On the fourth night of their Hawaiian honeymoon, the phone rang in the dead of the night startling Peter and Gwen out of their sleep. Peter untangled Gwen where she had been sleeping in his arms and glanced at the clock. It was 4:30 a.m.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It\u2019s Sally. She says nothing is wrong, but that Professor French tracked her down at home<\/em> to tell her that the Supreme Court had ruled on their case\u2014but that he wouldn\u2019t tell her how it had ruled. Peter works out that it\u2019s 9:30 a.m. in Washington, D.C. Look, I get being excited, but he didn\u2019t just wake Peter in the middle of the night on his honeymoon in Hawaii, he also somehow found Peter\u2019s secretary\u2019s home phone number and called her there\u2014for a non-emergency. Could this not have waited a few short hours?<\/p>\nPeter writes down Professor French\u2019s number and calls him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re dying. What happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFive to four. The vote was five to four.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich way? Did we win?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeter, most lawyers never get to even argue a case in the Supreme Court; you should be proud of what you have already done.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe lost, didn\u2019t we?\u201d Peter asked, his heart falling to the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, you impatient whippersnapper,\u201d he said with a jovial laugh. \u201cYou won> I was just trying to give you some perspective on how important this really is.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
That\u2019s right, Professor French is one of those<\/em> people.<\/p>\n\u201cWe won!\u201d Peter screamed. \u201cWe won!\u201d<\/p>\n
The professor heard the phone hit the bedside table and fall to the floor. laughing (sic) and shouting blared through the phone. The professor waited patiently and smiled.<\/p>\n
Fifteen seconds later, Peter picked up the phone again. \u201cSorry, professor. We just got carried away.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
*ahem*<\/p>\n
Anyway, Professor French says the Court ruled the search unconstitutional, and that CPS could be sued for the false information they used when they filed the case, and for the document tampering. Peter declares it \u201ca miracle from God.\u201d Because of course he does.<\/p>\n
Gwen wonders if it\u2019s on the news. They turn on CNN.<\/p>\n
They didn\u2019t have to wait long. The second story began with a graphic of the Supreme Court building. Their case was the lead decision of the day. The reporter on the scene gave a quick report of the vote and its meaning.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd for a comment from one of the participants, we go to our live camera in Kansas City.\u201d<\/p>\n
A beaming David Humphrey suddenly appeared on their screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d they cried out in unison.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe here at Heart of America are very grateful for this landmark decision from the Supreme Court. Our organization was the sponsor of this important case, and we look forward to taking other cases to the high court to protect American families and American freedoms. If anyone would like to join Heart of America, our 800 number is\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, pleeese!\u201d Gwen yelped, throwing the remote control device at the image of David G. Humphrey. The TV clicked off when the control hit the floor.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Then Peter says he\u2019d rather have Gwen than any five-to-four Supreme Court victor, and Gwen smiles, and then Peter says it might be different if it were\u00a0an eight-to-one or seven-to-two decision.<\/p>\n
Gwen hit him with a pillow as they laughed and tumbled back into each other\u2019s willing arms.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The end.<\/p>\n
No really, that\u2019s it. The end.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no indication that Peter is going to do anything to expose Humphrey. Frankly, his willingness to turn the financial documents Cindy gave him over to a\u00a0Heart of America board member he\u2019d just met reveals buckets about how evangelicals deal with abuses of power. Things are best handled in house. I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll sort it out themselves. Why expose the church to scandal by going public with it? And here is Humphrey, continuing to scam people. Fun.<\/p>\n
Guess who else never got reported? Scumbag lawyer dude. Oh no I don\u2019t mean Peter, I mean Bill Walinski, though I suppose that\u2019s a bit ambiguous without clarification. Peter\u2019s blas\u00e9 attitude toward reporting Walinski\u2019s actions and the ease with which he apparently forgot all about it<\/em>\u00a0suggests that Farris does not take things like sexual harassment and sexual extortion that seriously at all. Once again, he flouts the very system set up to catch and prevent abuse.<\/p>\nOh and by the way, it has now been one year in-world\u00a0since the beginning of this book. One year. In one year, Peter took a case from scratch all the way to the Supreme Court and received a decision. Within that same year, Gordon died and Gwen met Peter, sort of dated him, became engaged to him, and finally married him\u2014all in a year\u2019s time. That\u2019s some breakneck speed right there.<\/p>\n
When I began this review series I thought we\u2019d be focusing primarily on competing\u00a0ideas about the function of child protective services. That didn\u2019t end up being the case. The social workers and their supervisor were complete cartoons, engaging in such rampant bribery, tampering, and arson that they were hard to take seriously. Meanwhile Peter, our protagonist, crossed all manner of ethical lines\u2014remember when he told Walinski he would report Walinski\u2019s\u00a0harassment of Gwen unless\u00a0he turned over Gwen\u2019s case documents without Gwen\u2019s explicit authorization as required by law?\u00a0And then there was the way he treated Gwen\u2014my god.<\/p>\n
Peter does not come across as a sympathetic or positive character\u2014at all. He\u2019s self-absorbed, he still doesn\u2019t understand why it was wrong for him to come on to Gwen what he was her lawyer, and his religious beliefs made him wish Gwen\u2019s ex-husband dead\u2014a wish that ultimately was fulfilled, leaving young Casey without her father. As for Gwen, her conversion to Peter\u2019s church comes across almost as tragic. Did she dump her previous friends, or did she never have any before? How sad is that? And those who\u2019ve suggested that Gwen\u2019s going to have to leave her job and become a stay-at-home mom now\u2014you\u2019re right, that\u2019s what happens.<\/p>\n
No secular person is going to read this book and come away seeing evangelical Christianity a la Farris\u2019 portrayal at all attractive. But then, this book wasn\u2019t written for a secular audience\u2014it was written for other evangelical Christians,\u00a0who will believe that the bizarre behavior of the social workers represents reality, not notice Peter\u2019s ethical lapses, and assume that Walinisky and Humphrey got their deserts without being reported for their crimes. And that, perhaps, is what makes this book a tragedy.<\/p>\n
Stay tuned later today for a post listing options for future review series!<\/p>\n
I have a <\/b>Patreon<\/b><\/a>! Please support my writing!<\/b><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This book wasn’t written for a secular audience—it was written for other evangelical Christians, who will believe that the bizarre behavior of the social workers represents reality, not notice Peter’s ethical lapses, and assume that Walinisky and Humphrey got their deserts without being reported for their crimes. And that, perhaps, is what makes this book a tragedy. <\/p>\n
Click through to read more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":31700,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[469],"class_list":["post-31694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anonymous-tip"],"yoast_head":"\n
Anonymous Tip: The (Actual) End<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The end. No really, that's it. The end.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2017\/01\/anonymous-tip.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Anonymous Tip: The (Actual) End\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The end. No really, that's it. 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