Thread by @dogemperor

For folks who are shocked at this: You shouldn't be, it's been the goal of Christian Nationalist groups for decades to functionally destroy child protection laws (for them, anyways) for multiple decades, and this is just the latest instance.

A thread:

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https://twitter.com/ArkieMiasma/status/1634267665970745346

Also: A warning to others. This thread will, by necessity, involve discussions of Christian Nationalism linked religiously motivated child maltreatment, including physical, sexual, emotional abuse (occasionally of a fatal nature): I will try to trigger warn

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but due to the particular nature of this thread, it's likely to be triggering to others, so you are forewarned.

So with that noted: Here's a brief history of how Christian Nationalism really is a den of religiously motivated abuse and neglect, and efforts to protect it

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tw: physical/emotional child abuse and neglect

My initial interest in this subject is, unfortunately, a very personal one. I have C-PTSD due to religiously motivated child abuse and neglect, and also have permanent physical disabilities as a result of this

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tw: religiously motivated child abuse and neglect

This included in cases withholding of medical treatment (which is why I have certain disabilities), as well as physical abuse, emotional abuse, etc. that has resulted in severe trust issues on my behalf

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tw: religiously motivated child abuse and neglect, state abuse

And one of my first experiences that managed to compound my existing C-PTSD issues was my attempt to seek help when I realized what I had grown up in was in fact abusive; I was literally prohibited

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tw: religiously motivated child abuse and neglect, state abuse

from even going to facilities *designed* for teens seeking to escape abusive households, and was cut off from my one source of support, based on the word of social workers who assumed wrongly

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tw: religiously motivated child abuse and neglect, state abuse

that teens reporting abuse were "out of control youth" and that "good Christian homes" weren't abusive (and it didn't help that the psych I had was a quack eventually busted for being a "pill mill" doctor)

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tw: religiously motivated child abuse and neglect

And so an early subject I started writing about was how child abuse is actually pretty shockingly rife and openly promoted in Christian Nationalist communities:

dailykos.com/stories/2006/9…

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Note: This was James Dobson of "Focus on the Family", whose material was actually handed out in *CHILDREN'S MEALS* at Chick-Fil-A restaurants in the 1990s onward.

(Chick-Fil-A is a Christian Nationalist funding front; there are better places)

dailykos.com/stories/2007/7…

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tw: institutional child abuse

And probably the first promotion of Christian Nationalist institutionalized abuse outside of it was with the "troubled teen industry", which dates from the days of the PMRC and Bob Larson's "Back in Control Training Centers"

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tw: institutional child abuse

which promised to "De-Metal" and "De-Rap" your kids but also engaged in "degaying" aka "literally the kind of shit DeSantis et al are trying to force on a state wide level, the sorts of stuff pushed by #HB470 in KY, et al"

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tw: institutional child abuse

And I myself was threatened with being sent to these places for speaking out, and a lot of people DID functionally get disappeared and sent to these places which have become an "alt-mental-health" industry

dailykos.com/stories/2007/7…

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tw: institutional child abuse

And this has been a known issue since the 80s: dailykos.com/stories/2007/8…

Hell, we have CELEBRITIES like Paris Hilton who are survivors of these facilities, FFS!

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tw: institutional child abuse, state child abuse

Unfortunately, sometimes these are so embedded that--similarly to what happened to me--the state also becomes a participant in the abuse, like with Bill Gothard's IBLP.

(More on Gothard later.)

dailykos.com/stories/2008/2…

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And yes, the GOP and Christian Nationalists (even as far back as Bush) were heavy, heavy supporters of this--even largely exempting from licensing, and even using these as diversionary sentencing.

This led to bad consequences.

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In fact, controversies over one chain of these linked to the Assemblies of God (Mercy Ministries) led to a rebrand as Mercy Multiplied, and is part of why the NAR became widely known as a coercive religious group in Australia as survivors started speaking out

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tw: institutional child abuse, CSA

and I myself wrote a series on Teen Challenge, the "brother chain" to Mercy Ministries/Mercy Multiplied

dailykos.com/stories/2008/4…
dailykos.com/stories/2008/4…
dailykos.com/stories/2008/4…
dailykos.com/stories/2008/4…
dailykos.com/stories/2008/4…

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tw: institutional child abuse, CSA

(cont.) including discussions on how tax dollars were going to the program

dailykos.com/stories/2008/5…
dailykos.com/stories/2008/5… (WARNING: tw: sex abuse)
dailykos.com/stories/2008/5…
dailykos.com/stories/2008/5…

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tw: institutional child abuse

Again: Dubya was one of the big ones pushing this: dailykos.com/stories/2007/8…

And not long after I wrote that, the Kids for Cash scandal broke, again which in part diverted funds to these kinds of facilities en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_…

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And for (at this point) for well over a decade, people have been lobbying for SOME kind of functional regulation to Christian Nationalist "alt-mental-health" industry without a lot of success--due to pushback from Christian Nationalist legislators dailykos.com/stories/2008/7…

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It gets worse, though.

A lot worse.

(Readers: You are forewarned that what I am about to post links to does contain discussion of things likely triggering to survivors of child abuse and neglect, esp. religiously motivated. Will trigger warn where I can)

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What I've described to date is what's done on an institutional level, or things that Christian Nationalists have pushed as part of general agendas against reproductive rights like "moral refusal" laws talk2action.org/story/2006/5/2…

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tw: medical child abuse and neglect

But in addition to the whole "alt-mental-health" stuff, there are full-on alt-accreditation boards that encourage and protect religiously motivated child abuse and neglect dailykos.com/stories/2007/7…

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tw: child abuse and neglect

Not only will they happily write "exemptions" to get your kids out of those Religiously Icky vaccinations, but encourage violent physical discipline, forcible "degaying" and "detransing" of LGBTQIA youth, and deny necessary meds...

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tw: child abuse and neglect

For example, they generally won't prescribe what is probably the most common and conservative treatment for PCOS and endometriosis (hormonal birth control) because "birth control is an abortifacient and turns girls into sluts"

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meaning that kids that grow up in this circumstance often end up with permanent damage by the time they CAN get out

And that's speaking NOTHING of LGBTQIA kids, who are a high percentage of homeless youth...not because of being "out of control",

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but in many cases being functionally "throwaways" (kicked out of their homes) or who are runaways who (like how I was) are often blocked from "safe places" for homeless youth due to being LGBTQIA and can't trust the system to not throw them back into an abusive home

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tw: child abuse and neglect, state abuse

And yes, these kids do have a legitimate reason to fear the authorities won't help them, as (as I've noted) a distressing number of police are members of Christian Nationalist groups: talk2action.org/story/2006/4/1…

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tw: fatal child abuse and neglect

Every so often, this abuse turns frankly fatal, as has been well documented with Michael and Debbie Pearl's guides on how to literally beat your children into submission with plumbing equipment

talk2action.org/story/2006/3/1…

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tw: institutional child abuse

Most mandatory reporters aren't safe in Christian Nationalist households. In addition to cops and doctors, pastors will cause double-down on abuse talk2action.org/story/2006/5/1…

School is often homeschool or church school, and also not safe

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tw: fatal child abuse and neglect

And this is an issue that occasionally comes up in the media only to die down, such as in 2006 when a spate of deaths related to the Pearls came about: talk2action.org/story/2006/5/2…

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tw: fatal child abuse and neglect

Or in 2013, when stories came out about religiously motivated child abuse and neglect of kids internationally adopted (in some cases illegally) in Christian Nationalist "baby scoops": motherjones.com/politics/2013/…

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tw: child abuse, CSA

or (again around the same time) where actual human trafficking was found with "rehoming" of said kids (which LITERALLY resulted in kids being placed with paedophiles who abused them): reuters.com/investigates/a…

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tw: religiously motivated child abuse and neglect

and more recently where there's been some notable attention on both the "baby scoop" industry AND "troubled teen" camps--and Christian Nationalist efforts to fight regulation: jill.substack.com/p/the-child-ab…

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tw: child abuse, CSA

And, very rarely, we get an actual glimpse on how abusers in general are protected within Christian Nationalist communities themselves, such as happened re the Duggars apnews.com/article/politi…

(We are about to talk a LOT on Bill Gothard, btw)

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tw: child abuse, CSA

And yes, it's ironic that every time an LGBTQIA person comes near that Christian Nationalists scream "GROOMER!" because as it turns out there's a CSA scandal in the SBC, and a better-covered-up one in NAR circles talk2action.org/story/2013/4/1…

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tw: child abuse, CSA

...including ol' Bill Gothard (told you we are about to get into him much, much more)

He's reliably accused of sexually assaulting 50+ women, many of whom were minors yahoo.com/now/bill-gotha…

Jinger and Duggar in particular have spoken out

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tw: child abuse, CSA, state abuse, institutional abuse

And Bill Gothard, as it turns out, was a HUGE player in those "Bible-based boot camps" I mentioned earlier... talk2action.org/story/2006/1/1…

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tw: CSA, sexual abuse, institutional abuse

And apparently Josh Duggar was sent to one of Gothard's facilities where Gothard himself sexually abused teens dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3…

And also Gothard dabbled in actual forced labor along with CSA nydailynews.com/news/national/…

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tw: CSA, arguable gr**ming

And there's an extremely good argument that the coercive tactics Gothard engaged in as a cult leader pretty much fostered CSA in and of itself salon.com/2015/05/26/how…

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tw: CSA, arguable gr**ming, child abuse, domestic abuse

And honestly the coerciveness of Gothard's program for rearing kids can't really be understated (dailykos.com/stories/2007/8…) and he's been Very Influential for years (I knew kids raised under Gothard when I was a kid)

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tw: CSA, *ACTUAL* gr**ming

Oh, and Bill Gothard is *LITERALLY* a groomer, as it came out when the whole controversy with the Duggars came out (and what was apparently an EARLY article on LGBTQIA hate): talk2action.org/story/2015/5/2…

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tw: CSA, ACTUAL gr**ming

And no, I don't use that term lightly. Gothard's actual "counseling" material for CSA survivors literally blames them for being "tempting". I shit you not: recoveringgrace.org/2013/04/how-co…

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tw: CSA, ACTUAL gr**ming

Like, literally, they claim that apparently CSA is the result of those darn 6-year-olds showing too much leg

(This includes 2 members of the Duggar household who were allegedly r*ped by both Josh Duggar AND Bill Gothard)

cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/…

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tw: CSA, fatal child abuse and neglect, ACTUAL gr**ming

And I wish that were the only example I could note, but...well, ok, when they're not beating kids to death, the entire concept of "purity balls" is just sus as HELL

dailykos.com/stories/2007/8…

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For those who are generally...unfamiliar with the concept, "purity balls" are little ceremonies where girls are mock-married to their own *dads* (the intent being that they give their daughters away after a "courtship" in what is a de facto arranged marriage)

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tw: CSA, ACTUAL gr**ming

Most of these kids are YOUNG when doing it (like, WELL below age of consent), there are kids as young as elementary school being mock-married to their dads theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

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tw: CSA, ACTUAL gr**ming, state abuse

And I bring up THIS creep-fest, because a lot of the areas where Christian Nationalists run legislatures are areas where *actual* child marriage is legal--often of victims to their abusers, who'd otherwise be charged with felonies

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And in fact, in states that have attempted to ban child marriage (successfully in Kentucky, unsuccessfully in Tennessee) Christian Nationalist legislators have fought these--claiming it takes away rights from parents to marry off their kids equalitynow.org/learn_more_chi…

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In fact, the fight to ban child marriage in KY actually showed this in practice: newsweek.com/conservatives-…

The main advocate was forced to marry her own abuser in KY

Family Foundation of KY (a FRC affiliate) fought it claiming it "takes away parent's rights"

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Pretty much the PRIMARY group that has fought laws banning child marriage in the US has been Christian Nationalist lobbying groups, as was attempted in KY and is blocking efforts in TN and other states independent.co.uk/news/world/ame…

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And this also meets up with...well, the fact that Christian Nationalists have tried to wreck child protection acts on every conceivable level.

The US is the sole country not a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child: ohchr.org/en/instruments…

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South Sudan and Somalia became signatories in the early 2010s.

North Korea is a signatory.

Tuvalu (smallest UN recognised state with kids) is a signatory.

The Holy See is a signatory

Taiwan is not UN recognized but has issued a commitment to abide by the Convention.

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Somaliland, which is not a UN recognized country, has stated they would ratify the Convention if the UN ever recognizes them as a country.

Literally the only country in the entire world that refuses to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child is the United States.

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The reason the US is the sole non-signatory in the entire world is because Christian Nationalists have consistently lobbied since the early 90s to NOT have it ratified--using the LITERAL argument it takes away the "rights" of parents to abuse their kids.

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Christian Nationalists are petrified that--in cases where states do not protect children from abuse, or assure that their educational and medical needs are met--that kids or advocates can sue, and have SOME means of help when the state and mandatory reporters fail

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tw: child abuse and neglect, coaching on hiding signs

And it gets worse.

At least one of the groups pushing for non-ratification--HSLDA, a major Christian Nationalist "homeschool" (actually, correspondence-school) lobby...promotes homeschooling to hide abuse

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tw: child abuse and neglect, coaching on hiding signs

They've not only given explicit instructions on how to derail CPS investigations if the kid manages to breach the firewall and get to a mandated reporter... dailykos.com/stories/2007/8…

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but an awful lot of their lobbying, and lobbying of most other Christian Nationalist groups in the country, is pretty much completely derailing ANY potential protective mechanism for vulnerable kids at risk of religiously motivated abuse and neglect

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And if that weren't enough, there's the more recent trend of Christian Nationalists actually using the state in and of itself to force LGBTQIA kids at risk into "degaying" and into "kid scoops" into private, Christian Nationalist-run "alt-mental-health" facilities

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(Ironically, this is a trend that inclusive homeschooling and unschooling groups have warned about for years--HSLDA has actively tried to lock non-Christian-Nationalist homeschool associations out from state recognition; hsislegal.com gives details)

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And I should note, as an aside, that it's not just the ability to protect abuse of *kids* Christian Nationalists want. They also want the ability to abuse women; the very same groups also oppose the ERA, a similar UN convention prohibiting discrimination against women,

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have actively fought against marital rape laws, are THE major force that pushed for Dobbs and are now pushing for *Griswold v Connecticut* to be struck as well as pushing for "Fugitive Womb Acts" in many states criminalizing going out-of-state for abortion services,

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and they've even pushed for the abolition of no-fault divorce and replacement with "Covenant Marriage" (which would ban divorce except under a few circumstances, and almost entirely if children were involved) talk2action.org/story/2006/1/2…

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tw: spousal abuse, sexual abuse

And--just like with Gothard's infamous "counseling" to CSA survivors--Christian Nationalist writers, including James Dobson, blame battered spouses for being targets of domestic violence talk2action.org/story/2007/7/3…

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tw: animal abuse, child abuse

There's even a really good argument they support animal abuse, the Pearls have claimed their baby-beating manuals are based on how they treat hoofstock like mules, Dobson also has made claims like this talk2action.org/story/2008/6/2…

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(And yes, there have been cases where Christian Nationalist groups have actually fought expansion of animal welfare acts requiring minimum standards for animal housing, crackdowns on the puppy-mill/kitten-mill industry, and so on.)

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And...this is just how Christian Nationalists are abusive within families, and really kind of support a whole-ass complex of industries dedicated to propagating abuse, and doesn't even touch on how these groups are INHERENTLY abusive unrollthread.com/t/154397144527…

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Suffice it to say that Christian Nationalism in many areas is inherently a culture of abuse, abuse propagation (including against vulnerable populations), and protection of abusers and the process of abuse at expense of victims

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And yes, even the blatant racism inherent in a lot of Christian Nationalism: unrollthread.com/t/154078704751…

Ties into this intimately.

There is a terrible truth to the phrase "The cruelty is the point" with these sorts.

71/end

@threadreaderapp unroll