Free Republic

As many of you know, I have long been an advocate for those abused at Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) teen group homes (re-education camps). These homes, some of which are still in existence, routinely used violence to force teenagers into “Biblical” submission. Some of the residents were sexually violated. Where was the state, you ask? Sitting on the sidelines, often ignoring the cries of those beaten, abused, sexually molested, and raped. One such home was the New Bethany Home for Girls, owned and operated by IFB preacher Mack Ford. Ford, who died February 11, 2015, was a protégé of famed...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KY3) - The Missouri Attorney General’s Office filed numerous charges of abuse against the operators of the Circle of Hope Girls Ranch in Cedar County. Authorities arrested Boyd and Stephanie Householder. They remain jailed in the Vernon County Jail in Nevada, Mo. Attorney Eric Schmitt will detail the case against the Householders at noon news conference on Wednesday. You can watch that news conference LIVE here. State investigators removed about two dozen girls in mid-august from the facility outside Humansville. The state along with the Cedar County Prosecutor’s Office began outlining a case against the Householders. Four...

For those of you familiar with fundamentalist movements, particularly the IFB (Independent Fundamental Baptist), you’ll know these movements tend to be rife with sexual abuse and cover-ups. Because the IFB maintains ideologies of separatism and elitism, they tend to deal with their issues “in house.” The trend is: keep it in the church, don’t tell anyone (authorities included), blame the victim, and re-locate the offender to another church in another town (and don’t forget his severance package). Well, in a shocking turn of events, one IFB mega-pastor took a public stand against these actions, and those of us who have...

If you’ve been following the Antifa movement you might have noticed a growing theme of “solidarity” with the Rojava revolution. Key Antifa organizing platforms like It’sGoing Down, Sub.media, Insurrection News, and CrimethInc. routinely share interviews and battle updates and were all instrumental in promoting the launch of the International Revolutionary People’s Guerrilla Force (IRPGF) in May of this year. Additionally, you can find several pictures of foreign guerrilla fighters posing with Antifa flags. These have been widely circulated and often times include the false claim that the fighters pictured are members of ISIS. This is inaccurate. In fact, the fighters...

In describing what SFL is all about, I have often said that satire and parody are blunt instruments that lack nuance. Satire is good for pointing out glaring common problems but somewhat less useful when it comes to dealing with churches that don’t completely fit the mold of the stereotypical IFB mold: the “nice” churches with the pastors who don’t yell. Perhaps they wear pants to Wednesday night church and slip the occasional praise chorus (sans drums) into their worship line up. The members of these churches do seem like nice people even though they refuse to take the words...