15 Comments

Superb. I was recommending some writers the other day, all of whom were long, long dead, the response from my acquaintances predictably lukewarm. I know it sounds tragic, but I think many people of a literary persuasion (and, I would assume, an artistic persuasion more generally) feel a far greater connectedness to authors and poets they are separated from by both space and time than those with whom they are literally surrounded with. And in a sense, that isn't tragic at all; it is a connection unlike any most people will ever know.

Anyway, I hope you are enjoying your fourth of July, my fellow Brit-born immigrant.

Expand full comment

Sarah, your insight is profound. I have been listening to you speak common sense and we’ll thought out analysis for well over a year and you have never disappointed me! You are a breath of fresh air with a hint of lavender and frankincense! Thank you

Expand full comment

Thank you Sarah. Your reflections serve to remind us all that we have a choice. To decide who and what we truly are.

Expand full comment

Excellent! Well written. Both Accurate and Correct! Good form.

Expand full comment

https://www.corbettreport.com/desmet-massformation/

Mattias Desmet is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at Ghent University in Belgium.

His new book, The Psychology of Totalitarianism, talks about the role of loneliness.

Expand full comment

Sarah, a very thought provoking and entertaining piece. While reading I found myself in that back room wondering about what that other person was going to be like. The thought also crossed my mind that you were well on your way to writing a short story that would be so relevant to these times. Sarah I am in need of as you suggested of reforming myself. Looking forward to your next article.

Expand full comment

Sara, I enjoyed reading your article. It reminds me of when you are traveling overseas and trapped in an airport waiting area for twenty four hours for a storm to clear. All you have is strangers from the flight and whatever is in your carry on. Time to find some fun people and make a party! Once I was stuck in the Moscow airport and luckily had purchased a bottle of Champagne before everything closed down. A Japanese lady had dried meat and cheese! You may never see those people again but it makes for life's great experiences. Come together and empty your bag and see how many goodies you have to give away. No matter how bad it is its always what you make out of it!

As I am having my coffee this morning in one of your mugs I hope you are with friends and love ones celebrating all the good we have in our country.

God bless you and dont forget you are "Our" Crusader Gall!

Expand full comment

loved the story of the stockroom .

Enid Blyton, I will seek her stories.

I like the Maltese cross with the H C nestled in its arms. Coffee cup ? T-shirt ?

The Bold Crusader T-shirt (white) is working. Even in the parking lot at W-Mart a 60 year old woman with a 6 year little girl show interest in the T-shirt. She looked to be someone on the fringes of what most would consider middle or even lower class. She was just of people barely hanging on.

Expand full comment

Always great to hears Sarah's pearls of experience & wisdom

Expand full comment

I feel connected today to those who study and respect history, resisting the woke's movement to erase and replace it like Orwell's 1984. Great men like George Washington really did change history.

Expand full comment

Public Schools Are Humanist Seminaries

Posted on July 2, 2022

1

by Al Benson Jr.

Seeing that this coming Monday will be Independence Day, I had a thought. What a wonderful time it would be if American Christians decided to declare their independence from the Humanist seminaries, we call public schools. Because that’s what these “schools” really are.

Sam Blumenfeld, when researching for his book Is Public Education Necessary? noted that “Out of this labor came some fascinating discoveries: that American intellectual history is inseparable from its religious history; that public education was never needed, and that literacy in America was higher before compulsory public education than it is today; that socialists, who were very active in the public school movement, began operating covertly in secret cells in America as early as 1829, before the word socialism was even invented; that philosophy is more powerful than economics; and that religion, in the long run, is more powerful than philosophy…” Blumenfeld is telling you a lot here and what he is leading up to is that the public school system is inherently a religious institution. He observed the religious aura of public schools when he said: “The youngster that passes through its classrooms emerges indoctrinated in a body of secular values as if he had gone to a sort of governmental parochial school…This is particularly true in the social sciences, where a secular humanist view of the world is presented virtually as a revealed religion based on an unquestioned faith in science and materialism. Thus, the rituals of school life replace the rituals of the church to fill the youngster’s days with a formalism called ‘education’.”

Blumenfeld has thus identified the spiritual nature of the public school system. It is a spiritual entity in competition with the Christian faith. Where years ago, the church used to be the center of the community, today it has been relegated to the fringe of the community, having been replaced by the public school with its band and sports programs–and unfortunately it seems that most Christians are perfectly content with that. Thanks to their miseducation they are unable to grasp the public school as a religious worldview and entity that is in competition with their Christian worldview–and when someone tries to explain this to them, they mostly don’t want to hear it. Easier to ignore it all. Less personal responsibility that way!

The humanists, though, are quite vocal about their religious relationship to the public school system, if you are just willing to listen to them. One of their most noted practitioners made a statement that was published in The Humanist back in the January/February issue in 1983. John Dunphy, who held a B.A. in history and political science from the University of Illinois, was a humanist who saw the public-school classroom in quite a different light than most Christians are aware of. Dunphy wrote an article for The Humanist entitled “A Religion For A New Age.” Dunphy stated, in part, “I am convinced that the battle for humankind’s future must be waged and won in the public school’s classrooms by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith: a religion of humanity that recognizes and respects the spark of what theologians call divinity in every human being. These teachers must embody the same selfless dedication as the most rabid fundamentalist preachers, for they will be ministers of another sort, utilizing a classroom instead of a pulpit to convey humanist values in whatever subject they teach, regardless of the educational level–preschool day care or large state university. The classroom must and will become an area of conflict between the old and the new–the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with all its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism, resplendent in its promise of a world in which the never-realized Christian ideal of ‘love thy neighbor’ will finally be realized.” Is that a religious statement or not?

Obviously, for Dunphy, the public school was much more than a place to promote neutral knowledge. It was a seminary to promote the anti-Christian faith of humanism. You can look at the public schools, even since 1983 when Dunphy wrote this, and it shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to discern where they have gone. So, when people tell me not to give up on the public schools yet, I have to ask “Why?” This is an institution Christians need to declare their independence from and I can’t think of a better time to do that than now!

Expand full comment

Dear Sarah,

God be with you!

Bill from Massachusetts

Expand full comment

Good essay Sarah! This independence day i was reminded that our founding fathers were very concerned about future generations. John Adams, in his writings and correspondence spoke the sacrifices the colonials were making to gain freedom "posterity" . Such a shame that for many Americans the 4 th of July was about a day off and a barbecue. God help us.

Take care, keep your powder dry ,

R

Expand full comment

My interests are different than most. I believe we can make a difference. I hate the small talk. I detest the buildings they build today. I love to talk about the stock market, money, politics and the news media. I hate that people are afraid to voice what is wrong about society. I hate that people have their heads in the sand and not willing to learn about the things that most affect them. I feel a connectiveness to folks who share my beliefs. I love to debate people about different topics but most lose their minds if you do not agree with them.

Expand full comment