Replies to post #177148 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[arizona1]

It's amazing Jones is still allowed to keep his tax exempt status. Will anyone ever have the guts to challenge these faux Christians in court?

Child Evangelism Fellowship: The Christian Group Recruiting Kids in Public Schools

A fundamentalist Christian organization views children as a market for religious recruiting.

It is 1970, a June afternoon in Phoenix, about 105 degrees. My mother pulls into a dusty parking lot where cars and church vans are dropping off little kids with scruffy suitcases and sleeping bags. At $20 a subsidized head, I am surrounded by other kids like me whose parents can’t afford to send them to a real summer camp. We are headed for Camp Good News where the price we will pay for ordinary camp activities is a routine of daily Bible studies and altar calls. In the mornings we will pledge allegiance to the Christian flag and to "the Savior for whose kingdom it stands.” We will be kept up late watching movies of modern martyrs and missionaries. And, sleep-deprived and far from our parents, we will be subjected to repeated urgings to confess our sins before it’s too late.

As weeping children move forward down the aisle and are led away by counselors who can guide them through the sinner’s prayer, the rest of us will sing. What can wash away my sin?/Nothing but the blood of Jesus./What can make me whole again?/Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Child Evangelism Fellowship, the parent organization that ran and owned this camp, is a fundamentalist Christian organization that views children as a market for religious recruiting. With a presence in over 170 countries and the support of 40,000 volunteers in the U.S. and Canada, CEF claims to reach 10 million kids a year. CEF often pursues kids who are vulnerable in some way—impoverished perhaps, with parents who can’t provide the resources or attention they would wish.

My camp-mates in Prescott were drawn primarily from the inner city, and the CEF Web site currently encourages outreach to foster parents and state family service agencies. But its work in North America has now penetrated middle-class communities in all 50 states, largely through expansion of afterschool programs called Good News Clubs. Since the 1990s it has been driving to establish Good News Clubs at public elementary schools and encouraging churches to “adopt” local schools. Sunday school, vacation Bible school and summer camps don’t provide sufficient access to the most desired targets of their conversion activities: grade-school children whose parents and religious communities aren’t Christian fundamentalists.

In 2001, a Supreme Court decision, Good News Club v. Milford Central School, forced public elementary schools to open their doors to afterschool clubs run by Child Evangelism Fellowship. Alito and the majority accepted the argument that the Good News Clubs weren’t really teaching religion—they were teaching character, in other words morals, from a religious point of view. Last week investigative journalist Katherine Stewart exposed the fact that those “morals” include biblical justification of genocide.

In actual fact, Child Evangelism Fellowship is not in the business of teaching morals. It is an evangelical organization with a core belief that no amount of morals will get you into heaven. In its fundamentalist theology, all children are born sinful and slated for eternal torture. Only the divine human sacrifice of Jesus and being “born-again” can save them from this fate. To funders and volunteers, Child Evangelism Fellowship is very clear about mission: “CEF is a Bible-centered, worldwide organization composed of born-again believers whose purpose is to evangelize boys and girls with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, disciple them in the Word of God and establish them in a Bible-believing church for Christian living.” Your child is their mission field.
http://www.alternet.org/story/155763/child_evangelism_fellowship%3A_the_christian_group_recruiting_kids_in_public_schools?akid=8904.37251.2z6LaA&rd=1&t=5

[F6]

Pastor Creflo Dollar denies choking, punching daughter, says he should not have been arrested
June 11, 2012
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/pastor-creflo-dollar-denies-choking-punching-daughter-says-he-should-not-have-been-arrested/2012/06/11/gJQAcexGUV_story.html [with comments]

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Creflo Dollar denies choking allegations in sermon

People cross the street and head into World Changers Church International in south Fulton County, Ga., for services led by pastor Creflo Dollar on Sunday, June 10, 2012.
(AP)

By Jeannine Hunter
Posted at 11:25 AM ET, 06/11/2012

Atlanta megachurch pastor Creflo Dollar [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/pastor-creflo-dollar-denies-choking-punching-daughter-says-he-should-not-have-been-arrested/2012/06/11/gJQAcexGUV_story.html (the story linked above)] discussed [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcgKDPeDt0Y (the video above)] the child battery charges against him as he preached at his church Sunday. Dollar is founding pastor of World Changers Church International [ http://www.worldchangers.org/ ].

Two days after being arrested for allegedly choking and slapping his 15-year-old daughter [ http://www.ajc.com/news/fayette/police-creflo-dollar-choked-1454550.html ], the prominent minister denied the allegations during a sermon, the AP reports [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/pastor-creflo-dollar-denies-choking-punching-daughter-says-he-should-not-have-been-arrested/2012/06/11/gJQAcexGUV_story.html (aqgain, the story linked above)]. Fayette County Sheriff’s deputies Friday charged the minister with simple battery and cruelty to children [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/pastor-creflo-dollar-denies-choking-punching-daughter-says-he-should-not-have-been-arrested/2012/06/11/gJQAcexGUV_story.html (once again, the story linked above)]. USA Today reported that Dollar was released on a $5,000 bond [ http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-06-10/Creflo-dollar-denies-charges/55497418/1 ].

ABC News [ http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/06/creflo-dollar-denies-cruelty-allegation-tells-congregation-all-is-well/ ] reported that “Dollar’s version was that she became disrespectful and he was tried to restrain her, the report said. Only when she started to hit him did he wrestle her to the floor and spank her, the police report said.”

Dollar, news reports noted, along with Eddie Long, “is one of the most prominent African-American preachers based around Atlanta.” Like the allegations of sexual misconduct with male teen congregants and Long’s subsequent out-of-court settlement [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/under-god/post/eddie-long-faced-fifth-accuser-says-fox-report/2011/07/28/gIQALSHHfI_blog.html/ ], the allegations against Dollar cast a shadow on his ministry.

Dollar was greeted with rousing applause Sunday as he approached the pulpit and spoke about an argument with his youngest daughter and accused news reporters of sensationalizing the incident. He and his wife, Taffi, have five children.

“As a church family, I want you to hear personally from me that all is well in the Dollar household,” he said after thanking the congregation for their prayers and support.

In response, many throughout the sanctuary applauded again.

“We remain committed to raising our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,” he said about the boundaries and guidance he and his wife instill in their home.

After applause subsided, Dollar continued: “I would never put any fault on my children. As Jesus would never put any fault on me. I love her with all of my heart. Amen. There are two things that are certain in the life of a Christian parent. Number one is that we win. And number two: Is that tests will come to try and shake your faith.”

The incident generated widespread attention from media as well as the blogosphere where observers commented on parenting issues, faith and the blurred lines between the public face and private life of well-known religious leaders.

“I am not a fan of Creflo Dollar. But I raised two teens. So while I may not agree, I do understand. They can push you to the edge,” tweeted [

I am not a fan of Creflo Dollar. But I raised two teens. So while I may not agree, I do understand. They can push you to the edge.

— Dr. DeForest Soaries (@dbsoaries) June 9, 2012

] the Rev. DeForest Soaries, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in New Jersey, Friday night.

“Why am I not surprised by this? Dollar is one of the most disciplinary, judgmental prosperity preachers on the circuit. He blames everything on everyone in his congregation if their finances are not ‘right,’ and warmth is not a word one uses to describe his sermons. Dollar’s brittle, hard theology of prosperity makes for an inflexible and disciplinary personality,” wrote Anthea Butler, contributing editor for the daily online magazine Religion Dispatches [ http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/antheabutler/6054/prosperity_preacher_creflo_dollar_arrested_for_allegedly_assaulting_daughter/ ] Friday afternoon.

“My thoughts on #Creflodollar incident--parents have a right to discipline their kids. But when girls get over the age of 13,” tweeted author and political strategist Sophia Nelson [

My thoughts on #Creflodollar incident--parents have a right to discipline their kids. But when girls get over the age of 13 dads 1/3

— Sophia A. Nelson (@IAmSophiaNelson) June 9, 2012

] Friday. “Fathers have to be careful with physical hitting, slapping. Girls mistakes discipline for how a man is supposed to keep me in line. Mother’s should step up if there is any physical discipline to be administered to girls. Father’s need to talk & discipline verbally.”

“We may never know the full story in the Dollar family drama. But, in general, one thing’s certain: regardless of the circumstances, a man who raises his hand to his teenage daughter is weak,” wrote Wil LaVeist [ http://www.urbanfaith.com/2012/06/creflo-dollars-bad-fathers-day.html/ ] Friday on Urban Faith [ http://www.urbanfaith.com/ ] Web site.

The author and journalist said that “in these types of domestic cases, it’s always unwise to leap to conclusions. … You certainly have my prayers for your entire family, brother. But my respect for you as a man and a father? If the police report is true, you’re too weak for that.”

“I don’t know @Creflo_Dollar personally, but he does strike me as a man who loves his family and would not purposely harm them,” tweeted Clinton McFarland [

I don't know @Creflo_Dollar personally, but he does strike me as a man who loves his family and would not purposely harm them.

— Clinton D. McFarland (@Clintonmcfarlan) June 8, 2012

], senior pastor of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Atlanta and Lithonia, Ga.

© 2012 The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/under-god/post/creflo-dollar-denies-choking-allegations-in-sermon/2012/06/11/gJQAUCipUV_blog.html [with comments]

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(linked in):

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=69593494 and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=58511549 and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=69717811 (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=54823236 (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=54823139 and following


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Water official allegedly seen on video hitting stepson

June 9, 2012
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/06/water-official-alleged-seen-on-video-hitting-stepson.html [with comments]

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Anthony Sanchez, California Official, Caught On Camera Allegedly Beating Stepson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KshkG9X9EwY

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DISTURBING VIDEO: Step Father, Anthony Sanchez Beating Son With Whip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVQVBJgVxyM

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Water official, accused of whipping stepson, resigns
June 10, 2012
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/06/anthony-sanchez-imperial-county-resigns.html [with comments]