Critique of Blaker

Here are the introductory paragraphs of my attempt to refute the ideas in Kimberly Blaker's book The Fundamentals of Extremism: The Christian Right in America (New Boston Books, 2003):

The Bible is replete with reminders to Christians that they will face various trials and tribulations as they seek to imitate Christ in their lives and expand the Kingdom of God. It is no less true today than it was in the first century when the words of the New Testament were first being penned by the apostles. Yet it is saddening that the cause of Christ is under such vehement attack by those who despise God and wish nothing more than to see a godless world community brought to pass. And this in a country whose founders expressed such deep devotion and indebtedness to the sovereign God they saw as their guide and their helper. I believe that one of the best ways to discredit a group is to take the unorthodox and fringe elements that claim to be part of that group and paint the picture that these extremists are the legitimate representatives of the group. That is what is attempted in this work.

In The Fundamentals of Extremism, Ms. Blaker seeks to inform her readers of the dangers of a broad group that she identifies with the term “Christian Right.” The book is actually a compilation of articles written by Ms. Blaker and others of secular-humanist/atheistic beliefs. The best way to characterize the work is with the word “misrepresentation.” I’m not sure if Ms. Blaker failed to do any research at all in writing and compiling these articles or if she merely focused her research to those sources that agree with her anti-Christian views. Either way, she and her co-contributors are completely out of touch with the teachings and motives of genuine biblical Christianity. In this paper I will take each article in turn and refute the false claims and straw-man arguments presented by the various authors and, hopefully, present a solid defense of Christianity as it is shown in Scripture.

In the opening article, Kimberly Blaker comes out with both guns blazing…but they’re loaded with blanks. She makes a lot of alarming noise, but there is no substance in the call-to-arms. There are so many issues in this article that it’s hard to know where to begin, so I will begin…at the beginning.

Ms. Blaker opens the article with a quote by Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family ministries:
Those who control what young people are taught, and what they experience – what they see, hear, think and believe – will determine the future course for the nation.

While she does not dispute the veracity of the statement, she merely uses it as a springboard to launch into a rant about how Dr. Dobson uses his great influence to “wield power over the Republican Party” and to “manipulate unsuspecting Americans who otherwise might not agree with his views.” Needless to say, influence does not equal subversion, it’s part of the democratic process. What does Ms. Blaker think that groups like People for the American Way and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State are trying to do? While Dr. Dobson does have a certain amount of influence in what happens in Washington, he by no means controls the actions of Congress. There have been many times that the U.S. legislature has passed bills that were contrary to Dr. Dobson’s wishes as well as defeating bills that he would have liked to have seen passed. It is only after this character-bashing and ad-hominem attack that Ms. Blaker gets to the heart of things. She makes the claim that Dr. Dobson’s quote reveals the desire on the part of the “Christian Right” to exercise mind-control over the children of America in the same way that radical Islamic fundamentalists do. Here is where the gloves (thin as they are) come off.

In the very next paragraph, Ms. Blaker comes with a full-on assault on conservative Christianity. She attempts to draw a parallel between the radical Islamic madrasahs, or religious schools, with the homeschooling movement. In her mind, Christians are attempting to brainwash their children through isolating them from the world in order that they may one day take over the world and impose Christianity on all mankind. It is here that Ms. Blaker first demonstrates her total ignorance of not only the concept of raising children, but also of biblical Christianity and the homeschooling movement. I will address the ideas of the education of children and then make a defense of biblical Christianity opposing Ms. Blaker’s attempt to equate it with fundamentalist Islam.

It doesn’t matter what a person believes, when they have children they almost always try to pass those beliefs on to their children. It is for this reason that these core beliefs are often referred to as values…because it is this base of knowledge that the parent holds as valuable in order to live a fulfilled life. I would assume that Ms. Blaker values independent thought and the discarding of anything that can’t be proven empirically, and judging by her statements in this article I would assume that if she has children, she is passing these values on to her child(ren). In her words, she is brainwashing her children to believe the way she does (or ships them off to the secularized public school system to let the educators indoctrinate the child in this belief system). So just as she claims that homeschooling or conservative Christian private schools indoctrinate children to a fundamentalist Christian worldview, so the public school system is guilty of the same concept of indoctrinating children into a fundamentalist secular-humanist worldview.

Ms. Blaker states, “Christian fundamentalist schooling is known for indoctrinating children through recitation and memorization of Bible verses and prayers, reinforced with hellfire and brimstone lectures.” Yet the very same statement could be made this way: “Secular fundamentalist schooling is known for indoctrinating children through recitation of unproven theories and memorization of assumed information and catch-phrases such as ‘safe-sex’ reinforced by lectures laced with implications that if what is taught is questioned, the student is merely ignorant and unenlightened.” She goes on to state “these children are taught from textbooks that distort scientific and historic facts.” There have been entire volumes written on the errors found in the textbooks of secular schools. Evolution is taught as fact when it is still an unproven theory. Not one transitional form has been found in the fossil record as of yet.

That is the point of Dr. Dobson’s quote. That is also the reason why there is such a struggle in America today. Christians and Secularists are in a high-pitched battle for the minds of the children of our nation. Both sides believe that their way is best and both sides are struggling to pass on their views to the next generation in order to hopefully win this battle.

Ms. Blaker’s ignorance of true, biblical Christianity is profound but not uncommon. There are many in this world who claim to be Christian but carry on in such shameful ways that it drags the name of Christ through the mud. I think of the very groups Ms. Blaker mentions in her article: the white-supremacist Christian Identity Movement, the Branch Davidians and the Army of God. But if I steal your coat, put it on and then rob a bank, you would not expect to be found guilty of a crime that was committed by one dressed in your clothes. Yet many people condemn Christianity based on crimes committed by those who wear the name of Christ.
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I will post more on this as I continue to get my thoughts put into my laptop.