A Fundamentalist Christian’s Way to Keep Kids Safe in 2010

January 1, 2010 By 28 Comments

Linda Harvey is the founder of Mission:America, an organization “whose objective is to equip Christians with current, accurate information about cultural issues such as feminism, homosexuality, education and New Age influences.”

And when someone like her says she’s spreading “current, accurate information,” that’s just code for “I’m going to tell you lies and say it’s in the name of Jesus so you won’t call me out on it.”

She’s like an Ohio version of Laurie Higgins.

Harvey has a list of The Top 10 Ways to Make Kids Truly Safe in 2010. This ought to be good…

2. Get all pro-homosexual and pro-promiscuity programs, literature, teachers, and counselors out of every school now. Remove “gay” clubs, Planned Parenthood at health fairs, and GLSEN-PFLAG-SIECUS activists. Cease all condom demonstrations, abortion referrals, on-site birth control dispensing, sexual orientation affirmation, and messing with children’s hearts, minds and bodies. Demand that schools uphold the traditional value of heterosexual identities, teach abstinence-until-marriage, and celebrate male/ female gender differences.

1. Allow — no, welcome — Christianity back into the American public square…in schools, in community groups, in city council meetings, in the Senate, on city streets, in the courthouse square, in the media, in college lectures. Laugh at the ACLU. Elect judges who agree. Don’t elect presidents who think we are no longer a Christian nation.

This goes way beyond anti-gay religious beliefs. Harvey wants any teacher who believes in equal rights for gay people fired.

Remove “gay” clubs? What does that mean (with the quotation marks)? Get rid of the Drama Club? Presumably, she means groups like the Gay-Straight Alliance… how dare students voluntarily support other students regardless of sexual orientation! They should be killing them like the Bible says.

And I think she wants to remove the birth control vending machine from our schools (?!?)…

#1 is just a bad idea and no Christian should be supporting it, either. It’s the type of idea that only comes from people who have no regard for the rights of other people and minds small enough to think they know what’s best for every other human being on the planet.

Separation of church and state is as good for Christians as it is for the rest of us.

The rest of her list is just a collection of GOP talking points and anti-Islamic sentiment.

You know what I’d like to see in 2010?

I want to see Christians openly, vocally, and frequently going after people like Harvey who bastardize their faith. Do it in church, do it on your blogs, talk about it with your family. Don’t just sit back and let your friends, family, and congregations get swayed by these ideas.

(via The Freethinker)

Filed Under: Education, General, GLBT, Politics 28 Comments
  • Richard Wade

    I want to see Christians openly, vocally, and frequently going after people like Harvey who bastardize their faith. Do it in church, do it on your blogs, talk about it with your family. Don’t just sit back and let your friends, family, and congregations get swayed by these ideas.

    Don’t hold your breath. People who think of their god as a “shepherd” are going to act like sheep.

  • mikespeir

    Kids have always been at risk. I was surprised recently when I looked up Finnis Jennings Dake, editor of the famous Dake Annotated Refence Bible, on Wikipedia and learned that in 1937 he was convicted under the Mann Act of transporting a 16-year old girl across state lines “for the purpose of debauchery and other immoral practices.” This was while an ordained Assemblies of God preacher.

    This kind of thing has always been going on. The difference today is that it’s harder to hide it. It gets exposed–and prosecuted–more often. Going back to the “good old days” when people were too horrified to mention that kind of thing in polite company and thus tended to sweep it under the rug is not the way to protect children. But that’s exactly the state of affairs Linda Harvey pines for, whether she realizes it or not.

  • http://whoreofalltheearth.blogspot.com Whore of All the Earth

    “Cease all…messing with children’s hearts, minds and bodies.”

    Yeah, ’cause Christianity doesn’t do that at all.

  • Becky

    :O

    ….WHAT!?

  • http://miketheinfidel.blogspot.com/ MikeTheInfidel

    Richard:

    Don’t hold your breath. People who think of their god as a “shepherd” are going to act like sheep.

    Unless we make them aware of people like this vile woman, they likely won’t even know this sort of thing is going on. Her viewpoint is not mainstream in Christianity, from what I can tell. Most people have never heard of her or the damnable things she’s said, so it’s not exactly fair to condemn them for their ignorance.

    The problem for us isn’t that they’re not speaking out – the problem is that we have to figure out a way to make them aware without being dismissed as anti-Christian. I’d bet that the vast majority of Christians, being the silent moderate majority, would likely vilify her as well. I know that when I was a believer, people like this made me just as sick as they do now, only for different reasons (i.e. misrepresenting Christianity). I just didn’t think they were significant enough to bother with; either that, or I just had an abstract idea that people like this existed, rather than concrete examples.

  • JD

    That’s pretty douchey. I think as a general rule, “Christian” clubs are welcomed just like any other. What’s not welcome is teachers and other government employees to push religion onto students, nor is it welcome to discriminate against forming clubs because you don’t like what they do.

    Just like they don’t want Buddhism pushed on their students, they don’t get the right to push Christianity to students either.

    I doubt there are any “pro-promiscuity” programs. There is a distinction between teaching students how to be safe and pushing promiscuity. Not that many of the hellfire and brimstone crowd are capable of distinguishing between the two. The hard-line zealots also know how to frame their statements to energize people that might not be so hard-line by shading the truth. Of course, this is probablytrue of most political movements.

  • http://redheadedskeptic.com Laura

    Lovely. And then these type of Christians turn around and wonder why we don’t want to be just like them!

  • Korny

    10. Let’s teach our children to refrain from honoring oppressive, liberty-denying practices and beliefs. Children should be civil to all, but refuse to be manipulated

    Such a good start too…

  • http://www.facebook.com/JasonDFuller?ref=profile Jason

    The intellectually lazy and vapid statements made by people like this woman make me wonder what kind of education would allow people to pass without acquiring basic critical thinking skills.

  • Staceyjw

    Here’s a recap of the insanity:

    1) “Our kids should not have to face the limited options and reduced quality of life in a once-great country burdened with crushing debt.”

    No, they shouldn’t have to face those things, but here is her “solution”-

    2) “Let’s leave them examples like Sarah Palin, Jim DeMint, Mike Pence. Let’s stop propping up a failed and compromised GOP, and let’s make sure the Democratic/Socialist party fades into oblivion.”

    Well, at least we agree on one thing- that the GOP is FAILED and compromised. Maybe if people like this woman would leave the GOP it could become a real political party, instead of a mouthpiece for the insane.

    3) “We should be able to hear truly free speech and porn-free programming on radio and TV stations”

    Truly free speech is NOT what this woman wants. Oh, she means free speech for certain XTIANS only, sorry, I get it now.

    4) “Children should be civil to all, but refuse to be manipulated into “respecting” Islam….They should share the Gospel of Jesus Christ deliberately with every Muslim they know”

    Yes, tolerance should only be had for xtianity, I think I see where she’s going with this rant. Sending KIDS to tell their classmates that they believe in the wrong religion is SO WRONG, on so many levels.

    5) “They should no longer be told the outright lies that life-threatening and/or debilitating infections can be managed through either latex or life-long, expensive drug therapy…. We need to establish a public health system that deals with reality”

    We agree again- I want a health system that deals with reality too, but SCIENCE based reality, not some biblical nonsense that spreads lies about safe sex. Maybe they could cut down their teen pregnancy rates by listening to more science based reality….

    6) “That means no carbon monitors, parenting or end-of-life counselors under ObamaCare”

    What the hell is a carbon monitor for the home??? Does she mean carbon-dioxide monitors, the ones that save lives? Or carbon as in what happens when you burn fossil fuel? NONSENSICAL, either way. And end of life and parenting counselors being available- how oppressive!

    7) “We should recognize that America has the greatest health care system in the world, that it truly needs little reform, except to recapture personal responsibility for both cost and options”

    So, if you aren’t rich you don’t get care? What planet do you live on where the US has the best health care? No reform needed? REALLY LADY? Have you ever been out of the country and seen how other nations manage their health care? YIKES>

    7) “Let’s get the radicals out of our taxpayer- funded classrooms, and refuse to vote for one more levy guaranteeing the same old anti-Christian, socialist, Darwinist, hyper-sexualized, and phony “green” school curricula.”

    Yes, let’s get the radicals out- the radicals that insist on biblical beliefs for all, regardless of the evidence.

    ********
    I am so sad that she is from Ohio, as she gives the great state a BAD NAME. Unfortunately I don’t think she is as far off as you guys seem to think, there are LOTS of idiots out there that think like this.
    The saddest thing is that we all want a better nation, with higher quality schools, and good health care. Too bad they are so far out of touch with reality that they can’t see how much harm they are causing to the very things they claim to want.

  • Staceyjw

    Sorry for the rant, but that is one of the most hateful, ignorant sites I have seen in awhile. For all you that care about LGBT rights, here is their agenda. Everyone, please help stop these people from damaging more lives!

    http://www.missionamerica.com/agenda.php

  • Richard P

    Yeah, and to think some people believe that we need to be tolerant and co-exist with those of religious beliefs.

    This is why we need to not only stand against religion but actively drive it back.
    It is a virus of the mind and needs to be stopped.

  • http://atheistcamel.blogspot.com/ Dromedary Hump

    My wish for 2010 is for every Christian to pray an imprecatory prayer for every fundamentalist theist on the planet, and have it come true.

  • http://lyvvielimelight.blogspot.com/ Lyvvie

    Funny how how her list starts

    Let’s teach our children to refrain from honoring oppressive, liberty-denying practices and beliefs.

    …and then she goes to list a bunch of ways to liberty-deny others, including getting rid of Democrats/Socialists – heck why not just do away with the whole pesky check-and-balance system this country works hard to maintain? What a cow. And where have Christians been told they must pray to Allah?? That statement is complete paranoia.

    Let’s give our children some true leadership choices. Let’s leave them examples like Sarah Palin

    She’s smoking crack, right?

  • http://blueollie.wordpress.com ollie

    They are against carbon monitors? I didn’t know that carbon monitors were somehow anti-Christian.

  • unique.smile.within

    Maybe she’s confusing carbon monitors with carbon dating? It sounds really stupid, I know, but…well…they both have ‘carbon’, and perhaps that is enough for her? Other than that . . . well, I hope she doesn’t get what she wants.

  • DemetriusOfPharos

    whose objective is to equip Christians with current, accurate information about cultural issues such as feminism, homosexuality, education and New Age influences.

    One of these things is not like the others,
    One of these things just doesn’t belong,
    Can you tell which thing is not like the others
    By the time I finish my song?

  • http://annainca.blogspot.com Anna

    I used to be on Mission America’s mailing list, just because I was curious and wanted to keep tabs on “the enemy.” Linda Harvey (it appears to be a one-woman show) is absolutely crazy. She is obsessed with two subjects and only two subjects. In the newsletters, she spends 75% of her time complaining about homosexuality and 25% of her time complaining about witches. Apparently there’s not much else America should be worrying about.

  • muggle

    Papa tooney, we’ve got a looney.

    Geeze, and does she contradict herself enough times in that list? Well, why not? The Buybull sure does.

  • muggle

    You just know if one of her babies were sick and they couldn’t pay, she’d be the first one screaming about how inhumane the gov’mint was to not step in.

    (Damnit, Hemant. The edit button is still not working for me.)

  • http://friendlyatheist.com Beth

    Safe? What the hell!

    Abstinenence-only “education” and barring birth control and abortion access is only going to result in more unintended pregnancies and babies. It would ruin a lot of lives. And it would leave children unable to protect themselves sexually and without knowledge of any sexual functioning. Even if they do wait, it’s always good to know. Not only that, but study after study has shown that children who receive abstinence-only “education” don’t delay sex any longer than those with comprehensive education; they just don’t know how to be safe and so they end up with babies and STIs.

    And I would bet anyone that “celebrating male/female differences” would mean nothing more than tracking each gender into an educational path that they may not want. Like all the boys get to do lots of math and the girls get to go back to home ec. Or teaching that women are inferior in some way.

    It makes me so angry that anyone would be dickish enough to totally ignore all the knowledge we currently have. But then, I guess that is what religion is really for. . .

  • http://seangill-insidemyhead.blogspot.com/ SeanG

    MikeTheInfidel:

    The problem for us isn’t that they’re not speaking out – the problem is that we have to figure out a way to make them aware without being dismissed as anti-Christian. I’d bet that the vast majority of Christians, being the silent moderate majority, would likely vilify her as well.

    I agree, this would be a huge step forward, getting that silent majority to stand up to the fringe. The fringe is small, but it’s loud and gets all the attention. Unfortunately, when I’ve called out my own believer friends on this kind of thing I get very little reaction. They don’t seem to want to rock the boat either way. Or maybe they think “better the devil you know” when an atheist asks them to stand up to loony christians. I’m open to suggestions.

  • Angie

    Apparently “safe” is a euphemism for “sheltered and xenophobic” in this context. What a bigoted, hypocritical list.

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  • Martin

    We should be able to hear truly free speech and porn-free programming on radio and TV stations

    There is radio porn? O_o

  • http://miketheinfidel.blogspot.com/ MikeTheInfidel

    These people consider music containing sexual imagery to be equivalent to pornography, and to them, all pornography is equally evil.

  • BrettH

    I think a carbon monitor is an imaginary socialist/environmentalist that the Democrats will sent to your house to see if you’re recycling enough, or buying enough carbon credits or something. I’m not sure though, she wasn’t exactly coherent. I still don’t understand why people who think this planet was a personal gift given to them by God don’t treat the planet better then non-religious people.

  • lilybird

    Children should not be endangered personally by sexually transmitted diseases allowed to rage unchecked through our under-30 population because of political correctness.

    Remove…Planned Parenthood at health fairs [and] cease all condom demonstrations [and] on-site birth control dispensing

    These two things are not going to happen at the same time. Abstinence only education has been an extravagant failure at preventing STIs and unwanted pregnancies. The abstinence only campaign is about forcing people (especially women) into traditional roles and NOT about protecting children.