By now, many of you who read here may have read this article, written by someone obviously sold out to the fundamentalist mindset of the IFB. To say that it's a dishonest assessment of the situation would be generous. The writer reminds me very much of the members of the People's Temple and residents of Jonestown irrationally defending Jim Jones, unable to be honest with even themselves. We know how that turned out for them.
Anytime, and I mean anytime, someone defends against accusations of abuse with a mentality of "show me the blood or shut up", that should raise red flags.
Joe over at Incongruous Circumspection responds here, and there's a great response to it over at Chuckles Travels.
ETA: My friend Cindy Kunsman posted her response. Give it a read. Thought-provoking stuff. Cindy has dealt closely with many Hephzibah House survivors. Also, check out this correlating piece she wrote a couple of days ago.
Editorial and commentary on Christian culture, religious and political fundamentalism, and more.
My God. I agree with the woman who said in the comment section of that article that she fears that IFB children will never be safe. It's true. If someone chooses to harm a child in that cult, the child will most likely not see justice, or protection. God protect them.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lewis. I always love to simmer in rage for an hour or two every evening.
ReplyDeleteThis man is the. most. arrogant human being our race ever had the misfortune to spawn. In addition to which, he is a liar and a coward. I am reminded of a quote from Law and Order: Monsters only live in the dark. People like him are the darkness; covering abuse in the blanket of anonymity it needs to survive.
Foul.
He is. He's probably more the rule than the exception for people who heartily buy in to IFB doctrine. In other words, if you want to know what the IFB looks like, look at that guy.
ReplyDeleteLewis you are exactly right, look at this guy and you see the IFB movement.
ReplyDeleteWhat? This guy's is really judging the victims for responding too emotionally to their abuse? Of course the fact that their accusations have been made "in an extremely shrill and angry way" negates the reliability of them. To me it sounds like a natural human reaction...
ReplyDeleteKaty-Anne,
ReplyDeleteYour comment was a real encouragement to read. The Hephzibah Girls get very discouraged because they work so hard to overcome their own personal tragedy, and when they seem to make some progress and get some attention in the media, it always seems like it fizzles out. And when clowns like this guy carry on like he did (especially in the comments following his blog entry), it really discourages them.
I was aching for them after talking to a survivor on Friday, and your comment breathed a lot of hope into me.
Lewis,
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that you commented about this.
The article itself is bad enough, but it points out the problems that Lucinda Pennington has suffered. She is a prime example of the long term effects of the abuse that Williams used to work her over. She's quite a complicated example, and I'm excited that this new blog post by this Williams sycophant presents an opportunity to talk about Lucinda. It's all so sad.
Hooboy, that steams me and I haven't finished it yet...from the start the tone is set to insinuate that even if there's any truth to the 'allegations', they probably deserved it. Then, "bitter & resentful'?? I suppose the author of the article would have been WAY above that kind of a response had the tables been turned. A 'predisposition to protect young women' is presented as a fault, a weakness. GAH. No, it's the decent human response. And I guess he's right, 'emotion and righteous indignation (put in quotes)' have no place in the devout Christian's life. That's why Jesus went so easy on those temple seller dudes. AAACK: "...Christian, *even* Fundamental Baptist..."??? Oh, no, he di'nt....yeah, he did. I have to go sit down.
ReplyDeleteP.S.- He does realize, doesn't he, that *Jesus* 'cussed out' the Pharisees, in the vernacular of the day?
ReplyDeleteDoes he REALLY think for one millisecond that he actually HELPED HH's image with his swollen vindication? After reading the survivor and advocates' sincere, reliable and potent responses, surely he knows by now that he was totally outclassed, outsmarted, ill equipped and might as well have been advocating for the devil himself!
ReplyDeleteThe more blockheads like him write, the more exposure survivors get as voices of reason and truth.
Cindy@Baptist Taliban and Beyond
well said.
DeleteRodney
Here is the direct link to my post:
ReplyDeletehttp://incongruouscircumspection.blogspot.com/2012/01/tim-dunkins-hephzibah-house-faux-pas.html
Doesn't "sychophant" insinuate that Ron Williams is influential? God, I hope not.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the whole thing with Bob Jones University backing up Chuck Phelps and even adding him as a board member when Phelps so obviously had been very instrumental in covering up in his congregation the rape of a 15-year-old girl by a middle aged married member. There are some disgusting Christians out there!
ReplyDeleteTimmy does not even mention the staff accounts!
ReplyDeletehe can't. it disproves his thesis.
DeleteRodney
Inc. Circ. wrote: Doesn't "sychophant" insinuate that Ron Williams is influential? God, I hope not.
ReplyDeleteWithin the IFB and even within the more fringe homeschooling groups, Ron Williams is very influential. Bob Jones U carries his radio program on their network. He's very respected within the IFB network, not that far away from Jack Schapp and probably very familiar with Chuck Phelps, Tina Anderson's former pastor who protected the rapist, Ernie Willis. Consider that he more than rubbed elbows with Roloff and has been in this business since before 1971. Where do you think he learned his tricks. I'd like to know more about his work with bovine hormone and how much he's purchased over the last 40 years.
I know many IFB folks and people in fringe homeschooling. Just from those connections, I know that many who do not even follow the IFB doctrinal perspective considered sending their daughters to HH.
my god this is disgusting!!! it's terrible what is happening to these poor girls ladies women!!! this place is unacceptable and timmy boy & williams need to be held accountable!!! this is ridiculous!!!!
ReplyDeleteCan I ask a dumb question?
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think he'd say about those purity pledges and balls? You wrote about them recently so they're fresh in my mind, and when I read this paragraph in his article the flaw in fundamentalist logic just stuck out.
He says, "I think it would be fair to grant that when dealing with the subject of young women...there is the tendency on the part of most folks to have a predisposition towards wanting to protect them.... I think it is also fair to say that in the case of the accusations against Hephzibah House...good sense and fairness have well and truly taken a backseat to emotionalism."
Because obviously, it's perfectly fine to turn off our brains and give in to emotionalism and protectiveness as long as it keeps girls from having some control over their lives or speaking out for themselves. The moment those girls stand up and defend themselves, and are backed by facts and supported by the community outside, suddenly we get an appeal to good sense and fairness and we're told to ignore those protective instincts.
Never mind that good sense and fairness make it obvious to us that these people lack these same traits, as well as any kind of conscience.
I know I'm just restating the terribly obvious but I couldn't help myself. The contradiction is just unbelievable.