It's very interesting you mention the madrassas, actually.  One of the terms I've heard used in regards to dominionists is "Talibangelicals"--the Taliban has actually been described as a coercive religious group by many of the same groups that recognise dominionist denominations as coercive, and the term "taliban" actually is derived from the Afghan term for "Koran students"--denoting the Afghani who were educated in largely Pakistani madrassas (Apologetics Index has links to several good articles--including how mainstream Islam, much like mainstream Christianity, is having trouble with how to fight its own version of dominionism; Wellspring Retreat, Steve Hassan in multiple articles, and Rick Ross Institute have all written academic pieces on "taliban theology" constituting a coercive religious group).  

And yes, there is a very similar current with "talibanist" thought in Sunni Islam and hardline Christian Reconstructionism, including promotion of indoctrination of kids from birth in religious schools.

The description of dominionists as the "American Taliban" probably has more parallels than most realise.

by dogemperor on Thu Dec 08, 2005 at 01:44:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]

One of the saddest examples of this is the fact dominionists ARE targeting children in their youth, before their critical thinking skills are formed; they're also targeting young couples in hopes to get people in from birth, because (unless one is a throwaway or has a lot of will) it is very difficult under the best of circumstances to walk away after being raised in a coercive religious group.

The best parallel I can honestly come up with is having been raised in a pit, or raised by a pack of particularly malajusted wolves (except wolves, still, generally show more affection).  Walking away as someone who was raised in a group involves a very similar process of "re-socialisation" as to someone who grew up raised in a closet or in the wild by animals--you don't know the rules of society, and not only do you have to learn how society operates but you have to unlearn a lot of stuff you learn in the group.

The following articles are of note in regards to the difficulties faced by people who were raised in coercive groups and who later walk away:

http://www.csj.org/infoserv_articles/greene_ford_litigating_custody_with_cults.htm
http://www.csj.org/infoserv_articles/kandel_randy_litigating_cultrelated_custody.htm (details, among other things, longterm sequelae of kids raised in cults, including substance abuse being a very common problem, as well as suicide being a longterm risk; of special note to anti-dominionists, one of the highest rates of suicide is among gay/les/bi/trans "throwaways" in dominionist households)
http://www.csj.org/infoserv_articles/langone_michael_child_custody.htm
http://www.csj.org/pubs_co/guestcolumn/cultismandlaw.htm

This thread on Dark Christianity also details on the longterm consequences for kids who are raised in coercive groups, including dominionist denominations.

by dogemperor on Thu Dec 08, 2005 at 02:06:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I accidentially posted legal links but here's the links on how the mere development of critical thinking skills are stifled in children raised in spiritually abusive groups:

http://www.rickross.com/reference/recovery/recovery7.html (OCD as longterm sequelae of being raised in coercive religious group)
http://www.csj.org/infoserv_articles/furnari_leona_bornraised.htm (detailed discussion of developmental deficits in people raised in coercive religious groups, makes very similar observations; as there are often multigenerational dominionist households (grandmother/mother/kids) these issues may affect multiple generations in a household; notes anxiety disorders as likely longterm sequelae (probably related to complex PTSD))
http://www.csj.org/infoserv_articles/langone_michael_children.htm (notes arrested development as likely sequelae of being raised in coercive religious group; specifically mentions stifling of critical thought as major factor in arrested development; notes therapy is as much going to be "resocialisation" and teaching of skills as psychotherapy)

by dogemperor on Thu Dec 08, 2005 at 02:10:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I am fortunate to live in a district where we have an active teacher's union and concerned parents with the wherewithal to understand that education is not either/or. Like most things in life reading abilities fall along a continuum in which some children need more rote drill in order to become proficient.

The ones who will suffer from extreme positions advocating one approach to the exclusion of the other are of course the children in the battle ground districts.

by bybelknap on Mon Dec 12, 2005 at 12:03:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

As far as I can tell, it did me no harm, but I found it exceedlingly boring, and was already reading at a level way beyond my grade -- but certainly not because of the phonics approach to reading.

I suspect that this was because my parents read, read to me, and helped me to learn to read by myself. They also took me to the public library, and got me a library card. And I took out books beginning, as I recall, in the third grade. I still think of the children's section of the public library as one of the most important parts of my early education.

(I also predated "new math." )

Fashions in educational methods will come and go, and each will have their merits and deficiencies. As someone pointed out here, not every method works uniformly well for everyone.

The larger issue is, as people are saying here, the insistent focus on rote learning and dominionist indoctrination.

Additionally the phonics issue as I have watched it develop since I first became aware of it in the mid 80's, seems much less of an actual educational  issue and more one of an ideological attack on public schools in general, and teachers unions in particular.


by Frederick Clarkson on Fri Dec 09, 2005 at 02:34:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]

What people are noticing is that dominionists are abusing phonics, and other forms of education, to teach a specific worldview to the exclusion of all other worldviews.

I am of the school of "whatever works for your kid, use it".  If the kid learns best by phonics, all good, if he learns best by some other method, all good.  (I taught myself to read at roughly the same time I learned to speak or a little after--around threeish (I was a late talker, early reader) and if anything I STILL tend to "see words" in my mind before I speak them.  I'm not sure I'm a good example on this!)

I do think the dominionist "warping of education" is probably more obvious in other areas, though--particularly science education (everyone knows about that controversy, though), history education (which is heavily skewed towards a blatantly Christian Reconstructionist viewpoint and in some curricula--A Beka particularly--even premillenarian dispensationalist dominionism, an "armageddonist" flavour of dominionism) and maths education (where some curricula drop set theory--the basis of most modern maths and especially advanced mathematics and theoretical maths--entirely because they think it "doesn't teach absolutes").

It's much the same situation as how homeschooling (or more properly, correspondence schooling) is abused by dominionists to indoctrinate children from birth into a dominionist mindset and leave minimal opportunities for exposure to non-dominionist worldviews--even though there are plenty of legitimate reasons to homeschool (including different learning styles, children subject to severe harassment by peers, learning problems (one sizable group of non-dominionist homeschoolers is of kids with various learning disabilities; another sizable group is of parents with kids on the autistic spectrum), bad public school systems, etc.)

by dogemperor on Mon Dec 12, 2005 at 12:26:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]