Raani Starnes of Fort Worth, Texas has a website entitled Baptist Homeschooling. Included on the website is a page which lists a few reasons some people might choose to homeschool. The number one reason, at the very top of her list, is this:
The desire to have control over what your child is being taught Today’s public schools are teaching evolution, humanism, liberal political agendas, tolerance for homosexual “lifestyles”, and more. Christian parents should be teaching their children from a biblical perspective. “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6
OK, so this sounds pretty typical, really. No real shocker here. She doesn’t approve of a lot of what she perceives is being taught and promoted in public schools, and has chosen to keep her children home and teach them her Christian values.
But what does this mean to Raani? What is the biblical perspective of which she speaks? Let’s have a look, shall we?
We won’t be able to see the original post which was entitled Perilous Times: Sodomites in School because Raani deleted it presumably due to an onslaught of traffic and comments after PZ Myers linked to it from Pharyngula. Fortunately, Evolved Rationalist saved a screen shot from her Google reader. I found it at The Teapot Atheist. Here is an excerpt (emphasis mine):
Yes, I’ve seen the previews for Will and Grace where they’re lying next to each other in bed platonically. Isn’t that cute? The homosexual agenda wants people to think that homosexual men are safe for women to hang around and even be alone with. Nothing could be further from the truth. The stories about Sodomites in the Bible teach us that they do violate women as well as men. I’ve also known of people personally over the years who were known as gay yet “experimented” with the opposite sex. The term bisexual is an unnecessary distinction, because a faggot wants to defile anyone or anything he can get his hands on.A friend recently sent me this article about a “gay-friendly” high school. If we were living in a biblical society, homosexuality would be punishable by death so such a school would be unnecessary. Although I’m against the special accommodations, perhaps this new trend of segregation will protect straight kids from these predators. With any luck, some radical will blow up the gay school. No, I’m not condoning vigilantism–I’m merely saying that it would be poetic justice.
And there you have it, folks: the moral highground! Hatred and extremism are the lessons of her Baptist Homeschool, and will be taught to her young children, in the name of a superior moral agency. And supposedly, this is more moral than teaching tolerance, respect and inclusion.
Raani has replaced the deleted post with this little gem. Also, while I was writing this, she changed her display name to Janine and her location to Farmington, NM. I wonder what’s up with that.
I also wonder if Raani’s maiden name is Phelps…
Update: Here is the Google cache of the original post including comments and a lovely photo. And here is a mirror of Raani’s original profile which still links back to that cesspool she calls a blog. (H/T Thinking Meat)
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:56 am
Another bigot who hides behind the computer screen after realising (too late) that she is not really a virtuous example of Christianity that she is meant to represent! Sigh, what is wrong with these people?!
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:59 am
That about sums it up.
Thank you for your comment.
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:04 am
I’m not sure whether to laugh or go on a tri-state shooting spree.
Probably best if I just laugh, because if I go outside the sodomites might get me. damn those crafty sodomites and their violating “lifestyle”!
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:36 am
I learned, upon reading this, that it’s possible to laugh and fume at the same time.
Best we stick together, though, and stay inside. Those predatory sodomites are indiscriminate, after all. Good thing we have Raani to explain that homosexuals prey on both men and women. Who knew?
.
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I went to the website Baptist Homeschooling out of curiosity and was shocked at the twisted righteousness I found there. I know that this is a retorical question, but when did the concept of God become equated with this brand of ignorance, hatred, and intolerance? Believe me, it’s not the sodomites that I need to be saved from!
October 23rd, 2008 at 1:40 pm
You’ve identified just one more reason to educate children away from public school settings. The potential, challenges,and obstacles that currently litter the public education landscape are discussed in the novel,The Twilight’s Last Gleaming On Public Education, available via online bookstores http://www.Xlibris.com, http://www.bn.com, http://www.borders.com, or http://www.amazon.com. This intriguing, socially relevant,and enlightening story possesses many of the elements commonly found in just about every school system throughout the United States. It is must reading for every parent and grandparent of school aged children. Check it out for youself. Discuss it with your friends. See if you can identify with the characters and situations presented. Do you agree with the proposed solutions?
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Who, indeed. That’s what makes them so crafty.
Your post has made the rounds here at my day-job. I dare say my gay co-workers have either learned some valuable information about themselves or are cursing this woman for outing their bisexual, predatory lifestyle.
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Bonnie:
Ain’t that the truth!
edbooked: Thanks for reminding me about the book. I’ll be posting an update on the school situation very soon.
Postman: I don’t know how she does it! Knowing other people’s minds and interests better than they do must be a gift… You can tell those co-workers of yours that I’m installing all new locks and a security system, so they can just go and find some other unsuspecting female to defile. Hmph!
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:07 pm
It’s been my belief that the most violently homophobic are the ones who most badly want a same-sex encounter. Maybe what Raani or Janine or whatever her name is needs is a nice roll in the hay with the neighborhood lesbian?
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I’d love to see the look on her face if she read that! You know she’d bust a vein!
Of course, poor little Raani is probably out of luck. All the lesbians I know would have too much self-respect to give that whackaloon the time of day.
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:00 pm
She sounds very Phelp-like!
“It’s been my belief that the most violently homophobic are the ones who most badly want a same-sex encounter” ~ Rutherford
I’ve thought that too! It reminds me of that scene in American Beauty where the father is always slandering homosexuals, he hates them, he is distant and cold toward his wife, but at the end he “comes out.”
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Here’s the scene. (Warning language & blood)
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Wow! That was intense. I think I need to see that film.
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:48 pm
One of my all time faves! Beautifully disturbing!
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:16 pm
The film American Beauty is disturbing but I love it. I’ve seen it several times. Check it out sometime.
October 24th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Funny thing about homeschooling.
I was homeschooled because the school wanted to put me on Ritalin or hold me back a year. I was smart but had behavioral problems. (most of this stemmed from being in an abusive, psychotic family). But that’s not the funny part
The funny part is that my parents reinvented themselves as a sort of Christian “vanguard of the revolution”. We slowly became homeschooled not because I was a vindictive little shit (though I was, in fact, a vindictive little shit) but to belong to this movement.
The homeschooling movement is a blast. Homeschooling is actually pretty hard work, but the movement (like most movements) really was a lot of fun. We went to conferences, we belonged to associations, etc. etc. Of course, you can’t have a revolutionary movement without an enemy. At the time it was abortionists. One of the weirdest things about homeschooling from the early 90′s to the 21st century was watching the slow propaganda shift from abortion to homosexuality.
October 24th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
So, if ’tis natural to sin, and homosexual behavior is unnatural… I don’t think this leads to where she wants it to lead.
October 24th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Truthwalker: Good to see you. I was about to send out a search party. Thanks for sharing your personal perspective. It’s certainly interesting to see how things have evolved.
B.T.: Aha! Good observation! She didn’t really think that one through, did she?
October 26th, 2008 at 11:17 am
[...] I keep coming across the blogs of what I call “creepy homeschoolers”: the people who, like Raani Starnes, come right out and say that they homeschool their children to keep them away from homosexuals. And [...]
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:52 am
As an Australian I have only recently become aware of the fact that the US has a small but disgusting band of homophobic sadistic bigotted peices of excrement, I have to say however that this vile beast from the sewer gets the award for low life of the USA, you Raani must be a Muslim, that’s the only explanation, Raani Starmes is a Muslim………
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:13 am
Hoffy,
I debated whether or not to allow your comment. I finally decided to approve it for two reasons: First I wanted to give you a chance to explain it if you care to. I also thought it would serve as another opportunity to point out how bigoted it is to use “Muslim” as a smear.
Hoffy, do you realize what you’ve done here? You’ve just categorized all Muslims as “vile beasts from the sewer” and “low lives of the USA”. And this immediately follows your calling Raani out on her bigotry.
Am I missing something here? Are you being deliberately ironic? Whatever the case, can you please explain how your comment is not a hateful attack on Muslims (and forgive my misreading of it)?
Edit to add: I think it’s also worth mentioning that, as despicable as Raani’s bigotry is, I fail to see how returning hate for hate helps matters at all. Raani Starnes, as much as her ideology makes me want to hurl, is a human being. However hateful and misguided she may be, she is certainly not a “vile beast from the sewer”.
These kinds of issues will never be resolved as long as people from both sides are screaming and degrading each other. We need to communicate, and I know that I wouldn’t care to listen to someone who called me a vile beast from the sewer or a low life.