly.
"Before the hearings could even get underway this morning, the presiding judge dismissed the cases saying there was insufficient evidence to support the offenses Prior and his fellow cultural warriors alleged School Board members Brenda Sheridan and Altoosa Reaser committed or found the allegations insufficient to require any discipline.
"After nearly a year of unwarranted lies, accusations, and national headlines, the court found the Fight for Schools recall petitions to be built upon a tissue of imagined slights.
“'I will never be able to put into words the toll this process took on my family, and on the families I serve,' said Reaser. 'What I can tell you is that this type of malicious court filing has a chilling effect on democracy.'
"There’s the temptation to call their misbehavior a cheap stunt; but, it wasn’t cheap. It cost Sheridan and Reaser public ridicule; it cost Loudoun County derision in Richmond and nationally; it cost the taxpayers’ resources to process these unfounded allegations; and, perhaps most importantly, it cost the time and energy of School Board members who should have been focusing on educating our children."
Next up on Ian Prior's agenda is his quest to take down my U.S. Representative, Jennifer Wexton, this November. If anyone is interested, here's a link that describes who Ian Prior is. You can click on a "Continue without subscribing" button that's hard to find but can be found!
I don't think it's a coincidence that so many cases of sexual misconduct, both actual and alleged, involve high-ranking members of both political and religious organisations. Such behaviour is normal for high-status males in a number of primate species other than our own. Ask any female baboon!
I am not the least bit surprised, having been raised in a southern town, where there was a Baptist church on every corner. The audacity and the hypocrisy is deafening. Dogs are better treated than women or children by these harmful jerks!
So great that there is some verification of what has been swirling around for decades. Who didn’t know that the church had turned evil, and more than the Southern Baptists. Who didn’t know that the 2016 election was marred from the start with shady dealings, Republican shady dealings. Who didn’t know from the start of the chump administration (and before) that Bannon personified evil. Who didn’t know that billionaire money bought the integrity of Republicans. Who didn’t know that Zuckerberg was/is the Zombie Apocalypse. In fact, I am still dealing with the fallout from a Facebook data breach several years ago, before they banned me for calling chump the traitor that most non-MAGAts now know him to be. Has there ever been a time when so much information is available to us all, yet propaganda rules. May the layers be peeled back and the truth revealed. May there be ears to hear.
"Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!" (Sir Walter Scott, 1808).
It makes me sick to my stomach when patriarchal power is used to exploit women and children — and men. It takes dreadfully twisted minds to turn the tables on the victims! Russell Moore’s words sear the core of my being.
“[The] report is so damning that Russell Moore’s first reaction was to say: ‘I was wrong to call sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention…a crisis. Crisis is too small a word. It is an apocalypse.’ The investigation, he says, ‘uncovers a reality far more evil and systematic than I imagined it could be.’ ‘How many children were raped, how many people were assaulted, how many screams were silenced,’ he asked, ‘while we boasted that no one could reach the world for Jesus like we could.’
“Stop the presses! Breaking news! It turns out that the leadership of the Southern Baptists are bald-faced hypocrites!”
Well, uh, many of us have been aware of that for some time now. It explains why the SBC and the GOP have fit so well together since Saint Reagan’s days. Remember the term, “Moral Majority”? Their current political hero is himself a serial philanderer and an accused sexual predator. The news is that they can no longer hide the fact of rampant sexual predation which raises the question of what, if anything, the members, especially the women, are going to do about it.
It's really not surprising about the SBC, aka the State Religion of the Confederate States of America, the church FOUNDED to preach that slavery was"god's will." Turns out "the Righteous Gemstones" is a documentary, not a comedy.
For many Americans, family life is organized around religion. And they’ve taken it to a new level by making it political. But maybe that’s not new. Be sure to read the quote by Carter.
I remember reading about Jimmy Carter leaving the Southern Baptist Church in 2006. . “Jimmy Carter Leaves Southern Baptists” There’s a difference between Baptist and Southern Baptist.
2006 on Jimmy Carter: End of Tradition
“My grandfather, my father and I have always been Southern Baptists, and for 21 years, since the first political division took place in the Southern Baptist Convention, I have maintained that relationship. I feel I can no longer in good conscience do that,” Carter was quoted as telling the Journal-Constitution.
The former president told the paper he will continue as a deacon at Baptist church in his hometown of Plains, Ga., and that he and his wife, Rosalynn, will associate with Baptist groups “who share such beliefs as separation of church and state … a free religious press, and equality of women.” https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/story?id=95311&page=1
I would add Sen. Cassidy 's remarks about maternal mortality rates in Louisiana as a scandal, though there will be ways to justify his reasoning. Black mothers die at higher rates because of racism. That's the short of it. Not scandalous enough to too many Republican voters though.
Does anyone expect anything else, sadly? From big religion? And from Zuckerberg? So far nothing of the sort from us Unitarians, but who knows, anything is possible, although I certainly hope not! Also, even though my brass quintet contains an atheist (the trombone player) and an agnostic (me, the tuba player), we are happily engaged in playing for St. Paul Reformation Lutheran Church. So I'm rooting for the right kind of religion (cross culture), even if I'm not a part of it.
I thought your readers might like to check the redistricting map in their state: great resource: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/redistricting-2022-maps/
Thank you Dr. Richardson! One question from today’s coverage leaps out at me. What gives the FTC the authority to indemnify Facebook for “any and all claims prior to June 12, 2019.” By what authority does the FTC have the power to shield a company from the courts? They are different branches of government. This would be akin to the FDA shielding Perdue Pharma from opioid lawsuits by giving them a paltry administrative fine. I don’t see where the FTC has that authority.
Mark Zuckerberg began his climb to extreme wealth as a sexist, socially frustrated, thief (of Harvard student pictures). With Facebook, he has dishonestly violated all norms of privacy and destroyed “friend” as a meaningful description of a close relationship. A despicable human being whose damage to social relationships is incalculable and irreversible.
What a SHAME that all this accountability wasn't taking place 5 years ago...
Justice delayed truly is justice denied.
I fear it's going to be a long hot summer (like in the early '70's), leading up to the elections in the fall. If the dems have any sense about them, they will use this report on the SBC to their advantage. Them's that cloak themselves in the Constitution, and all that is red, white and blue and motherhood are abusing women and girls and I suspect boys. Did they learn nothing from the Catholic church???? Yup...it's the patriarchy! Somewhere in the '90's I bought a refridgerator magnet that says "I will be a post feminist in the post patriarchy"..... looks like we are still here. Thanks HCR!
“Members also called for an investigation of the escalating sex scandals, which had become so toxic after Trump’s election that In setting up an investigation, church members were leery enough of the leaders investigating themselves that they set up a task force to manage a third-party investigation.” We have a chance to vote out the party of evangelicals and TFG in the coming elections. Including tomorrow. The history of how evangelism infiltrated our politics and government is “damning.”
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! In keeping with today's Letter (I hope) here is the latest ruling on the Loudoun County School Board case. https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/northern-virginia/attempt-to-remove-2-loudoun-school-board-members-fails/3059249/
The Loudoun County Democratic Committee's take on this was a bit more partisan😉:
"From the start, everyone – Democrats, Independents, and even some Republicans – knew it was nothing more than a stunt: a right-wing charade to win national headlines by harassing the duly elected Loudoun County School Board members who didn’t embrace the regressive vision of education dictated by Ian Prior and Fight for Schools.
"Well, in the end, they lost. And lost badly.
"Before the hearings could even get underway this morning, the presiding judge dismissed the cases saying there was insufficient evidence to support the offenses Prior and his fellow cultural warriors alleged School Board members Brenda Sheridan and Altoosa Reaser committed or found the allegations insufficient to require any discipline.
"After nearly a year of unwarranted lies, accusations, and national headlines, the court found the Fight for Schools recall petitions to be built upon a tissue of imagined slights.
“'I will never be able to put into words the toll this process took on my family, and on the families I serve,' said Reaser. 'What I can tell you is that this type of malicious court filing has a chilling effect on democracy.'
"There’s the temptation to call their misbehavior a cheap stunt; but, it wasn’t cheap. It cost Sheridan and Reaser public ridicule; it cost Loudoun County derision in Richmond and nationally; it cost the taxpayers’ resources to process these unfounded allegations; and, perhaps most importantly, it cost the time and energy of School Board members who should have been focusing on educating our children."
Next up on Ian Prior's agenda is his quest to take down my U.S. Representative, Jennifer Wexton, this November. If anyone is interested, here's a link that describes who Ian Prior is. You can click on a "Continue without subscribing" button that's hard to find but can be found!
https://crooksandliars.com/2021/08/meet-regular-dad-ian-prior-goper-waging
I don't think it's a coincidence that so many cases of sexual misconduct, both actual and alleged, involve high-ranking members of both political and religious organisations. Such behaviour is normal for high-status males in a number of primate species other than our own. Ask any female baboon!
I am not the least bit surprised, having been raised in a southern town, where there was a Baptist church on every corner. The audacity and the hypocrisy is deafening. Dogs are better treated than women or children by these harmful jerks!