Going Behind Closed Doors in Christian Right Households

[laststeamtrain]

Going Behind Closed Doors in Christian Right Households

To really understand the politics of the Christian Right, we need to look not only to public activity, but to private matters.

By Jeremy Adam Smith, Public Eye. Posted April 11, 2008.


<snip>

As a result of this adherence to a holy text that cannot be changed and must be obeyed, the ideal Christian Right home is a place of authoritarian hierarchy. When University of Texas sociologists John P. Bartkowski and Christopher G. Ellison compared dozens of secular parenting books with conservative Protestant parenting manuals, they found that a literal interpretation of the Bible's childrearing advice contributed directly to a worship of authority in all spheres of life, including the political.

They also found that conservative evangelical parenting gurus disagreed with mainstream counterparts on virtually every issue. According to their study, secular, science-based parenting advice emphasizes personality adjustment, empathy, cooperation, creativity, curiosity, egalitarian relations between parents, nonviolent discipline, and self-direction.

Conservative Protestants, on the other hand, stress a tightly hierarchical family structure and a gendered division of labor, with a breadwinning father at the top of the pyramid and children at the bottom. "Children learn to make wise choices by having wise choices made for them," writes syndicated columnist and talking head Betsy Hart in her 2006 book It Takes a Parent (as opposed to a village - villages are for liberals!). Needless to say, all right-wing parenting manuals stress obedience -- especially for girls and women.

<snip>

And so the fourth characteristic of a Christian Right home is that children are born evil and can become good only through a Godly mixture of love and punishment. "One does not have to teach antisocial behavior to toddlers," writes right-wing family psychologist John Rosemond in a 2006 column, syndicated in 225 newspapers. "They are by nature violent, deceitful, destructive, rebellious, and prone to sociopathic rages if they do not get their way."

I wrote to Rosemond in an email and asked him to elaborate. "In my estimation," he replied, "toddlerhood is a pathological condition that demands 'cure,' accomplished through a combination of powerful love and powerful discipline. ... The toddler mindset and the sociopathic mindset are one and the same: 'What I want, I deserve to have; the ends justify the means; and no one has a right to stand in my way.' This is a reflection of human nature."

<snip>

Psychologists I interviewed were horrified by Rosemond's use of the DSM-IV and his conception of children as mentally ill, which amounts to a translation of the doctrine of original sin, with its framework of damnation and salvation, into contemporary therapeutic terms. The difference is simple: A two-year-old human being is still learning how to deal with and express her feelings, but a true sociopath has no feelings. To treat a toddler like a sociopath is like studying snakes in order to understand koala bears -- and then declaring that koala bears are cold-blooded.

<more>

http://www.alternet.org/story/82000/?page=entire

[Extend a Hand]

1. That's how I was raised

It's a terrible way to live.
I ran away at 12, 13, 14, and 15 and was finally emancipated by the court at 15.

[girl gone mad]

3. me, too. (see below)

I also left home when I was 12, was brought back and sent to psychiatric care, left again at 15 and lived on my own from then on. So many of the kids I encountered on the street were from "tough love" fundamentalist households. I was happier on my worst day sleeping on playgrounds in the cold and spare changing for meals than on a good day under my parent's roof.

[Extend a Hand]

5. The really sad thing is

(now 35 years later) I believe that my (adoptive) mother loves me and did the best she knew how.
But at the time, even three months in a state reform school that was subsequently closed by the state for abuse was an improvement.

[girl gone mad]

2. I was raised in a fundie household..

but managed to avoid ever adopting the fundie mindset. I raised my son in a much more egalitarian fashion, and believe me, I have had an easier time of it than my parents ever did. It amazes me to reflect back on my childhood and remember how the most trivial things could escalate into hours long lectures and arguments because of their predetermination that I was behaving with nefarious intent, when I was usually just being absent-minded. Their conservative protestant parenting style brought so much unnecessary stress into the household.

It is a form of child abuse, and we can only hope that most of the children raised in the manner endorsed by Mr. Rosemond are exposed to more relaxed households and can break the cycle when they have children of their own.

[Jade Fox]

10. A fundamentalist co-worker of mine....

would complain constantly about his 13 year old son. It was obvious from hearing the father speak that he hated his own child. At 14, after being sent to "Jesus Boot Camp", the boy ran away. Who could blame him? Why should a child have to live in that sort of atmosphere?

[Donnachaidh]

4. WTF is WRONG with this Rosemond whackjob?

""They are by nature violent, deceitful, destructive, rebellious, and prone to sociopathic rages if they do not get their way.""

Toddlers? Rebellious? Did this jackass overload on Chuckie movies or what?

Sad to say, I've only met one child who fell into this list - and guess what? His was a xtian fundamentalist family! I felt so bad for this kid - the pre-kindergarden Halloween party was a chance for the kids to wear costumes all day. His parents put him in red long underwear and cowboy boots and told him he was Santa Claus! He spent most of the day in time-out, because he was trying to tear up all the other costumes the kids wore - because he thought they were evil.

[mwb970]

6. Here's a key paragraph from the piece.

As a result of this adherence to a holy text that cannot be changed and must be obeyed, the ideal Christian Right home is a place of authoritarian hierarchy. When University of Texas sociologists John P. Bartkowski and Christopher G. Ellison compared dozens of secular parenting books with conservative Protestant parenting manuals, they found that a literal interpretation of the Bible's childrearing advice contributed directly to a worship of authority in all spheres of life, including the political.

So they're training little sheep, the bushbots of the future. I'm sure that's exactly what God wants. Not!

(edit: typo)

[sinkingfeeling]

7. Wow, this guy perfectly describes his hero, Bush, as a toddler!

"The toddler mindset and the sociopathic mindset are one and the same: 'What I want, I deserve to have; the ends justify the means; and no one has a right to stand in my way.' This is a reflection of human nature."

[mrbluto]

8. With a few edits this sounds like a presidential administration we know and despise.

"They are by nature violent, deceitful, destructive, rebellious fascist, and prone to sociopathic rages policies if they do not in order to get their way."

heh. Gotta laugh (or else cry) at what a disaster the past 7+years have been.

[Forrest Greene]

9. The Human Spirit

...yearns for, maybe requires, balance & justice. If balance & justice are unavailable or withheld, the human spirit will not rest until it achieves them. In creating & promoting such imbalanced & unjust environments, Christian fundamentalist parents attempt to crush their childrens' human spirits in a way similar to that in which their, the parents', spirits have been crushed by their beliefs, & by their paltry little god. That, I believe, is what the Christian fundamentalists' own terms might, ironically enough, have to call serving the devil.

But upon reflection, I can see that my notions above assume that Christian fundamentalism has some degree of respect & regard for the human spirit, which it apparently does not, preferring instead to subjugate humanity to the powerful Earthly representatives of an imaginary gaseous invertebrate superhero who lives in outer space.

I was raised agnostic, so I don't really have a horse in this race, but it bugs me a great deal to see the damage done to sincere seekers after truth by the very people w& institutions that purport to care most for them.

[Joanne98]

11. A fundamental difference between the right and the left.....

The right believes mankind is evil by nature, the left believes mankind is basically good.

They are wrong of course.

[laststeamtrain]

12. Yes, they are wrong.

Existence precedes essence.

Or something like that.

:hi: