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National Religious Liberties Conference


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Amanda Marcotte has been covering this over at Salon.com

Over the weekend, candidates Ted Cruz, Bobby Jindal and Mike Huckabee attended the National Religious Liberties Conference, held by a group of hardline fundamentalists. Prior to the conference,

I highlighted how the main organizer and many of the speakers

 have spoken approvingly of the death penalty for gay people, but the event itself was a reminder that they don’t like women, particularly independent women, any better.

This was epitomized by a session at the conference run by Geoff Botkin of the Western Conservatory of the Arts and Sciences, about the perennial right-wing belief that civilization is on the verge of collapse. Botkin relied heavily on the Disney movie Frozen as evidence that modern America is in the thrall of Satan.

 

Full article here: http://www.salon.com/2015/11/10/ted_cruz_will_never_let_it_go_the_right_wings_insane_new_fear_of_frozen/

 

 

 

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The NCFIC (Scott Brown's group) had a live stream of it because you know, nothing says "persecution" like being able to freely have a forum where you can speak your mind without fear of repercussion.  I want to think the crazy will go away and then it just comes back rearing its ugly head.

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Botkin relied heavily on the Disney movie Frozen as evidence that modern America is in the thrall of Satan. Yes, that cute little children’s movie, which has gotten its fair share of right-wing stink-eye for having themes of female empowerment and independence, epitomized by the song “Let It Go.” Brian Tashman of Right Wing Watch reports:

He likened “Let It Go” to Eve’s temptation by the serpent in the Garden of Eden, deriding the song as “Satan’s rebellion anthem” that corrupts children.

The popularity of the song and its “spirit of licentiousness” shows that people don’t want to follow the totality of the Bible, he said, warning that God “will chasten our nation” as a result of the movie’s popularity.

Let's play a drinking game:

you can take a shot of tequila every time the girls have wild lesbian sex in the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moSFlvxnbgk

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Needless to say, this Disney song for children is not about sex. But it is about a young woman who has been told her whole life to clip her wings and to treat her talents like a curse, and the song is about this woman deciding to say goodbye to all of that. While Botkin focuses on his fears of young women making their own sexual choices for themselves, it’s clear that there’s a general fear here of letting women make any decisions for themselves. Clearly, Botkin prefers the part of the movie when Elsa is locked away in her room, unable to share her talents with the world.

 

Oh hey! It's Anna Sofia and Elizabeth! Botkin has done an amazing job of clipping their wings, and making them believe that it's an awesome idea.

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[Botkin] likened “Let It Go” to Eve’s temptation by the serpent in the Garden of Eden, deriding the song as “Satan’s rebellion anthem” that corrupts children.

The organizer of the event, Kevin Swanson, has railed about Frozen before, claiming that it will turn little girls into lesbians.

Facebook post from Kelly Crawford, May 10, 2014: 

Kelly, I beg you to stop teaching your children Satan’s rebellion anthem! You’re turning your little girls into lesbians!

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Maybe these fundies are just much deeper than I am, because when I hear Let it Go, I only hear a girl who is finally free to be herself, even if that means she has to be all alone.  She stopped being afraid of herself.  First, a female Mormon theologian who, ironically, has lesbian daughter, decided this song was evil  because it was about being a lesbian and choosing to live that lifestyle. Now, it's the Botkins claiming it's a song of Satan. How they make these intuitive leaps is beyond me! Why can't it just be about what the song is actually about?

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Maybe these fundies are just much deeper than I am, because when I hear Let it Go, I only hear a girl who is finally free to be herself, even if that means she has to be all alone.  She stopped being afraid of herself.  First, a female Mormon theologian who, ironically, has lesbian daughter, decided this song was evil  because it was about being a lesbian and choosing to live that lifestyle. Now, it's the Botkins claiming it's a song of Satan. How they make these intuitive leaps is beyond me! Why can't it just be about what the song is actually about?

It has to be really horrible to live life unable to really just enjoy anything. It's hard to find any evidence that they can without turning it into something weird. Unless, I guess, the weirdness is their way of enjoying it.

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It always astonishes me how Geoff Botkin builds up this image for himself of a true cool-headed academic, master of the studies of history, art, and waterfowl, but then he'll open his mouth and the most ill-reasoned, shallow statements will come out. Such a mess.

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It always astonishes me how Geoff Botkin builds up this image for himself of a true cool-headed academic, master of the studies of history, art, and waterfowl, [\b]but then he'll open his mouth and the most ill-reasoned, shallow statements will come out. Such a mess.

LMAO

Duck Biologist

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It always astonishes me how Geoff Botkin builds up this image for himself of a true cool-headed academic, master of the studies of history, art, and waterfowl, but then he'll open his mouth and the most ill-reasoned, shallow statements will come out. Such a mess.

OMG, the waterfowl! That go a great big literal LOL out of me- so much so that my family started giving me weird looks!  And you do bring up a great issue- how is that Botkin has been able cultivate this well-read, academic persona?  Is it because he call his organization the Western Conservatory and it sounds "smart?" Is it because he wears glasses, turtle necks, and tweed jackets? Because at his kids' weddings, his family has their laptops out taking notes? (See david and nadia's wedding). It would be nice to figure, because it beats the hell out me!

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No surprise, Isaac and Heidi were there, and have waxed rhapsodic on Isaac's new blog (isaacbotkin.com).

I think Geoff attained a new personal best in self-embarrassment with this appearance. A big venue/opportunity like that, and he focuses on equating a Disney movie song with national collapse? Really?? Harrumph harrumph harrumph. The crazy continues strong in this one, and it was on display for all to see and hear.

More quotes from the Salon article, and some good comments from its readers:

Even though the theme of the summit was supposedly “freedom,” Botkin rails against the freedom this song celebrates, which he assumes must be “licentiousness.” Needless to say, this Disney song for children is not about sex. But it is about a young woman who has been told her whole life to clip her wings and to treat her talents like a curse, and the song is about this woman deciding to say goodbye to all of that. While Botkin focuses on his fears of young women making their own sexual choices for themselves, it’s clear that there’s a general fear here of letting women make anydecisions for themselves. Clearly, Botkin prefers the part of the movie when Elsa is locked away in her room, unable to share her talents with the world.

As Tashman says, this seething hatred of Frozen, which also has feminist messages about female friendship and not marrying before you know who you really are, is hardly limited to Botkin. The organizer of the event, Kevin Swanson, has railed about Frozen before, claiming that it will turn little girls into lesbians. The fear here is palpable: If women are allowed to be the authorities over their own lives, they might make sexual choices you don’t like, and therefore they have to be locked away and kept under Daddy’s firm control.

brbr24241 day ago

 
 

 

Geoff Botkin is of the same ilk as the Duggars. His daughters have a media empire and they started the Stay at Home Daughter movement. They've convinced a large swath of followers of now adult women to not go out into the world, not have a job or get an education and not to date but to busy themselves reading the bible and baking pies and Pinteresting until their father finds them a husband. Both daughters are well into their 30's as are many of their followers. The Duggars would have had daughters approaching spinsterhood also, if JimBob didn't dig up a couple of losers for them to marry to goose the show's ratings. Jana Duggar is a typical stay at home daughter. 

They ran this multi-generational experiment and it's time to say it failed. They didn't pull a new way to form families out of their nether areas that nobody else had thought of in the past 100,000 years or so. Parents arranging a marriage between their adult virgin children who have been undereducated and uninformed about biology and given toxic information about sex ends poorly. Josh Duggar is the poster child for what goes wrong when you try to deny normal sexuality. 

 

 

21LikeReply

 

khughes19631 day ago

 
 

@brbr2424 So true, and the Botkin sisters, Anna Sophia and Elizabeth, will stay the rest of their lives with Daddy because they will never find a man that will measure up to Daddy. Geoff Botkin has a tendency to get involved with Christian flavored cultism, as he was involved in the Great Commission cult until he decided to start his own group. 

 

yazikus1 day ago

 
 

 

Ohh, also here is some more fun info on Botkin: http://undermuchgrace.blogspot.com/2008/12/who-is-geoffrey-botkin-vision-forum.html

Vision Forum was a fancy organization that peddled their wares until the other head got caught molesting his children's nanny. 

 

 

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Every time I see one of these nutjob fundies or politicians abuse the word liberty, it makes me throw up a little in my mouth. :my_angry:

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Every time I see one of these nutjob fundies or politicians abuse the word liberty, it makes me throw up a little in my mouth. :my_angry:

Truth. It's amazing how they are all about their own liberty to do and believe how they choose, but if your beliefs or lifestyle goes against theirs- down with your liberty!

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I think, when they say "liberty" they mean that they would love to have the liberty to ban everything they don't like or agree with, and to impose their own personal values and rules on everyone else.

Oh, and of course, they themselves would always have the liberty to break any of their rules anytime (hey Joshly and Doug is a tool :my_sick:) because they are such :special-snowflake1:.

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Liberty: the right to live exactly as I want and to force everyone else around me to live that way, too.  And to own as many guns as I want.  And to not pay taxes.

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Oh gawd, I just realized that MY MOTHER WENT TO THIS. I called her last Friday to wish her a happy birthday and she was "at a conference in Iowa." She spends all her spare time on anti-Muslim crap, "battling Sharia law," etc. It's mortifying. I don't think she pays much attention to the anti-woman sentiments of these crowds. In fact, she's divorced twice and owns her own home and ultimately raised me to be a feminist. She was diagnosed at one point with borderline personality disorder, so is a very black and white thinker. If you were to ask her, she'd probably say these folks were for women's rights since they don't require burkas and let us drive. She's a real treat, lol. 

Whoops, didn't mean for that comment to be hidden, I thought the black box I was typing in on my phone seemed weird! 

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Oooh, is this the time to reprise the National Center for Family Integrated Churches (NCFIC) panel discussion on Christian Reformed rap music?

Sadly, the video has been set to private, because it is a fine way while away a rainy November Sunday. A group of exceptionally clueless, bloviating middle-aged white men opining on rap. But there's a transcript at http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/debatable-is-christian-hip-hop-ungodly

And here's Geoff:

. . . what concerns me about this this so-called “art form” - it's a picture of weakness and surrender on the part of people who think they're serving God. And they're not. They're serving their own flesh. They're caving into the world. They are disobedient cowards. They're not really willing to engage in the fight that needs to be engaged. Scott, thank you for saying that. If we are reformers we are going to change and fully redeem and replace the world. We're not going to make ourselves friends of the world and enemies of God. And so this is what concerns me about anytime Christians, in a cowardly way, follow the world instead of changing it and confronting it. And confronting the antithesis.      ...

 His ensuing semi apology is pretty good, too. Basically--"I didn't mean you are disobedient cowards, just that you are disobedient cowards, but I wasn't talking about anyone in particular."

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I Google-News-ed Geoffrey Botkin today (OK, I was bored...) and found another article about his part in the National Religious Liberties Conference. Too good not to share:

http://www.hitfix.com/news/outrage-watch-let-it-go-exposed-as-satans-rebellion-anthem

Welcome to Outrage Watch, HitFix's semi-regular rundown of entertainment-related kerfuffles. Not anxious enough already? Get your fix of righteous indignation below, and stay posted for outrage updates in the coming weeks.

Run for the hills, everybody! Ultra right-wing "thinker" Geoffrey Botkin has exposed "Satan's rebellion anthem," and it is...Disney's Oscar-winning empowerment ballad "Let It Go." 

But first, a little background on Botkin: leader of the prestigious-sounding Western Conservatory of the Arts and Sciences, the far right-winger founded the organization "to equip Christians to examine the cultures of our lives, homes, churches, and communities in light of the transforming and unstoppable Gospel of Jesus Christ." Here's a photo of him with his lucky grandchild, who was inexplicably photographed with a mouthful of banana.

To be clear: this is an organization entirely made up of a single, unnervingly-photogenic family. As in, literally every "team member" bears the last name "Botkin." Let us all bow to their infallible wisdom.

But back to "Let It Go," a song that I loathe with a singular passion but would never describe the way that Geoffrey did at last week's "Freedom 2015: National Religious Liberties Conference" (via Right Wing Watch):

At a session titled “The Decline of Freedom: From the Bill of Rights to the Ten Planks of Communism, America’s Domestic Enemies and Where They Came From,” Geoff Botkin of the Western Conservatory of the Arts and Sciences said that “Let It Go” is furthering America’s rebellion against God, warning that the country is already under 50 divine judgments that will only subside once the government and the wider culture begin to abide by biblical law.

He likened “Let It Go” to Eve’s temptation by the serpent in the Garden of Eden, deriding the song as “Satan’s rebellion anthem” that corrupts children.

The popularity of the song and its “spirit of licentiousness” shows that people don’t want to follow the totality of the Bible, he said, warning that God “will chasten our nation” as a result of the movie’s popularity.

Botkin also lamented that “Let It Go” fans are “rejecting God’s law” and therefore become “enemies of God” and God “does go to war against you.”

More context on the conference: its chief organizer is Kevin Swanson, the sensible pastor who noted in another session that "it would be better that a millstone be hanged around [children's] neck and they be drowned at the bottom of the sea than that there would be so many people stumbling so many children in public schools, in movie theaters, in homes in which children are raised to be stumbled by the [gay] Dumbledores and by the mentors of Hiccup in ‘How to Train Your Dragon’!”" and who has in the past waxed nostalgic about those more enlightened eras in which gay people were put to death.

By the by, attendees of the conference included Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee and Bobby Jindal, none of whom have a chance in hell of securing the nomination. May the flamboyantly gay spirit of Dumbledore infect them all.

 

 

 

Edited a couple of times for wonky formatting. Gah.

 

 

 

 

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It always astonishes me how Geoff Botkin builds up this image for himself of a true cool-headed academic, master of the studies of history, art, and waterfowl, but then he'll open his mouth and the most ill-reasoned, shallow statements will come out. Such a mess.

If you think that your faith will be threatened by a goddamn Disney song about self-acceptance, your faith isn't strong and you're an insecure little baby.

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The Botkins have always been obsessed with animated childrens' Disney movies.  Maybe their intellectualism doesn't extend to movies targeted for adults?  Anyway, here's a link to their articles on other Disney movies, and how they believe that they are leading to the ruin of our culture - http://botkinsisters.com/?s=disney

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And to think at one point circa 1990 or so I looked at some kid who belonged to a friend of a friend as he babbled on about horror movies and said "What happened to Disney Movies?"  

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I suspect the Botkinettes are overestimating the importance of Disney movies in society because they've never been allowed to see a movie over a G-rating. Until Papa finally gives them the parental controls password on their Netflix Kids account, that's the extent of the film criticism we'll get from their blog.

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