Is Home Schooling a Form of Child Abuse?

When does freedom of religion turn into child abuse? When do parents' rights to raise a child according to their religious beliefs become a violation of the child's civil rights? When does the state's need to have an educated electorate override religious parents' belief in ignorance?

Atheists love to blog about child abuse when it's in the form of medical neglect that becomes manslaughter and Jesus-inspired whippings that kill children. These are horrible and deserve our condemnation.

But there's a much more insidious, widespread and far-reaching form of abuse going on across America: religion-fueled, anti-science, anti-homosexual, anti-truth home schooling. It's far more important than any one whipping or medical-abuse case, however horrifying, because the ignorance fostered by these home-school programs is the very foundation that allows whippings and faith-based medical neglect to continue.

Home schooling is an old tradition in America. In some cases

Christian Foster Parents Nailed for Teaching Homophobia

Those poor Christians in England. They're a persecuted minority! It seems the British courts (which must be overloaded with atheists and pagans) seem to have a "special animosity" towards Christians.

Or so you'd think if you trusted the uber-conservative WorldNetDaily "News" site. WND has a story about a Christian couple who wants nothing more than to be good foster parents and help little children. Alas, they've become the target of a vicious persecution campaign by the United Kingdom's anti-Christian legal system!

"... Christians who want to provide foster care for needy children must promote homosexuality to them, and that there is only a "qualified" right to exercise their Christian beliefs." [emphasis added]

Got that? They're required by the court to promote homosexuality, in violation of their Christian beliefs!

Nothing could be further from the truth. Like just about everything the nutcase WorldNetDaily.com "news" organization reports, it's a distortion of the facts. They're deliberately hiding the truth. These foster parents were breaking both the law and their commitment to the children under their care.

The real truth is that when you become a foster parent, one of your most important duties

Santa Claus Slams the Pope!

Santa Claus sticks it to Pope Benedict XVI! But there's a serious message behind the lampoon:

A Christian Bishop, Monk, and child advocate, whose legal name is Santa Claus, is taking Pope Benedict XVI to task, for what Bishop Santa Claus describes as, "the Pope’s continued moral failure to address urgent children's issues within the Roman Catholic Church."

... In the United States, between 1950 and 2009, the Roman Catholic Church has paid more than $2.6 billion to settle claims of abuse by clergy, has obstructed criminal and civil investigations, and often filed for bankruptcy to avoid making court-ordered payments to survivors of clergy abuse. Santa observes that, “The Roman Catholic Church clearly is more concerned with protecting its clergy and assets than protecting vulnerable children."

You can read the entire "news release" here. It's good stuff.

Santa Claus, who always puts his children first, proposes mandatory reporting laws, a one-strike lifetime ban for any priest who molests a child, mandatory fingerprinting of all priests, revoking the tax-exempt status of any church that fails to report abuse, and requiring all priests to take classes in how to detect and report child abuse.

Now here's where we're screwing up as a society. If these rules that Santa Claus proposes were put to Congress, there would be howls of protest! I can just hear it now, a cacophony of spluttering outrage at the insult to our priests. Fingerprinting priests? Treating them like criminals?

Another Incredible Stonewalling by Pope to Protect Pedophiles

Will it ever stop, or is the Roman Catholic Church simply doomed to die of stupidity? The latest report is just outrageous: The Pope is rebuking one of his cardinals for speaking out against pedophilia.

Apparently the Pope is more concerned with his authority than he is with children's lives and well being. Cardinals aren't allowed to criticize each other, only the Pope gets to do that. So when one cardinal broke this rule and criticized another for blocking a probe into allegations of child abuse, what did the Pope do? Did he join in the criticism, thank the cardinal for bringing it to his attention, and root out the sick, corrupt priests, bishops and cardinals who were sodomizing little kids?

Of course not! Instead he issued a rare rebuke of one of his cardinals – the whistleblower who is trying to help the abused children.

It's clear where the Pope's priorities are: protecting his authority is paramount. Protecting kids doesn't seem to be of interest.

God: The Ultimate Wife Beater and Child Abuser?

Why is God like an abusive spouse or parent?

This isn't a trivial question or a joke. A couple days ago I had one of those "Aha!" moments in which I realized there is an incredible parallel between how religion works and how abusive men keep their victims in line.

Read the following statements, and see what you think. Can you tell God from a wife/child abuser?

Victims feel unworthy.	Christians feel unworthy.
Victims feel guilty.	Christians feel guilty.
Victims blame themselves for things they didn't do.	Christians blame themselves for things they didn't do.
Victims feel that when bad things happen to them, they're being punished.	Christians feel that when bad things happen to them, they're being punished.
Victims feel responsible for the abuser's anger and unhappiness.	Christians feel responsible for God's anger and unhappiness.
Victims want to appease their abuser.	Christians want to appease God.
Victims get huge rewards from a tiny morsel of approval from the abuser.	Christians get huge rewards from a tiny morsel of approval from God.
Victims have an inexplicable love for and attachment to the abuser.	Christians have an inexplicable love for and attachment to God.
Victims reject advice from anyone who doesn't like the abuser.	Christians reject advice from anyone who doesn't like God.
Victims claim that their relationship with the abuser is normal and healthy.	Christians claim that their relationship with God is normal and healthy.

Now try it for God vs. the abuser...

Why Can't Just One Priest Admit, I'm Guilty, I'm Sorry?

Just when you think the Catholic Church pedophilia scandal could get no worse, with the scandal brushing the Pope himself, yet another even worse story breaks. This one is truly horrifying.

The Church decided to dump pedophile priests into the remote villages of Native Alaskan and Canadian villages. Out of sight, out of mind. Unless you were one of hundreds, maybe thousands, of Native Eskimo children who were molested or raped. The numbers are staggering: "They knew of 345 cases of molestation in Alaska by 28 perpetrators who came from at least four different countries." There were so many pedophile priests in these small communities that at least one girl was raped by two different priests.

And rather than an exile for these pedophiles, it became a virtual paradise of unaccountability. Warning: The following will make you sick. You should stop reading now if you don't want to ruin your day.

Fox News: Helping Young Girls get AIDS

If I believed Satan existed, I'd swear he was running Fox news. Their reporting is worse than lies, and it is killing real children. Today's story:

"Planned Parenthood Pushes Intensive Sex Education for Kids as Young as 10"

Sounds bad, doesn't it? It's grossly misleading, but it's a snappy headline that appeals to their viewers.

But it gets worse. According to Fox, Planned Parenthood "demands that children 10 and older be given a 'comprehensive sexuality education' by governments," that similar reports "advocated teaching masturbation to children as young as 5." And to top it off, Fox quotes a Catholic spokesman asserting that Planned Parenthood's report is financially motivated because they "make money off contraceptives and abortions."

So what's the truth? The real report, which I encourage you to read yourself (PDF), starts by explaining that these ten-year-old girls (and younger) are child brides, sex slaves, and sometimes prostitutes. They live in countries where most girls will have sex, often forced, long before they turn eighteen.

Did you see that anywhere in Fox's article? No, because their goal is not to report news, nor do they care about helping these children.

From Fox's headline, you'd think Planned Parenthood was advocating that a middle-class ten-year-old girl in Chicago should be shown how to use a condom properly. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Planned Parenthood is advocating education for children, because these children are forced, by customs, economics, and poverty, to have sex far too early. Without sex education, many of these girls will die.

For example, from the article:

19-48%

Percent of young women whose sexual initiation is forced.

Or consider this (abridged):

Faha, 15, is 33 weeks pregnant. Married at 13, Faha was made to leave school as her husband would not allow her to attend. "I was sad. I liked learning and seeing my friends." After her baby is born, Faha would like to wait three years [when she'll be 18] before her next child. She will ask the midwife about contraception.

Does that sound to you like Planned Parenthood is pushing sex education on unwilling, naïve children, against their parents' wishes?

Or consider these facts cited in the Planned Parenthood report:

• In South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, 40-45% of women age 20-24 were married as children.
• In countries like Bangaladesh, Central African Republic, Chad, Guinea, Mali and Niger, more than 60 % of women were married or entered into a union before their 18th birthday.
• One in 10 births worldwide is to a mother who is still herself a child

In fact, the report is not even about sex and contraception at all, it's about making education and human rights, including sex education and sexual rights, available to all, because educated, healthy people raise healthy families.

So what does Planned Parenthood actually suggest? A pretty reasonable list (this is just a sampling):

• Make age- and culturally-appropriate sex education mandatory in school.
• Enact and enforce bans on child marriage.
• Improve education, especially for girls, so that they aren't forced into prostitution or marriage by economics.
• Create jobs for young people.
• Create community-based support programs for marginalized youths.

Did you get any of that from Fox's article? No, nor did most of their readers. Unfortunately, Fox has an audience of people who never dig past the headlines, so their twisted story will stick.

Thanks to Fox news and others of their ilk, Planned Parenthood will be further villified, funds won't be allocated ... and more 13 year old girls who could have had a chance in life will get AIDS or have three children before they're 18, simply for lack of knowledge. It's a terrible thing, and Fox "News" is helping to make it happen.

Ireland Running Out of Priests

Ireland, once called the "most fruitful of mothers" as a breeding ground for Catholic priests, is now so short on priests that it's turning into a crisis. The Diocese of Dublin, the center of the country that Pope John XXIII once considered a bastion of Catholicism, now has 46% of its priests over 80 years old, and just two who are under 36 years old.

The reasons for this are obvious to anyone with a brain. The Church itself is focusing on the celibacy requirement; it doesn't take a genius to figure out that asking a young, intelligent man to be celibate isn't exactly a win. The Church leaders are actually contemplating a change in this requirement, which is amazing.

But I think the biggest problem facing the Catholic Church is all of the sexual abuse scandals over the last decade. It seems that every time we turn around, there's another horrifying story of a priest who molested 10, 50, 100 or even more children, and lately the stories have turned to how the Catholic Church itself was complicit in shielding these child abusers, and worse, placing them in positions where they could repeat their crimes.

It used to be that being a Catholic priest was an honor. Mothers would beam with pride when introducing their priest sons. Now, imagine Mom telling your friends that you decided to enter a seminary to become a priest – your Mom would be embarrassed. It's rather sad.

There's a third reason for the decline, too. Christianity, and religion in general, is in a massive decline throughout Europe, and Catholicism is just part of that general trend. But I don't think that fully explains the shortage of priests in Ireland. This one is the Catholics own fault.

Catholic Priests: Constitution Cuts Both Ways

Here is a twist: separation of church and state cuts both ways, it seems. A Catholic Priest, angry because he was accused of molesting two boys, sued them for defamation. But the U.S. Constitution, which the Church has used as a shield, cut the other way this time. His case was thrown out because the only way the court case could go forward was to examine how the Church investigates its own clergy. Such an examination, said the court, would violate the separation clause of the Constitution.

So the priest is out of luck. The Roman Catholic Church removed him from his pulpit because there was "reasonable" evidence to conclude he'd molested the boys. He apparently wasn't convicted in criminal court, so legally he's innocent. If his employer was anything except a church, he could have his day in court. But if he wasn't a priest, he'd probably be in jail.

There's no happy ending to this story, but at least for once the Constitution's separation clause protected someone from a clergyman's vengeance.

Outrageous: Battered women have a "pre-existing medical condition"

I usually write about religious issues, but today's blog is from a colleague's email who found something so outrageous I couldn't ignore it.

"Sometimes I see things in the news that just seem so very, very incredible to me, although by this time I shouldn't be surprised by anything....but this morning I saw some stuff on CNN about this topic, and I couldn't believe it, until I looked it up on the 'net ... here's a link."

Eight states and the District of Columbia don't have laws that specifically bar insurance companies from using domestic violence as a pre-existing condition to deny health coverage, according to a study from the National Women's Law Center.

Got that? In other words, if a woman's husband beats her up, she can't get health insurance any more.

My colleague's email continues, "This is amazing to me, considering the fact that as many as one in three women have been the victim of domestic violence at some time in their life, either as a child, a spouse, a girlfriend, or a parent ... far more women than men ... and this stupid concept that women who have been victimized in these situations are somehow guilty of participating in risky lifestyles and are therefore subject to discrimination in eight states and by four major insurance companies. This is just one more nail in the coffin of today's problematic health care system.

"But worse than that, it's a sad, sad indicator that maybe women have not come all that far, if domestic violence can be used to bar women from getting medical help for themselves when they most need it.

"Hey, I know how we can make this all fair and square! ... why don't we exclude everyone who rides motorcycles, or who jumps out of airplanes, or who has gotten into a bar fight with his buddies, or who is a police officer, or a fireman ... all on the basis of engaging in risky lifestyles?? Oops, no that wouldn't work, particularly since most of the folks who engage in those behaviors are MEN ...... !#$^&*%!!!"

All I can add is, Amen!

Child Killer gets just Sixty Days in Jail: Christian Immunity

One couple punishes a misbehaving child by withholding food, and she dies. They go to prison for murder. Another couple withholds medical treatment from their child and she dies. The wife gets off scot-free, and the husband goes to jail (not prison) for just sixty days. Why no prison? Because they're Christians.

Was it lack of intent? No, in fact, the parents, Carl and Raylene Worthington, knew exactly what they were doing, and did it deliberately.

Were they ignorant? No, in fact the Christ Church to which they belong has a long history of children dying from medical neglect. Christ Church is such a problem that the Oregon Legislature has passed laws specifically aimed at the church's practices. The Worthingtons knew their daughter might die from their neglect.

The simple fact is that the Worthingtons knew exactly what they were doing. They knew full well their daughter could die, because other children in their church have died from easily cured illnesses. The Worthingtons killed their daughter, deliberately and with forethought. Their only excuse is that they believe God told them to do it.

So as far as I can tell, the only difference between the Worthingtons' murder of their daughter, and the couple convicted of murder for withholding food, is that one couple claims God is on their side, and the other couple claims the child was being punished. Both couples thought they were doing the right thing. Both couples were grossly, horrifyingly wrong.

What difference does that make to the dead children? Both suffered, both died for no reason, and either could have been saved by their parents.

The only argument you can make that would get the Worthingtons off the hook is if you believe that parents have a right to kill their children, so long as God says it's OK. That's what Abraham tried to do to his son Isaac, so some Christians might see why it's OK to kill your children: If God says it's OK, then it's OK.

As for me, if God told me to kill my children, I'd tell him to go to Hell where he belongs.

FLDS: The Roar of the Silence

What is this vast conspiracy of silence from all of the legitimate churches? Here we have a small group of men, to all appearances nothing more than pedophiles and wife abusers, and utter SILENCE from America's religious leaders.

Where are the Catholics? The Lutherans? The Baptists? The Mormons? The Angelicans? The Muslims? The Jews? Why hasn't ONE major religious leader in America stood up to these clowns? I want to hear the Pope say, "Hey, wait a second, that's not freedom of religion, they're just hiding behind the skirts of real churches." I want the Southern Baptists to jump up and shout, "They're not following God's teachings!" I want the Lutherans to stand firm and say, "Underage girls are NOT ready for marriage, sex and pregnancy!"

Instead, I hear nothing but silence. What are America's religious leaders afraid of? Afraid of being sued? Afraid to cast the first stone? Churches are supposed to be the bastions of morality. America's churches have been at the very front of some groundbreaking social advances: Voting, women's suffrage, equal rights and much more. Why the silence now?

Speak up! Call these men what they are! Don't let them hide behind your legitimate religious freedoms!