Thursday, April 13, 2006

The Pearls, the death, and the boycott

Before reading my post, please read this open letter to the Ford family, written by Ann of Holy Experience. It says what needs to be said so much better than I possibly could.

However, I wanted to post a few things for clarification, and to answer questions that have been posed here and elsewhere.
  1. No, I do not believe that the Pearls teach parents to murder their children. I do not hold them personally responsible for this poor boy's death. I do hold them responsible for what they clearly teach. They are responsible for teaching parents to pull the hair of nursing babies, to hit tots with plastic toys as hard as one can (and even to use a "karate-like wheeze" while doing so), to push toddlers into ponds, etc., etc. (Read my other posts on the topic.)
  2. No, I am not boycotting anyone over this, except the Pearls themselves. I do not do business with them at all and plan never to do so. However, I still link to people who use HomeschoolBlogger, and I will still order from Amazon. The links in my Blogroll are not to perfect saints with whom I am in perfect agreement. However, they are the blogs that I read most frequently, for various reasons. I do not believe that the boycott will have any sort of impact on the Pearls themselves, nor do I believe that these two "targets" are effective ones.
  3. At the same time, I do not believe that those who boycott are necessarily, by participating, anti-Christian or that they have sided with Satan. There is no Biblical admonition, that I know of, against boycotts. I have participated in some in the past. (Today there are some businesses that I "boycott" more or less quietly and privately. I doubt they know or care, but I do it out of principle.) I also do not think that one should avoid participating in a boycott or political action out of fear that maybe nonchristians might be doing the same thing. In the past, when I once boycotted a particular business for pro-life reasons, I didn't suddenly withdraw from the boycott just because I met a quite vocal goddess-worshipper who was involved in the same boycott. Nor do I avoid voting in elections out of fear that I might accidentally vote the same as --- gasp --- somebody who doesn't like Christians, and that some misguided overly zealous soul with then accuse me of being aligned with Satan.
  4. Yes, it is sometimes hard to have a meaningful discussion with those who think that it is perfectly OK to push toddlers into ponds and to tell wives of incestuous pedophiles that they should welcome their husbands back with open arms.

1 comment:

  1. Rebecca, I have been following your comments over at Mr. Carlton's blog, and just have to tell you how much I've appreciated them. Especiallly the last one regarding the blogger's version of moral clarity, and whether or not he accepts the Pearl's views about abusive, incestuous husbands. Bravo, dear sister, bravo!

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