Monday, February 20, 2012

The Good News Club

The Religious Right likes to accuse the Liberals of indoctrinating our school children,  Rick Santorum is calling for government and even state governments to get out of the business of funding public education, if you disagree with them then you should read this book......

  "If you are a freethinker, a liberal, a religious moderate, a member of any religion other than evangelical Christianity, or simply someone who appreciates that these United States are a free nation, formed under secular principles and under secular laws, then you absolutely must purchase and read this book.

If you are a fundaloon (a Fundamentalist Christian Lunatic), then you do not need to read this book. You already know what you and your anti-democracy fascists are up to.

The Good News Club is one of many organizations within the evangelical Christian movement that was formed and is dedicated to "breaking down the doors" of America's public schools. Their methodology is outlined here, but is acknowledged by the various leaders and funders of this "club". There is nothing secret there, but the "stealthy" part is that when they do approach a school with their series of "after-school" bible studies, they sanitize their approach as being non-denominational and inclusive, when it is anything but.

According to Ms. Stewart, In Post-War (WWII) America, public education and interpretation of the First amendment's Establishment Clause were based on three pillars:
1) That the public schools should remain secular
2) That peer pressure is intimidation
3) That religious activity INSIDE the schools would be construed as being the SAME as religious activity BY the schools
Recent Supreme Court decisions by an ACTIVIST CONSERVATIVE court, led by Thomas and Scalia, have shredded the basic principles of the First Amendment. They have deliberately, as part of their fundamentalist Christian ideology, destroyed the Establishment Clause and made religious activity part of the Exercise of Free Speech Clause. Thus, the Establishment Clause has been rendered redundant or meaningless.

This movement is organized and well-funded. The various evangelical legal arms have a 300 million dollar per year budget. And they are concerned with only one issue: getting their version of their specific religion into the public schools and hopefully into control of those schools, and eventually our nation. By comparison, the ACLU has a budget under 100 million dollars, and they have dozens of concerns and battles to fight. In fact, at times, the ACLU has actually supported the free speech rights of the religious fanatics!

States Matthew Staver, founder of the Liberty Counsel, which provides legal counsel for the Child Evangelist Foundation (CEF--runs the Good News Clubs) and other Christian Nationalist organizations: "We're fighting against spiritual powers. Behold there is a battle between two nations...Satan is a strategist of war. He hates Jesus Christ...and especially someone who wants to introduce someone else to Jesus Christ, specifically the most strategic link that we have among us, children age five through twelve...If that's the truth, why would we be unaware that that would be the most strategic face of Satan?"

If you are a parent who does not believe in the literal truth of the bible, if you do not attend the "right" church (evangelical fundamentalist bible-believing), if you do not wish to live in a theocracy governed by selected Christian MALES who will decide all issues according to one singular apocalyptic interpretation of one version of the bible, if you do not wish for these deluded loons to have unfettered school-approved access to YOUR children and to all other children, then the above quote is and should be terrifying to you.

Ms. Stewart writes in a clear straightforward manner and is a parent herself. In fact, it was the experience of running into the Good News Club at her child's school that motivated her to research this subject and eventually write this book.

The battle for Reason and Reality is not over. The fundaloons see every one of the rest of us as minions of the Devil at worst, unsaved sinners at best. Their motives are clear, their reasoning is dishonest and delusional, but they are not stupid and they are not going to surrender. These are the home-grown versions of the Nazi jackboots and the Saudi "airplane pilots" who made 9/11 a date that has come to symbolize all that is wrong with extreme religion"

This is a review of the book on Amazon.com....Do you agree?

14 comments:

clif said...

The American Taliban won't be happy till the rest of us are totally under their 13th century world view.

Lisa said...

too bad you don't vet contradictory and at times assanine comments Obama has made over the last few years. Why would Media Matters scrutinize him when they work for him?

JUDI M. said...

LIsa: I think you need to go peddle your brand of ignorance at some Right Wing site. And you can't spell either.......

clif said...

Lisa ... too bad you don't vet contradictory and at times assanine comments the entire right wing has continuously made over the last few years after President Obama beat them , then has out manoeuvred them into being the laughing stock of the entire planet.

Media Matters does, and that is what has your panties in such a twist eh?

.... thought so.

Rusty Shackelford said...

Clif,the old supply officer,who handed out underware and socks for 15 years prior to getting caught up in DADT throws out the "American Taliban." Yikes!!!!

Magpie said...

We have a late night TV show here called "Planet America", where two presenters attempt to explain, among other things, why the American far Right is so bizarre and how religion influences your politics, invades your schools and generally hijacks discourse.

The title alone says much.

It's labelled "comedy" in local TV guides.

Shaw Kenawe said...

"Lisa said...
too bad you don't vet contradictory and at times assanine comments Obama has made over the last few years. Why would Media Matters scrutinize him when they work for him?"

That comment has absolutely NOTHING to do with Sue's post.

But we do understand why Lisa chose it as her comment.

Lisa has her own blog on which she can instigate discussions on her favorite subject--bashing President Obama, but she comes here to deposit her conservative talking points instead.

On her blog, she puts up videos of lion cubs and child performers on talent shows.

Lisa never, never, never engages in argument after her points are discredited and proven to be lies and disinformation. She just ignores those uncomfortable facts and introduces more Obama/Liberal bashing.

As shown in the above link, we have a better understanding of her obsession with coming here and posting comments that are either off-topic or total lies and disinformation.

Lisa is a good example of the dishonesty and hypocrisy that permeates today's GOP. And of their obliviousness to reality.

Lisa said...

why thank you Shaw for all your wisdom and and all your intelligent conclusions about who I am.

clif said...

Clif,

you got my online name correct rusty;

the old supply officer,

wrong, but I told you this before;

why keep lying, when you know the truth rusty?

who handed out underware and socks for 15 years

wrong also, officers do not "hand out" anything,

but since you never served, you wouldn't know that, would you rusty?

but I told you this before;

why keep lying, when you know the truth rusty?

prior to getting caught up in DADT


another lie, I have corrected you on rusty.

why keep lying about it?

throws out the "American Taliban."

If they act like the taliban and want to impose their religious ideology, by law, on the rest of us, the term fits rusty.

BTW they do.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Lisa, I know about you through what you've left here as comments, and that's all I've commented on. I've said nothing about your personal life.

I've criticized comments that you've left here and that have been proved to be lies and misinformation. I made an assumption about why you behave like this after reading the link in my last comment @8:05 AM.

okjimm said...

//minions of the Devil //

I used to be a minion of the Devil.... but he busted my union, cut my pay.... and eliminated birth control from my insurance package.

JoMala "Truth 101" Kelly said...

Lisa is one deluded fool with many fake blogs.

Bad news though Lisa the half parrot, half sheep. The Koch brothers won't be paying you for your obedience. Keep the faith though baby.

Radical Redneck said...
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Radicle Redneck said...
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