Saturday, June 21, 2008

 

In the Jungle


Before I go take a shower or three, let me report on my foray into the ... um ... "minds" of people like John Freshwater and his incubus/ sycophant/ coach, Dave Daubenmire. You can get a preview of Freshwater's "defense" ... where else? ... in WingNutDaily.

What about the infamous crosses made in student's flesh with an electrical device? Why, that was a ... a ... scientific experiment! Yeah, that's the ticket! Hey, kids, let's experiment and see if electricity hurts!

And they weren't crosses ... they were "X marks!" They couldn't be crosses! After all, as Daubenmire himself says:

They tried to make it out to be a cross, because it made him look like some kind of idiot.

See! We do have common ground!

And speaking of Daubenmire, what a fine upstanding specimen of Christian morality he is! He runs something called "Minutemen United," the very name of which is sure to send a frisson or two down the spine of any civil libertarian.

But let's take a look at Daubenmire's own story a bit. As he tells it:

Dave Daubenmire, a veteran 25 year high school football coach, was spurred to action when attacked and eventually sued by the ACLU in the late 1990's for alledgedly (sic) mixing prayer with his coaching. After a two year battle for his 1st amendment rights and a determination to not back down, the ACLU relented and offered coach an out of court settlement. God honored his stand and the ACLU backed off.

As People For the American Way point out, that's true ... if "backing off" includes Daubenmire being ordered to stop leading religious activities at school and the school board agreeing to pay an estimated $18,000 settlement.

I don't know if Daubenmire and Freshwater are merely delusional or are deliberate liars and charlatans. More importantly, I don't care.
.

Comments:
"clinically analyzed", lol.

The only things that need clinical analysis there are Freshwater and his fan club (starting with Daubenmire).
 
[Snicker]

I missed that! The phrase has become so pro forma with these people, my eye slid right past it.

The frightening thing is that we ever let these mouth-breathers near children.
 
I don't know if Daubenmire and Freshwater are merely delusional or are deliberate liars and charlatans. More importantly, I don't care.

I lean towards delusional and maybe even borderline psychotic.

What was alarming from Richard Hoppe's report, though, was how some of Freshwater's students not only swallowed his stories hook, line and sinker but also seemd to find his methods perfectly acceptable.

The man clearly abused his position as a teacher to impose his personal religious beliefs on his students. The fact that at least some of those students already shared those beliefs doesn't make it any less a betrayal of his responsibility towards them.

Personally, I hope he is foolish enough to take this to court. Then there will be further evidence on the record - if any were really needed - of the true purpose of evengelical Christianity, evidence we can point to and say "This is what 'teach the controversy' and 'academic freedom' really means for these people!"
 
You've got to give these people some credit. They decided intellect was the enemy of God, and they've sure as hell managed to soundly defeat it in their own selves!

What's the chances we can convince them that God wants them to take a vow of silence next?
 
Now it's my turn to say how much I like that:

"Defeating Our Own Intellect in the Name of God!"

... it explains so much!
 
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