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Stephen Hammer's Sermon


MissBitters

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I was bored tonight and started googling Meredith and Stephen Hammer. I came across a sermon Stephen gave last November at First Presbyterian Church in Fairfield, CT. He talks about his courtship of Meredith, a little bit about their marriage and his Army career. It is very interesting...

Click on the link for the 11/11/12 sermon. He starts talking about Meredith around 11:52

firstpresby.net/2012_sermons.php

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OMFG, he's leaked into Connecticut? And FAIRFIELD? Okey-dokey, Steve-o. I got your number. The Connecticut Gold Coast is where the money is. He's chosen a conservative but mainstream church, with an old-money congregation. First step to building his political career.

Once he's established his roots there, he can branch out to the hoi-polloi, the kinds of folks who attend megachurches like Falwell's "New Life," which has gotten its tentacles into formerly mainstream Baptist churches.

I predict that he'll be visible on the national stage within the next twenty years (having first established himself in a more conservative state than Connecticut, of course).

Oh, and I bet his poor parents are having trouble holding their heads up in their UU church. The more I learn about him, the more I'm convinced he's a calculating prick.

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It's a little terrifying that someone as obviously intelligent as Stephen can be such an inveterate patriarchal tool. I've transcribed a snippet of the sermon if you don't want to listen:

"Before I got to know my wife, I was almost despondent about the possibility of meeting a godly helpmeet, especially when I considered my likely career trajectory and the world my career would force me to inhabit. Where could I possibly find a woman devoted to the Lord, to the work of hearth and home, and to the virtues of Proverbs 31?"

In this short sermon, he refers to Meredith as a "helpmeet" more than once. It's obvious he was looking for a partner he could easily dominate, as opposed to, say, a classmate at Princeton or Oxford with whom he would have been on more even intellectual and social footing.

I can't wrap my head around what Stephen's family and childhood friends must think of his hairpin turn into extreme fundamentalism. My first thought is to wonder whether he had some trauma in his past that prompted his conversion, but I kind of think not, except in the more pedestrian sense of "I drank and had casual sex in college, and I didn't like how things worked out." My gut feeling is that it's in the genes--he's a naturally fastidious type that thrives on rules and perfect order and is allergic to ambiguity, so the rigid framework of fundamentalism suits his sensibilities perfectly.

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"Before I got to know my wife, I was almost despondent about the possibility of meeting a godly helpmeet, especially when I considered my likely career trajectory and the world my career would force me to inhabit. Where could I possibly find a woman devoted to the Lord, to the work of hearth and home, and to the virtues of Proverbs 31?"

He... he actually said that? :shock: I am really struggling to understand the thought process of an intellectual, ambitious man actually seeking out a submissive helpmeet. I mean, on one level, I get it: he wants someone who won't stand in his way and who will function as a yes-woman, propping up his (probably massive) ego and agreeing to do whatever he wants. But it is so... out... for men who aspire to power to pick SAHD types as wives. Did Bill Clinton marry a simpering, passive flower? Did Barack Obama? I realize those men are eeevil libruls, but even Laura Bush had an education and a career.

I predict that he'll be visible on the national stage within the next twenty years (having first established himself in a more conservative state than Connecticut, of course).

Oh, and I bet his poor parents are having trouble holding their heads up in their UU church. The more I learn about him, the more I'm convinced he's a calculating prick.

(I can never find that vomiting smiley when I need it. And yes, calculating is the word. So creepy.)

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I find myself not wanting to inhabit a world where Stephen Hammer is president.

Poor Mere. If he loves her at all, it's a manufactured emotion based on a policy decision.

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As an academic woman, this man makes me sick. Couldn't play with the big girls, huh Stevie?

Sorry, but if I were ever on a hiring committee in possession of his CV and I found out (through an easy Google search) that he deliberately went out of his way to choose a submissive wife? Nope, not happening. Am I wrong?

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I get he thinks those things are compliments, and I am sure to Meredith they are. But I seriously can't imagine my husband talking about me that way. I suspect my husband's dream woman would have been someone I love, someone who laughs a lot and someone who loves travel.

I was sort of hoping they had both mellowed now that real life was in play. Marriage is different than you dream it (both good and bad) and so is raising kids. But I guess they didn't learn a lot.

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Oh, and I bet his poor parents are having trouble holding their heads up in their UU church. The more I learn about him, the more I'm convinced he's a calculating prick.

If those words came out of my son's mouth, I would be devestated. How rough for them.

And yes, "calculating prick" is exactly what I was thinking...

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Everyone is saying exactly what I was thinking when I first heard the sermon last night (but couldn't express it half as well). I had hoped, like a few other Free Jinger members, that maybe he wasn't as deeply committed to the patriarchal lifestyle as the other people we read about here. As soon as he started using terms like "helmeet" and "Proverbs 31 woman," though, I knew there wasn't any chance of him helping Meredith become less submissive.

At this point I feel very sad about baby Margaret's future. How can someone who is so educated, driven & intelligent decide his daughter shouldn't have the same chances as him just because of her gender? It is heartbreaking.

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And just because there has been so much commentary about our meanness. I don't care if someones highest desire is to care for hearth and home. I think that is ok.

What I am taken back by is the idea that was all he thought about while being despondent for a wife.

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Is this the chap who bought his wife and child matching winceyette nighties?

They looked like LL Bean flannel nighties to me, but yes.

What a pretentious git was my reaction to his sermon.

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They looked like LL Bean flannel nighties to me, but yes.

What a pretentious git was my reaction to his sermon.

Yeah. Winceyette. I would make my 'headship' a funeral shroud with those should the urge ever over take him to purchase.

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Yeah. Winceyette. I would make my 'headship' a funeral shroud with those should the urge ever over take him to purchase.

You guys are killin' me! They're Lanz Of Salzburg and if I had two pair in pj form, I would care for them and wash them carefully and never ask for more winter pjs as long as I lived!

Ok...that said, Meredith's pluckiness endeared her to me, and I hoped beyond hope that Hammer was not as he appeared. But the photos tell the story: I've yet to see him looking at her in a photo. He's uniformly smiling off into the distance, somewhere, as if posing for his monument.

Never smiling back at her, or looking at her fondly. Always: the pose. And the sermon/soliloquy confirms my suspicions.

Tch.

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As an academic woman, this man makes me sick. Couldn't play with the big girls, huh Stevie?

Yep. That is exactly right. His female classmates at Princeton were too self-possessed for him.

"Before I got to know my wife, I was almost despondent about the possibility of meeting a godly helpmeet, especially when I considered my likely career trajectory and the world my career would force me to inhabit. Where could I possibly find a woman devoted to the Lord, to the work of hearth and home, and to the virtues of Proverbs 31?"

In this short sermon, he refers to Meredith as a "helpmeet" more than once. It's obvious he was looking for a partner he could easily dominate, as opposed to, say, a classmate at Princeton or Oxford with whom he would have been on more even intellectual and social footing.

Translation: It's all about me, and I needed a woman who would recognize and accept that it is and always will be, All About Me.

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But it is so... out... for men who aspire to power to pick SAHD types as wives. Did Bill Clinton marry a simpering, passive flower? Did Barack Obama? I realize those men are eeevil libruls, but even Laura Bush had an education and a career.

This is what I find really puzzling about Stephen. He appears to have political aspirations. What modern politician has a wife like Meredith? I think most Americans - even conservatives - expect political wives to be cultured and intelligent. The First Lady of Texas has a M.Sc. in nursing. The First Lady of Tennessee has an M.Ed. The last First Lady of South Carolina was an investment banker with a degree from Georgetown.

A politician's spouse is a reflection of them. I like Meredith, and I suspect she's a naturally bright woman, but I can't see how a bush-hogging rural woman who's never been to school could ever be a political asset.

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This is what I find really puzzling about Stephen. He appears to have political aspirations. What modern politician has a wife like Meredith? I think most Americans - even conservatives - expect political wives to be cultured and intelligent. The First Lady of Texas has a M.Sc. in nursing. The First Lady of Tennessee has an M.Ed. The last First Lady of South Carolina was an investment banker with a degree from Georgetown.

A politician's spouse is a reflection of them. I like Meredith, and I suspect she's a naturally bright woman, but I can't see how a bush-hogging rural woman who's never been to school could ever be a political asset.

With how the tea baggers are trying to strip away woman's rights, and how the fundies breed like bunnies, they hope that those evil feminist women are a thing of the past by the time he sets his sights on high political office.

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Ok...that said, Meredith's pluckiness endeared her to me, and I hoped beyond hope that Hammer was not as he appeared. But the photos tell the story: I've yet to see him looking at her in a photo. He's uniformly smiling off into the distance, somewhere, as if posing for his monument.

Never smiling back at her, or looking at her fondly. Always: the pose. And the sermon/soliloquy confirms my suspicions.

Tch.

What also struck me was his businesslike tone as he described meeting Meredith, getting engaged, and getting married, his seeming focus on checking off the requisite boxes on his life list. It could be that he just has a very businesslike personality in general, but I would have expected more emotion and more reflection on what he loves about his wife as a unique individual (not just that she fits the Proverbs 31 mold so perfectly).

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Fascinating find but it confirms all the worst things I'd thought about the guy - what a pompous, controlling, calculating jerk he is. :puke-front:

He's definitely reading the sermon (boring, boring delivery) but it sounded to me as though it's a document that could easily be revised to pander to suit various audiences, depending on who Stephen wants to impress. Interesting that he only mentions his family at the beginning when he says they didn't like him joining ROTC.

It may be that he was at the Fairfield Presbyterian CT church last fall (and in 2009) because the senior pastor (and guy who introduced him in this "sermon") is also a Princeton grad.

This is the guy & group that Stephen says was so important him while at Oxford: ttf.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=81&Itemid=159

Anyone know anything about them?

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MJB, there is a women's store in Montrose, CA, that seems like it carries every Lantz nightwear product made. I don't know if they take orders and ship. I can get their info if you're interested.

I have trouble comprehending men like Stephen. Born with a patriarchal stick up their anatomy no doubt. It's still disgusting.

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Fascinating find but it confirms all the worst things I'd thought about the guy - what a pompous, controlling, calculating jerk he is. :puke-front:

He's definitely reading the sermon (boring, boring delivery) but it sounded to me as though it's a document that could easily be revised to pander to suit various audiences, depending on who Stephen wants to impress. Interesting that he only mentions his family at the beginning when he says they didn't like him joining ROTC.

It may be that he was at the Fairfield Presbyterian CT church last fall (and in 2009) because the senior pastor (and guy who introduced him in this "sermon") is also a Princeton grad.

This is the guy & group that Stephen says was so important him while at Oxford: ttf.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=81&Itemid=159

Anyone know anything about them?[/quote]

No, although Wikipedia has an entry for the Trinity Forum. Evangelical movement founded 1991 to introduce faith in the halls of academe. A quick google doesn't turn up much.

Did anyone listen to the whole sermon and are there any military or exmilitary people here? Something about Stephen Hammer's military career is making Mr Palimpsest* and me nervous. We suspect that he is being both protected and deliberately groomed for future leadership by existing military Dominionists. See this article on the growth of Fundamentalism in the Military and the Religious Freedom Foundation (not breaking link because it is news).

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archi ... _military/

Look at this chronology and tell us it isn't rather weird.

Stephen and Meredith married Dec 2010 and returned to Oxford for him to finish his Rhodes Scholarship. They are back in the States by September 2011 when Margaret Alice is born.

Stephen doesn't begin his Army Ranger training until called up on Jan 1, 2012. Army Ranger Leadership Training is 61 days. He fails (that must be a first for our golden boy but they only have a 50% pass rate). Presuming he was "recycled" (failed due to a broken foot and pink eye) at least one more month until he passes leadership training.

He is deployed to Afghanistan in late March/early April 2012. He doesn't actually see combat in Afghanistan because he and his platoon are providing security for the Battalion Commander and he gets to meet all sorts of interesting people. By September 2012 he is back stateside preaching pretentious and boring sermons. His new job is still in the States -- training rangers for combat.

Isn't a 6 month deployment well under the average? The usual length for Army Rangers is 9 months, recently reduced from 12. Aren't most of the "elite" Army Rangers redeployed overseas? Are we conspiracy theorists? The whole thing seems off.

*Mr Palimpsest practically fainted from shock this am when he found his Atheist Helpmeet listening to Stephen's Sermon. After a quick overview of Stephen and Meredith's story ("Oh God, not FJ again!") he got hooked by the whole subject. :twisted:

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Did anyone listen to the whole sermon and are there any military or exmilitary people here? Something about Stephen Hammer's military career is making Mr Palimpsest* and me nervous. We suspect that he is being both protected and deliberately groomed for future leadership by existing military Dominionists. See this article on the growth of Fundamentalism in the Military and the Religious Freedom Foundation (not breaking link because it is news).

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archi ... _military/

Look at this chronology and tell us it isn't rather weird.

Stephen and Meredith married Dec 2010 and returned to Oxford for him to finish his Rhodes Scholarship. They are back in the States by September 2011 when Margaret Alice is born.

Stephen doesn't begin his Army Ranger training until called up on Jan 1, 2012. Army Ranger Leadership Training is 61 days. He fails (that must be a first for our golden boy but they only have a 50% pass rate). Presuming he was "recycled" (failed due to a broken foot and pink eye) at least one more month until he passes leadership training.

He is deployed to Afghanistan in late March/early April 2012. He doesn't actually see combat in Afghanistan because he and his platoon are providing security for the Battalion Commander and he gets to meet all sorts of interesting people. By September 2012 he is back stateside preaching pretentious and boring sermons. His new job is still in the States -- training rangers for combat.

Isn't a 6 month deployment well under the average? The usual length for Army Rangers is 9 months, recently reduced from 12. Aren't most of the "elite" Army Rangers redeployed overseas? Are we conspiracy theorists? The whole thing seems off.

*Mr Palimpsest practically fainted from shock this am when he found his Atheist Helpmeet listening to Stephen's Sermon. After a quick overview of Stephen and Meredith's story ("Oh God, not FJ again!") he got hooked by the whole subject. :twisted:

Haven't served myself but worked for the Army as a DAFC (Dept of the Army Effing Civilian), and yes, Mr. Stephen's career trajectory is very, very interesting. I suspect that he is being groomed & placed for great things, Army style - that Trinity Forum stuff plus his accelerated assignment record suggest to me that they want him moving up. He's still just a 2nd LT isn't he or did he get a BTZ promotion to 1st LT already, thanks to his Ranger School + Afghan time?

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With how the tea baggers are trying to strip away woman's rights, and how the fundies breed like bunnies, they hope that those evil feminist women are a thing of the past by the time he sets his sights on high political office.

I can see the influence of this American dominionist agenda in my home country (Canada) and frankly, it terrifies me.

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