LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY thornewilder)

First. A multitutde of thanks, to everyone here. Thanks to the thoughtful dialog, thanks to the research, thanks to the links and thanks for the caring.

This one is for dogemperor.
I bugged my husband all weekend to discuss the types of developmental anomolies he sees exhibited in "suspected dominionist" families. (ie the mom who comes into the exam room with her dogeared bible along with 15,000 red bookmarks....)His standard caveats - as any scientist would have - regarding legitimate research controls apply here. We are talking observations only.

In the Cognitive Development Sequence
0-18 months: sensorineural (making sense of the universe purely through sensation)
rather interesting this is the time chosen to start caning, ie "let's teach our children the universe is inately hostile..."

18 months to 5/6 yrs: preoperational thinking (this includes precausal and magical) as the beginning of cause & effect however the percieved cause & effect are frequently inaccurate)Example:Rain is when angels cry.

7+ : Concrete Operational; definite beginning of cause & effect that includes the beginning of recognizing and organizing facts. (memorizing lists, tables, collecting items, sorting...)

13/14 and up: Formal Operational (developing the ability to compare and contrast, project into the future with relative degrees of accuracy)

In the families he suspects of strong dominionist associations he sees a potentially significant penchant for children to stay in the realm of preoperational thinking long beyond the developmental milestones would have suggested they ought to move on. Many times if they are pressed or presented with a challenge to thier thinking ("This idea can't be because Jesus wouldn't want it to be so"), they then revert to sensorineural behavior...ie rocking, staring into space or such.

This suggests a potential effect of dominionist households may be the arrested development of cognitive skills, or inordinate dwelling at a developmental level you ought to have graduated from. Formal operational thought is discouraged.

Does this result in adults without the sustainded ability for consistent mature formal operational thought? (highly manipulatable)

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY thornewilder)

hmmm...

"Sexual abusers usually start with a con job. They offer to sit and talk, to rub a shoulder, to comfort... and then they get brutally abusive, often overpowering and subduing the victim.

We know a few things about people who have been abused as children-- they tend to become abusers themselves and, if sexually abused, they tend to become sexualized. This means they tend to become the seducers, with the parent or relative who started the sexual abuse and with others. It's a defense mechanism-- a way to take control of an otherwise horrible situation.

Research has shown that religious fundamentalists are more likely to come from families where sexual abuse has occurred. We know about the widespread abuse by Catholic priests.

I want to be clear that I have no problem with Jesus, his teachings or the Christian faith. I have problems with the monsters in the church who abuse the teachings of Jesus and people's faith in Jesus to abuse and take advantage of their congregants. What did Jesus say about them?

David McDonald reports, on his website,"

"In 2001, I heard the Evangelical radio show "Focus on the Family", hosted by psychologist and author Dr. James Dobson, discuss a crisis among Pastors of non-Catholic churches. They reported that 21% of Evangelical/Protestant pastors had had inappropriate sexual contact with members of their congregations. Sixty percent (60%) of Evangelical pastors, most of whom are married, have a problem with pornography. In a 1984 study, 76% of pastors knew of another Evangelical pastor who had sexual intercourse with a parishioner."

Read the entire article

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_rob_kall_051111_bush_supporting_evan.htm

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY shamangirl)

Ambassador de Sade

By John Gorenfeld, AlterNet. Posted November 8, 2005.

Bush rewarded one of his loyalists with the ambassadorship to Italy -- despite his past as the founder of an cult-like teen rehab clinic.

This is a long article, but well worth the read - because the clinics this man set up are still running under different names...

...and he is one of Bush's "darlings".

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY thornewilder)

Sorry, I made a post earlier. Who knows where it ended up! It was in response to dogemperors question about the types of psych/behavioral problems my husband (Dev. Ped) is seeing in kids from dominionist families. I'll try to recreate it here.

First: He, suspects but does not know for sure, they are DF (dominion families)His suspicions are related to extreme resistance on the part of the parent or care giver to accept any treatment plan that may involve an alteration of the families behavior towards the child. (types of things like "you may consider not making your teenager go to this event..." advice.

He feels this has something to do with the family outlook. The children are frequently objects, their identities are related only to the problem that needs "fixing", and this lends itself to naming the child the problem. For instance Johnny isn't experiencing a sexual identity problem, he is a "homo who could change if he wanted."

He would like to ask advice, if anyone has specific questions he could ask in a subtle way that could help him determine if this is a DF without his scaring away the families.

Second: (This surprised me) Drug addition, particularly meth. (Self-medicating for severe problems is suspected here) Nearly every type of depression. But I caution here - he only suspects at this point and needs KEY questions to ask that would help him gain an understanding of the family dynamic.

Nearly to a letter the families he suspects are entirely resistant to treating depression as anything other than the child/teens choice. (pretty scientology-like)

The DF are not a particularily large component of his practice, but they are striking in that they are characterized by a complete abdication of parental or family life responsibility for the behavioral or psychological damage their children suffer from. They are almost entirely resistant to any solution other than the child changing to fit their needs. (which are probably the needs of the church? that is my suspicion after reading you folks)

I got interested in this (dominionist) subject about six months ago after a year or so looking at the religious right in America. It just seemed to me the term RR really doesn't describe what I was seeing. It makes a group sound like it is a religious movement. Then when I stumbled into dominionism...it made what I was seeing make sense: we are looking at a political movement. Of course with my big mouth, my husband got interested ...light bulb...

Funny thing about this (dominionist)political movement, it explains what you are seeing in your community, in your examining room, in the grocery store, in the SUV that blows by you at 10x lightspeed over the posted limit with the 1man+1woman=marriage bumpersticker and a "quiverfull" of kids.

Recently (in reference to this recent post on Dark Christianity) I stumbled upon the following series of articles on "Christian Counseling" aka "Theophostic Counseling", which is promoted heavily in the dominionist community as an alternative to "secular" psychiatry:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/theophostic.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/theophostic1.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/theophostic2.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/theophostic3.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/theophostic4.htm

In these articles I found characteristics in addition to those aspects of "deliverance ministry/spiritual warfare" in dominionist churches that I am personally familiar with (being a walkaway from a coercive AoG church into "Third Wave" theology, which incorporates "deliverance ministry/spiritual warfare" as part of its integral theology, and having also done some research on churches in the dominionist movement with similar theology such as Ted Haggard's New Life Church in Colorado Springs) that are especially troubling, as they show that the basic coercive tactics used in these churches are substantially identical to those used in a group much better known for being coercive--specifically, Scientology.

For comparisons between the practices of "Christian Counseling" targeted towards dominionists and Scientology, I will rely on information from the sites listed above (and other sites where necessary) regarding "deliverance ministry" theology and will rely on various online sources regarding the latter (which will be documented).

( Warning: Long analysis ahead )

Religious Tolerance has grave concerns:

Of concern is that TheoPhostic counseling is performed in a religious setting, typically by conservative Christian counselors with no academic qualifications. Many believe that since prayer is involved in the sessions, that God will prevent any evil acts or false memories from emerging. It is our opinion that God is not responsible for any good effects of TPM nor is Satan responsible for any evil results. Rather, the impact of TPM -- whether good or evil -- is determined by the counselor, the client, and their interaction. During the 1980s and 1990s, RMT seriously harmed many tens of thousands of its victims, drove some to suicide, and disrupted tens of thousands of families of origin. Many of its victims were counseled in a conservative Christian religious setting. Since TPM and RMT are so closely related, we urge the reader avoid becoming involved in TPM or in any other similar experimental therapy. We suspect that TPM has the same potential for evil, if it becomes widely used.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY gleef)

I know this case has been alluded to here before, but there have been some updates in the sad and strange case of the Carey family murders:

Most importantly, I wanted to discuss the bizarre and troubling meeting of the ways of law, religion and psychiatry that this case presents. I'm especially concerned with the testimony diagnosing the couple as having a "Dual Psychosis". They were following the teachings of many churches throughout the country, probably including their church, although perhaps a bit more actively and literally than most other followers. The psychosis angle strkes me as a way to deflect attention away from the religious nature, the potentially organized religious nature, of this crime. Does anyone know which side offered that testimony?

(snagged from halls_of_psyche)

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY thornewilder)

Someone mentioned to me yesterday that the tragic stories of Susan Smith and Andrea Yates intersect the world of dominionist religion. Is this true?

Are there any attempts to chart frequencies of this type of behavior in relation to beliefs? I don't just mean any one belief system, I think it would be interesting to look at all beliefs and chart child abuse frequencies....heck atheism too. Let's not leave anybody out...

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY loquaciousnut)

This made me laugh, for some reason. :-)

Let us eat goldfish
November 1, 2005

The First Assembly of God Church in Florence, Alabama, has agreed to discontinue its practice of asking teenagers to swallow live goldfish. A minister, Anthony Martin, said the goal was to teach the teenagers about fear.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals asked for a ban on the practice, Associated Press reports. The pastor, Greg Woodall, replied to the group in a letter: "I do appreciate your concern and just wanted to let you know that this will never happen again … We love God's creatures and would never want to show them harm."


http://www.smh.com.au/news/unusual-tales/let-us-eat-goldfish/2005/10/31/1130720481957.html

Been doing some followup on this story as well...Zach, unfortunately, got largely taken in, but his story may be earning a victory for OTHER kids at threat for committment there and in similar facilities.

http://www.isaccorp.org/loveinaction/love-in-action.09.19.05.html reports how the State of Tennessee has now ordered Love In Action to shut down the Refuge "de-gaying" center as it was handing out medication to mentally ill clients without a license. (Tennessee requires licensure for supportive care.)

Reportedly Peterson Toscano (a walkaway from Love In Action) has also verified the unlicensed handing out of drugs.

http://www.isaccorp.org/loveinaction/love-in-action.09.14.05.html is another article that gives the initial info on how the facility may be closed down (and also talks about the increased scrutiny Love In Action is facing--in part because of Zach's situation).

Needless to say, the dominionists running the joint are displeased and are contersuing the State of Tennessee:

http://www.isaccorp.org/loveinaction/love-in-action.10.01.05.html

(What's especially funny is that Love In Action flat out lies about its purpose. A quote:

"We are not changing homosexuals to heterosexuals," says LIA Director John Smid.

(Uhhh...that's what I thought the entire point of that whole "de-gaying"/"reparative" therapy WAS. So, are you or are you not running a "de-gaying" clinic?)

Needless to say, though, it looks like Refuge may well be shutting down. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Let's hope it's the first of MANY.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY nagisa_kaworu)

NEW YORK After news broke that local law enforcement officials were investigating complaints that Louis Beres, longtime chairman of the Christian Coalition of Oregon, had molested three female family members when they were pre-teens, The Oregonian in Portland went out and interviewed Beres' family members.

Two told reporters that Beres, indeed, had molested them. All three said they have been interviewed for several hours by detectives.

"I was molested," said one of the women, now in her early 50s. "I was victimized, and I've suffered all my life for it. I'm still afraid to be in the same room with [Beres]."

The coalition led by Beres, 70, champions socially conservative candidates and causes. Its Web site describes the group as "Oregon's leading grassroots organization defending our Godly heritage." The group opposes abortion, gay rights, and stem cell research. It is affiliated with the national Christian Coalition, which was founded in 1989 by television evangelist Pat Robertson.

More here: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001263321

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY deridetenebras)

FLORENCE, Ala. - The First Assembly of God Church has a Fear Factor ministry that lets youths swallow live goldfish in order to teach them about fear.

"We need to be realistic about what the Bible says about fear and not be afraid to share our faith in school," youth minister Anthony Martin told the TimesDaily in a story Thursday. "We can't let that fear rule our lives."

( Read more... )

(Link)

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY ellid)

Or, you knew this was coming the instant that Cardinal Ratzinger became Pope: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/09/27/newton_parishioners_hold_vigil_to_protest_pastors_resignation/


Father Cuenin, BTW, was one of the earliest and most vocal critics of Cardinal Law and his mishandling of the pedophile scandal. I'm amazed he lasted this long

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kalibex)

'Psychologist Rex Rosenberg believes in demons.


'He believes its possible to measure demonic influence with a survey he created.


'Does the subject of the survey smell foul odors? Are they homosexual? Do they deny Jesus of Nazareth is God?


'If the answer is yes to these or the other survey questions, that could indicate demonic possession.


'Some say Rosenberg shouldn’t be the state’s chief evaluator of who is committed to the state’s sexual predator program at Larned State Hospital...'

Interesting note the first:

( a glossary of dominionist-speak? )

( Dominionists and the misuse of Blair's 3am Reserve, or the hot-saucing of kids )

It should be noted that one of the major promoters of "hot saucing" as noted above is James Dobson, as in the fellow who runs Focus on the Family--who has also, as an aside, a href="http://www.nospank.net/n-n84r.htm">promoted the use</a> of "chastening rods" on kids as young as 18 months old, and who actually documented the blatant beating of his family dog as an example of how children's spirits should be broken.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY wolfsinger2k)

From this article, The Vatican is a sovereign nation?"

A U.S. lawyer said Wednesday he will press ahead with a lawsuit alleging Pope Benedict XIV conspired to cover up the abuse of three boys by a seminary student in Texas, despite the pontiff's request for diplomatic immunity.

The Vatican's embassy in Washington filed a request in May for the U.S. government to declare immunity for Pope Benedict as a head of state, according to documents provided by Shea.


Ok, did I miss something here? I thought the Catholic church was a church. When did they gain sovereign nation status allowing them to be entitled to an embassy??? Is the Vatican truly a sovereign nation, even in Italy? Would this translate to every Catholic church becoming an embassy if the Vatican is a "nation"? Oh, this could get very ugly.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY mysticknyght)

Via Sadly No!, here's some words of wisdom from extremist cleric James Dobson:

Is My Child Becoming Homosexual?

Evidences of gender confusion or doubt in boys ages 5 to 11 may include:

1. A strong feeling that they are “different” from other boys.

2. A tendency to cry easily, be less athletic, and dislike the roughhousing that other boys enjoy.

3. A persistent preference to play female roles in make-believe play.

4. A strong preference to spend time in the company of girls and participate in their games and other pastimes.

5. A susceptibility to be bullied by other boys, who may tease them unmercifully and call them “queer,” “fag” and “gay.”

6. A tendency to walk, talk, dress and even “think” effeminately.

7. A repeatedly stated desire to be — or insistence that he is — a girl.

What's interesting is that this series is entitled " Helping Boys Become Men, and Girls Become Women ," but I see no warning signs of lesbianism.  This is male homophobia, pure and simple.

I think my favorite is #2, A tendency to cry easily, be less athletic, and dislike the roughhousing that other boys enjoy..  As a four-year letterman on the Brother Martin High School Debate Team, I find this to be highly objectionable.  Telling fathers that emotions and non-athleticism in a boy is bad is an invitation for many of them to engage in behavior towards their sons that is both physically and emotionally abusive.

Then there's #5, A susceptibility to be bullied by other boys, who may tease them unmercifully and call them “queer,” “fag” and “gay.” The kids who get bullied are often the overweight/underweight ones, or the "smart" kids, or the loners.  Bullying doesn't make them "become gay," but it can lead to them wanting to shoot up their high schools.

Now, I'll buy #7 as a problem.  If a boy consistently insisted that he/she was a girl, I'd look into counseling, not because I was worried that he was gay, but that he has some serious issues in general.

This is the sort of stuff about Extermist Cleric Dobson that everyone needs to know.  There are all too many people who listen to his radio spots and think that FotF does good work.  The radio spots are a bait-and-switch, to get you on their mailing list and to get you to go to their website, where you read crap like this.


[YatPundit]
YatPundit entry)

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY tully_monster)

How To Tell How Gay Your Gay Son Is. Because we all need a little bit of humor in a dark, dark world.

On a more serious note, if you didn't delve any deeper into SpongeDob's website, check out The Homosexual Campaign Against Children. Or maybe not. Now I'm kind of sorry I did. Ewwwwww.

This kind of made me do a double take:

1. Mary Eberstadt in The Weekly Standard (January 1, 2001): “The defense of adult-child — more accurately, man-boy sex — is now out in the open. Moreover, it is on parade in a number of places — therapeutic, literary, and academic circles; mainstream publishing houses and journals and magazines and bookstores — where the mere appearance of such ideas would until recently have been not only unthinkable, but in many cases, subject to prosecution.… If the sexual abuse of minors isn’t wrong, then nothing is.”

2. The motto of the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) is: “Sex before eight or else it’s too late.” While most homosexual publications haven’t endorsed NAMBLA, they also haven’t condemned it.

http://www.safepassagefoundation.org/

Specifically it is a group dedicated to helping kids in "high demand organisations" aka coercive religious groups (their definition used is at http://www.safepassagefoundation.org/Default.aspx?tabid=91)

As it is, this is probably one of the few groups that keeps info regarding what it's like for those of us who have grown up in coercive religious groups (http://www.safepassagefoundation.org/Default.aspx?tabid=64)

http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=6020
http://www.henryinstitute.org/commentary/read.php?article=20050601b (from the horse's mouth himself)

The senior VP for academic administration at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (which has been quite thoroughly turned dominionist by Al Mohler and his cronies) states flat out he's *training* his kids to be little sociopathic monsters:

Moore said a reader objected to an earlier column mentioning he took his two young sons to see “Stars War Episode III: Revenge of the Sith,” because the film is “way too violent for children.”

Moore went on to say it is only the second movie the boys had ever seen.

“One was a tender, touching Christmas movie about a little boy who discovers that Christmas is all about believing in the miracles within,” he said. “The second was a cartoonishly violent movie in which men go face-to-face with evil aliens; often chopping off limbs in the heat of battle.”

Moore went on to quip that he repents of “taking them to the Christmas film.”

“This is because of my overall philosophy of childrearing,” he explained. “I am aiming to raise up violent sons.”

“I am not seeking to raise sons who are violent in the amoral, pagan sense of contemporary teenagers playing ‘Grand Theft Auto’ video games or carjacking motorists,” he explained. “I want them to be more violent than that.”

“I want them to understand that the Christian life is not a Hallmark Channel version of baptized sentimentality,” he continued. “Instead, it is a cosmic battle between an evil dragon and the child of the woman, an ancient warfare that now includes all who belong to the Child of the Promise (Rev 12).”

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY britzkrieg)

In Florida, a man has been convicted of second-degree murder in the beating death of his young son. The father either thought the boy was gay or was afraid he would grow up gay if he wasn't "toughened up." His parents "studied Bible verses with friends from Deeper Life Ministries" as the boy lay dying.

It looks like the criminal courts remain unimpressed by defenses like the father's. That should give us all some hope. The mother is also facing serious criminal charges.

TBO.com's Story

An Earlier Article from the St. Petersburg Times