Rewriting History — History of America Mega-Conference: Part Eight, Closing Thoughts

“Presenters understood children to be transmitters of fundamentalist Christianity unto future generations, and thus concepts such as ‘generational thinking’ often came up. The History of America Mega-Conference was a homeschooling conference, after all, and its revisionist ideas were intended for the curricula of homeschooled children. To boot, children are to be steeped in fundamentalist Christian thought and shielded from mainstream culture.”

Crosspost: Methodological Problems with Kevin Swanson and Brian Ray’s Gen 2 Survey

“Libby Anne posted recently about a new survey conducted by Brian Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute, a non-profit which conducts studies of questionable scientific validity on homeschooling. As a Ph.D. social scientist myself, I looked over the new survey with a critical eye and I’m sorry to say there won’t be much useable data gleaned from it because it is rife with methodological problems.”

Rewriting History — History of America Mega-Conference: Part 7, Christian Vikings, Godly Explorers, and Strange Bacon

“By holding up a Eurocentric, Christocentric narrative as the only valid one, Foster effectively erased Native Americans, non-Christians, and non-Protestants from the history of the New World. Foster’s version of history does not force us to wrestle with atrocities of the past, or face the effects of colonization and ethnocide that still linger today. In short, Foster’s history is a shame-free history that absolves us from having to learn from the mistakes of our predecessors.”

Rewriting History — History of America Mega-Conference: Part Six, Doug Phillips Rages Against the 20th Century

“For right-wing Christians such as Phillips, the present is a time of barbarism and delusion, which Christians must struggle against. This distrust of the present era and refusal to recognize complexity and nuance in the 20th and 21st centuries reveals a great deal about the Religious Right mind.”

Rewriting History — History of America Mega-Conference: Part Five, Messiah States and Mega-Houses

“Botkin likened the Messianic state to ancient god-kings and notions of divine kingship. He shared a quote from R. J. Rushdoony likening state worship to Moloch worship, calling both examples of ‘political religion.’ Like the ancient god Moloch, the Messianic state demands total sacrifice from its subjects, he warned the audience.

Rewriting History — The History of America Mega-Conference: Part Four, Kevin Swanson Is Tired Of Losing

“Kevin Swanson, host of Generations Radio, has a long history of eccentric comments documented by Right Wing Watch, and he was no different in person. I’m not sure what troubled me more: Swanson’s acidic tone, or the hyperbolic content of his talk. His seething hatred for The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain, and other 19th century writers was both irrational and unsettling.”

Rewriting History — The History of America Mega-Conference: Part Three, “Religious Liberalism” And Those Magnificent Mathers

“I can accept the idea that the Mathers longed to do well by their children and grandchildren, striving to raise them well and encouraging other parents to do the same. Given Increase and Cotton Mather’s ties to witchcraft myths and the Salem Witch Trials, however, I draw a different conclusion from their lives.”

Rewriting History — The History of America Mega-Conference

Observations on Vision Forum’s History of America Mega-Conference at the Radisson Hotel Harrisburg in Camp Hill, PA.

Voddie Baucham, Shy Kids, and Spanking 5 Times Before Breakfast

“Baucham is a big proponent of homeschooling and his 8 children are educated at home. He and his church also promote family-integrated church model… He also does not think adult daughters should leave the home to go to college.”