How American Homeschoolers Enabled and Funded German Child Abuse: The Real Story Behind the Religious Right and the Twelve Tribes
The TL;DR version is that the Homeschool Legal Defence Association’s strategy is to influence European law, not just US law.
By R.L. Stollar, HA Community Coordinator
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“Without the assistance of American homeschoolers, these advancements would not have been possible.”
~ Homeschool Legal Defense Association, concerning German legal association Schulunterricht zu Hause
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Last week, German police raided a monastery and farm belonging to a religious sect in Bavaria. They removed 40 children on allegations of child abuse. While the event was originally portrayed by the sect as well as American right-wing news sources as religious persecution, that portrayal was quickly proven wrong. Video evidence of cruel and systematic abuse of children surfaced.
Some homeschool advocates originally attempted to chalk this up as another example of “German intolerance” of homeschooling. German homeschool advocate Jörg Großelümern, who leads the HSLDA-allied Netzwerk Bildungsfreiheit (or Network for Freedom in Education), had brought the situation to the attention of Michael Farris, chairman of HSLDA, the U.S.-based homeschool lobbying organization. Großelümern alleged that “the authorities want to create…
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Posted on September 13, 2013, in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
Leaving Fundamentalism 
It’s a few years old now, but I heartily recommend Born Again: The Christian Right Globalized by Jennifer Butler.
I don’t remember seeing this in the US media. Strange. The German homeschool family who came to the US claiming religious asylum is getting all the press.
As I posted on HA: Wow. About 10 years ago or so, the Twelve Tribes were set up on the National Mall at the same time as the Folklife Festival. They used the section of the Mall right next to the Capital, right next to where the festival ended so it looked like a continuation of the festival. I wandered in to their area without realizing it. I didn’t really know what they were about but they seemed like a bunch of hippy types who wore all organic clothing and lived in a commune somewhere in Vermont. They didn’t mention anything about homeschooling or how other denominations were fallen or even really radical, just hippy crunchy. I mainly remember their Common Sense store and their really nice linen fabrics.
Ugh. Disgusting. I haven’t heard a peep out of this in the US media. The “Quiverfull” movement makes my skin crawl. “Hey, let’s just chuck out all the gains made in the last 400 years since we stopped being Catholic! Yeah!” The “Jesus People” movement was indeed a hippie-dippie buncha’ “Jesus Freaks” (As they were called in the day). It spintered, but I think the Rez band came out of it, and I think “Head East” may have gone into it, and I’m not entirely sure, but possibly the Rez Band *WAS* Head East prior to their “Jesus Freak” days. It’s all a little odd. The largest, most obvious “Jesus People” bunch I’m aware of is the “JePUSA” group (“Jesus People, USA”) who have a big music fest in Illinois every year. It’s very Woodstocky.
Obviously the Germans didn’t get the memo.
Seriously heavy stuff.