Bigotry Lives on at Chesapeake's Deep Creek Academy

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Since Donald Trump's election, white supremacists have felt emboldened.  So to have right wing Christians who feel themselves free to discriminate against their hate-filled Bronze Age beliefs thanks the Trump/Pence regime's open warfare against the rights of LGBT citizens as well as other minorities.  Here in Hampton Roads the most reactionary and anti-gay city is the city of Chesapeake, Virginia.  Thus, it is not surprising that anti-LGBT hatred is alive and well at Deep Creek Academy which is affiliated with Deep Creek Baptist Church, where those who do not subscribe to carefully cherry picked bible passages have been advised that they and their children are not welcome. After all, what's more "Christian" than bigotry against children - just ask Trump supporters who looked the other way at the horrific family separation policy which is still continuing although off the media's current radar.  Personally, I do not know why anyone would want to be a Baptist much less send their child to a Baptist affiliated school, especially many of such "academies" trace back to the racist "Massive Resistance" movement.  Hate is something that is learned and taught and that's what is happening at Deep Creek Academy.  Outwire757 looks at the anti-LGBT policies of this less than Christian academy.  Here are excerpts:

For over three years, the Denny family has been welcomed by the teachers and staff of Chesapeake’s Deep Creek Academy’s preschool. The school offered them a convenient, high quality, and affordable facility where their child could learn and grow with friends from their neighborhood.

That all came to an end last week when they were informed of a new policy that they feel targets their family.

Kelsea Denny (who transitioned from male to female this past year) received a re-enrollment letter from the Deep Creek Baptist Church, which houses and runs the preschool. She was alarmed by language in the letter that included a “Statement of Faith and Practice” and a new enrollment agreement policy. The letter included homophobic and transphobic views on same-sex marriage and gender expression that all parents of enrollees must sign as part of the application process.

The new language included includes the following:

“We are welcoming to all people and we affirm the Biblical and traditional definition of marriage being of one man to one woman and a Biblical and traditional understanding of gender identity.

“Deep Creek Academy (DCA) is a Christian school, and a ministry of Deep Creek Baptist Church (DCBC). Our teachers, students, and families are expected to conduct themselves in a manner in accordance with the faith statement and Christian values of DCA, DCBC, and its leadership. We reserve the right to refuse admission of an applicant or to discontinue enrollment of a student.”

The Director of the school forewarned the family that an updated policy was under discussion. According to Ms. Denny, the director of the school advocated against the policy and ultimately resigned her position in protest. The new policy still came as a surprise to Ms. Denny since school teachers and leadership had been open and supportive during her transition.

As Denny understands it, the new policy will not be implemented until the start of the next school term that begins in August 2019. Currently, her child is a student at DCA. However under the new policy, Ms. Denny would not be allowed to either drop off or pick up her child since that requires her to enter the building and sign the child in and out, in effect banning her from the school’s campus.

As a result, they are currently looking for another preschool in the area and are unsure how DCA will enforce this new policy dictated by leadership of DCBC.

DCA’s policy is similar to Immanuel Christian School in northern Virginia where Karen Pence, wife of Vice President Mike Pence teaches art twice a week.

OutWire757 has reached out to DCA and DCBC for comment. As of this writing, they have not responded.

Decent, moral people who support Christ's message should avoid Deep Creek Baptist Church and its pre-school that is teaching hatred against others.

Hate Is A Learned Phenomenon; Will Southern Baptists Again Choose Bigotry?

Allison Mackey of Hanover, Pennsylvania, with her five sons - one an Eagle Scout, three now active in scouting and an 8-year-old who had planned to join. All the sons said they were willing to abandon the Boy Scouts if openly gay members were allowed.

An earlier post today noted the hysteric and spittle eruptions coming from the  Christofascists in the wake of the Boy Scouts of America's half measure to allow openly gay scouts although still institutionalizing bigotry against gays over the age of 18.  But a revisit was needed given the continue displays of hate and hypocrisy coming from the "godly Christian" crowd which is neither godly or, I would argue, even remotely Christian.  What I find most disgusting is the adults who are eager to teach children and youth hate.  Pictured above is one such foul individual who is indoctrinating her sons with her own sick, hate filled bigotry.  I suspect her descendants will be less than proud of her legacy of hate.  I can't help but also wonder whether Ms. Mackey refers to blacks by way of the "N word."  

Its also note worthy that many members of the Southern Baptist Convention ("SBC") - a denomination that came into being because of a desire to continue slavery and the treatment of other humans as chattel property - are now threatening to launch an alternate organization to the Boy Scouts.  One a racist and a bigotry, apparently always a racist and a bigot. Here are highlights on reactions from bigots from the New York Times:

Leaders of the conservative faction predicted that lawsuits would soon force the Boy Scouts to allow openly gay leaders, and they accused the top leaders of ignoring the beliefs of their members. 

“The fallout from this is going to be tremendous,” said Robert Schwarzwalder, a senior vice president of the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group, and a father of two scouts in Northern Virginia. “I think there will be a loss of hundreds of thousands of boys and parents.”

“This great institution is going to be vitiated by the intrusion of a political agenda,” he said. 

After the decision was announced Thursday, John Stemberger, an evangelical leader from Florida who organized a campaign to block the change, said that like-minded groups and parents would meet next month in Louisville, Ky., to discuss creating what he called a new “character development organization for boys,” an alternative to scouting.

Bob Felton at Civil Commotion elaborates on the SBC's foul history:

Founded in 1845 because northern Baptists refused to appoint missionaries from slaveholding states, the Southern Baptists are now leading the charge to break from the Boy Scouts over gay membership and create an alternative organization.

 Leader hopes to bring coalition together to discuss creating a new youth organization centered on biblical values http://ow.ly/lloKm

Why Louisville? Because it is the home of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, headed by Albert Mohler.

“Politics,” Otto Von Bismarck once said, “is the art of the possible.” For a private, widely-watched, quintessentially American organization to reverse a longstanding policy on such a contentious issue by a greater than 60% margin, leaving gays’ chief antagonists in disarray, and in a way that makes leadership roles for gays a not-far-off inevitability, is a huge win.

The SBC, by the way, finally apologized for its racist origins in 1995 — but it doesn’t appear that they actually learned much from the experience.

Christianity is in decline in the developed world largely because of the hate and bigotry that best define the godly folk.  Thankfully, a large majority of the younger generations are walking away from organized religion and Al Mohler, Tony Perkins, the Catholic Church hierarchy and many others are hastening Christianity's much deserved decline.

P.S., The SBC doesn't have a monopoly on anti-gay bigotry.  As the Washington Post reports, Bishop Paul Loverde, the leader of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, issued a statement saying the vote would likely force the diocese to reconsider sponsoring troops in about 50 of its parishes.