Intervention and Parents Rights

I've been listening to old episodes of the Non-Prophets Radio podcast. (If you're not listening yet, it's your own fault. I've linked and embedded tons of Atheist Experience videos. Okay, okay, I forgive you. Go subscribe to the feed now and let us never speak of this unpleasantness again.)

The issue of intervention keeps coming up. When does the government, or we the people, or the US, intervene in how a family raises its children or how another nation treats its citizens? One of the four hosts, Shilling, (no longer on - I told you, these were archives) essentially takes a non-interventionist stance the majority of the time. He suggests the long-range approach of educating a culture, and essentially waiting things out for self-correction. He cites the decrease in racism and homophobia in younger generations as an example of this working in practice. And I have to say I agree with him up to that point.

Because I think the long-range plan is important and I do think it will work. I think history in a large sense shows that, our culture at least, is getting progressively more liberal and egalitarian. Neato. Swell. But in the meantime, if we use only the non-interventionist long-range approach, kids aren't getting vaccinated. Unassisted childbirth is killing mothers and babies.* Honor killings are happening in the United States. Parents treat their kids with unproven "natural" remedies rather than with FDA approved medicines. A little boy gets named Adolf Hitler (and his sister is named Aryan Nation.)

When are we gonna stop talking about parents rights and start talking about kids rights? I think part of the problem with the debate is that we act as if the two interested parties were the parents and the government. And of course, we object to the idea of a government raising its children - that falls under the domain of parenting. But the real nature of the issue is between the rights of the parents and the rights of the children. The government acts as attorney on behalf of the child, not as a direct antagonist to the parent. I get that now.

I was raised to fear HRS, so when they came to do an investigation, I lied. When my friend's mother told my mom I wanted to live with them, my mom told me she was playing arm chair psychologist, and that it was a common problem among psych students. That it didn't mean anything (like trying to get hit by a car when I was six didn't mean anything; or saying I needed therapy or I was gonna kill myself at 14 didn't mean anything; or saying that I had an eating disorder and that I was going to die if I didn't get help at 25 didn't mean anything).

I have to intervene for the kids right now. Fuck the long-range-only plan. Well-meaning high-minded secular and moderate religious people who were trying not to step on anyone's toes or interfere with anyone's parental rights let me get beaten, brainwashed, and Bible-fed. I didn't get to form my own personality and identity as a human. I was raised in a cult, like being a borg or a clone. I'm having to figure this shit out (who I am, what I value, what my own personality is) now and I'm 26 and I have a 4-year-old kid. It's kind of terrifying sometimes to realize how little I know and how far behind I am. I got cheated out of a childhood and it's seriously affecting my adulthood. And now I find out there's no afterlife, so this is the only shot I'm ever gonna get.

We can't sit by and let other kids have their psyches destroyed. I can't really express enough just how crazy I am and how uncomfortable the inside of my brain is. I have a really high IQ. (I don't remember the number; it was over ten years ago. I was in Mensa but we quit paying dues.) If I'd been raised in a healthy home, I'd probably be a doctor or a lawyer or a civil rights activist or married. Not unemployed and semi-agoraphobic. This isn't a pity party. I'm good at getting through shit - I have a lot of practice. (And hey, unemployment checks are the bomb. I consider that my salary for writing on my book.)

It's just that I can't not care. I can't pretend kids aren't dying from medical negligence homicide (AKA "prayer"). I know there's this huge Quiverfull generation coming up now, and a lot of those kids are growing up in abusive homes; they're learning misogyny and rigid gender roles; and they're not getting a proper education. Let's stop that. Let's stop the people who do that. I don't want go so far as making people get a license to have a kid. I get why we can't do that (examples: majority Christian licensing board = no atheists getting baby licenses; eugenics). But we have to get these religious exemption laws off the books. We have to stop acting like it's okay for people to pray, when we know that prayer prevents positive action. We need to recognize and vocalize that faith is not a virtue. Faith is a vice.





* Both those stories are in Australia. The homebirth movement in Australia is largely due to my grandmother (and here)and Nancy Campbell. (On Nancy's Facebook she asks for money for a broken arm; yet she rolls with faith healers.)

** I have no idea what language the image captions are in. But it translates to: kids have a right to food, clean water, an education, passport or national identity (refugees), family, I think happiness?, exercise/entertainment, and to be clean; and a right to not be amputated, armed, enslaved, or abused. I think it speaks across culture and language - don't you?

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Faith Healing = Epic FAIL

It's rainy season here in Florida and for me that can only mean one thing - hip pain. I dislocated my hip 12 years ago. At the time my family and I were members/followers of my grandmother's faith-healing sect, and so my mother and I didn't seek medical treatment. I spent my Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior years of high school walking with a cane, in pretty constant physical agony. The recurring pain I still suffer after extensive physical therapy is a personal reminder of the costs of faith and the failures of prayer. It got me thinking about my all-time "Big Issue" with religion - medical neglect of children.

About a month after my hip first fell out of joint, a 2-year-old boy I babysat was stung by 432 yellow jackets. He and his parents were visiting with staff of Home In Zion Ministries, my grandmother's group. She was also there, and told his parents he didn't need medical attention. So they prayed, gave him a bath and a glass of milk, set him in front of the TV. Seven hours later they called 9-1-1, after he'd been dead for half an hour. The parents were charged with

In the news right now is the story of Daniel Hauser. He is a 13-year-old boy with a learning disorder and a cancerous lymphoma. He was diagnosed in January and recommended 6 rounds of chemotherapy. After a single treatment, his mother stopped getting him medical attention. She insists she can treat him through "natural cures" such as herbs and vitamins, and cites religion as her reason. A Minnesota judge ordered her and her husband to treat the child with chemotherapy (as doctors say he has a 95% chance of recovery with it, and only a 5% chance of life without it). Now? She's skipped town and took her cancer-ridden, mentally challenged son with her. The FBI is looking for her across this country, and has issued a warrant for her arrest.

Man, when is this crap gonna end? I'm so sick of kids dying for their parents' faith. These children aren't martyrs - they're victims.

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$cientology

What is $cientology?
$cientology is a cult practicing in the US, Europe and South America. It was founded by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard in the 1950s. The doctrinal text of Scientology includes the book Dianetics, as well as other writings of Hubbard (who is known within the cult as simply "Ron"). The basic premise of Scientology is that humans have a "reactive mind" that responds to stimuli and that this mind needs to be "cleared" for happiness. Through a series of courses, members travel along a "bridge to total freedom" to become "clear" and are promised all kinds of neat powers like telepathy and perfect memory recall once they've accomplished this. Scientologists believe in reincarnation, rather than in paradise or heaven. A great resource for general Scientology information is http://www.xenu.net/

How Does $cientology Recruit?
Members are usually brought in through one of their many front groups, through the book Dianetics: Science of the Mind by founder L. Ron Hubbard, or through the stress testing and personality testing $cientologists do at their orgs (organization centers) and on street corners. On my university campus we had an outdoor "market" two days a week that had a lot of student religious groups, the atheist group, $cientologists, military recruiters and a few actual vendors. $cientology claims that is compatible with other religions, meaning you can be an atheist $cientologist, a Christian $cientologist, a Jewish $cientologist, etc. This isn't really true, but it gets people in the door.

What Happens Next?
Next the new member will take classes and participate in "auditing" sessions. The classes are in actuality mind-control sessions where the member is put into a susceptible state of mind. Once in this state, they're taking to a registrar's office to purchase more courses and auditing sessions. Auditing involves the use of an "e-meter", basically a primitive electrometer lie detector device. The member will be asked question by a $cientology staff worker. The member will be required to relive a traumatic event over and over again, will be asked about their feelings on $cientology, and will be encouraged to have a "past life" experience.

Control of Information
$cientologists are not allowed to freely use the internet. They are not allowed to speak to any "Suppressive Persons" or "SPs" including journalists, psychiatrists, psychologists, from Church of $cientology members, or anyone who speaks out against Scientology. Children of $cientologists most frequently attend Scientology schools, where they are drilled on the writings of L. Ron Hubbard and deprived of a decent education.

Disconnection and Family Life in Scientology
$cientology has a policy of "disconnection" - if you leave the Church, none of your friends and family who are in, including your spouse and children or parents, are allowed to speak to you, or they risk being declared Suppressive as well. Children attending $cientology schools on $cientology compounds and properties are often forced to do extensive manual labor such as rock hauling, construction work, etc. Entire families are pushed towards entering the Sea Org, the elite staff of $cientology. Sea Org members sign a 1,000,000,000 year contract, promising to work for almost no pay for the rest of this life as well as future ones. They are paid about 50 cents per hour and given maybe 2-3 days off per year. Children as young as 12 years old are putting in 100 hour work weeks, maintaining grounds and doing administrative office work and sometimes being Auditors.

Money
$cientology (often written with the dollar sign by critics like myself) is all about money. In addition to paying their staff nearly nothing, $cientology charges them for food & board, and of course for the auditing sessions and classes, which are part of the Bridge to Total Freedom. In order to move to higher levels on the bridge and within the cult, you must pay. And pay. And pay. To get to the highest level of Scientology, OT8, a member will spend about half a million dollars. If a member runs out of money, and cannot beg, borrow, or steal anymore (which they are encouraged to do), they are put out on the street and no longer cared for, no longer housed or fed, and no longer allowed to see or speak with any of their friends and family still within the Church.

Medical Neglect and Death
$cientology hates psychiatry. This may be due to the fact that L. Ron Hubbard was diagnosed with Narcissitic Personality Disorder (freaking common as hell for cult leaders) and had a personal aversion to psychiatry. Propaganda videos within $cientology claim that the Nazi holocaust was brought about by psychiatrists. Members are encouraged to go off all forms of medicine while in the church, and to rely on vitamins and saunas for health. Stories of epileptics, schizophrenics, and diabetics dying as a result of this regimen are frequent and sadly preventable. There's also the infamous case of Lisa MacPherson. Lisa was a $cientology member at their spiritual headquarters, the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, Florida. In 1995 Lisa was involved in a minor car accident. When EMTs arrived she stripped off her clothes and began rambling. She told one EMT "I want you to think I'm crazy so you'll help me." They took her to the hospital where she was to be held for psychiatric observation. Church of $cientology members picked her up from the hospital, claiming she did not want to stay because of her religious affiliation and objection to psychiatry. What happened over the next 13 days is disputed and unclear. On December 5, 1995 Lisa was readmitted to the hospital, DOA. She was severely dehydrated and covered with bruises and insect bites and had lost 30 lbs in the intervening days. A memorial site covering her life and death, including autopsy photographs (graphic and sad) here: http://www.lisamcpherson.org/

Litigation and "Fair Game" Policy
$cientology employs a team of lawyers, almost all of whom are member of the Church. Any time someone speaks against the Church, attempts to sue for their life's savings back after leaving the Church, or sues for any other reason, $cientology will pursue them relentlessly. They have stalked journalists at their home, calling one St. Petersburg Times (of Florida, a neighboring city of Clearwater) journalist's husband to tell him she was having an affair. They have passed around fliers of outspoken critic Mark Bunker to his neighbors, claiming he was a pedophile and "religious bigot". L. Ron Hubbard endorsed this fully, in a Church policy originally named "Fair Game" which states:

The homes, property, places and abodes of persons who have been active in attempting to: suppress Scientology or Scientologists are all beyond any protection of Scientology Ethics, unless absolved by later Ethics or an amnesty ... this Policy Letter extends to suppressive non-Scientology wives and husbands and parents, or other family members or hostile groups or even close friends

In one case an author critical of Scientology was framed for murder. You can read more about "Operation Freak Out" (the name this plot was given within $cientology internal documents) here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Freakout

Help at Last - Anonymous
Fair Game policy and its league of lawyers made criticisms and lawsuits against Scientology difficult and dangerous. Over the past few years an army of internet activists have banded together in opposition of the slave labor, child abuse, medical neglect, and mental and emotional abuse of its members, as well as other illegal behaviors of the Church of $cientology. Known simply as "Anonymous" this group of protesters wear masks and gather in large groups for safety when picketing outside of $cientology orgs. To find an Anonymous group near you and join a protest, Google "scientology+anonymous+your state". They are separate groups, so I can't provide links to each.

Here's a video by Anonymous telling $cientology exactly what they think: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCbKv9yiLiQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCbKv9yiLiQ

Also this BBC special - Scientology: Inside the Cult (a journalist goes under cover to join Scientology) is excellent
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD9bCdHqU3s&feature=related

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