YCRBYCH

[proud2BlibKansan]

Classes were aborted last Wednesday morning for about 335 Eureka Springs school children seated on the high school gymnasium floor while a group of men and women in black blasted them with near-90-decibel heavy-metal music featuring what the school superintendent, students and faculty described as "religious, right wing" messages.

The purported content of the compulsory assembly was characterized by the performing group, You Can Run But You Cannot Hide (YCRBYCH), as "drug and alcohol awareness" but the program's actual content addressed a much broader list of concerns.

The music was so loud a concerned staffer distributed literature detailing the threat of permanent damage to children's hearing ability, including that of about 135 7th and 8th graders bused in from the middle school.

Assembly rules waived...

Some students and teachers walked out.  High School principal David Childers intervened when two teachers ordered students to return to the assembly and allowed them, and others, to leave.

Following the musical assault, lead speaker Bradlee Dean, founder of Minneapolis-based YCRBYCH, spoke about his life as a reformed cocaine addict.  Speaking at a blistering pace while writhing from one foot to the other, Dean shouted about homosexuality, abortion, divorce, single-parent families, liberal politicians, the news media, gun control, the Kennedy assassination, creationism, Christianity and the sanctity of virginity.

Dean said pornography increased by 97 percent when Bill Clinton was President and opined that "blaming Columbine on guns is like blaming spoons for Rosie O'Donnell being fat."

After two hours in the gym, the boys, girls and faculty were divided into separate groups.

Dean faced immediate opposition from some of the teachers corralled in the EAST lab.  Teachers' initial comments included: "This is propaganda;" "I was completely offended;" "Faith based nonsense;" and “You shouldn't even be here."

One teacher asked Dean what the "Jesus song had to do with drug awareness?"  He responded, "There is nothing in our Constitution or founding documents about separation of church and state," and characterized evolution as just a theory.

English teacher Cathy Remenar explained the difference between evolution and creationism, saying "one is scientific theory and one is religious theory," and added that it is the school's obligation to teach the former but not the latter.

Dean sped into a rap about the need for more corporal punishment and too much free speech and permissiveness in schools, adding that Dr. Benjamin Spock's son committed suicide.
Leftovers?

In the girls' assembly, Amy Deitchler walked out when a female YCRBYCH staffer told the young ladies they would be serving "leftovers" to their husbands if they lost their virginity before marrying a "God fearing man."

Walk-out Kristen Cuypers, said, "They're selling us propaganda.  I don't think I should be told how God affects my life."  Allyson Pokrzywinski, a junior, said, 'I don't think this is legal.  This is a violation of our rights.  I believe in separation of church and state."  Ashley Smith said, "They're trying to create fear by stereotyping."
......
Easy pickings...

The men and women in black drove a $100,000 rig out of town after the revival.  They're banking on receiving $2,700 for the three-hour rave to be paid by the Eureka Springs School District with federal funds distributed by the Arkansas Department of Education.

The YCRBYCH web site makes no mention of the group's ideological bent but does list its corporate sponsors.  Among the corporations with local ties are Best Western, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Super 8 Motel and Holiday Inn.

According to a June 16, 2001 article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press covering reaction to a YCRBYCH assembly, more than 60 parents petitioned their school board "to investigate possible malfeasance by an administration that turned the other cheek while Dean humiliated our children."

-- Vernon Tucker
Lovely County Citizen
2005-03-29
The link on the group's web site to corporate sponsors no longer is active, perhaps owing to complaints from angry parents.

Something tells me I would not like the feeling of being required to attend such an assembly.  Something tells me I might have caused a little trouble, had I been there.  Something tells me that many school administrators still are not thinking about the appropriate reasons for canceling classes in favor of enrichment.

"I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down and the flames climbed higher
And it burned, burned, burned the ring of fire
The ring of fire."*

Something tells me that the current resident of the White House would not see the problem as I do.  Do you smell something burning?

http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-05-17-05.htm

[Democracy White]

1. I smell something burning

This is highly inappropriate for a school to fund something such as this, but then the question arrives, did the school even know that such material would be displayed? If they didn't I wouldn't find fault with them, if they did, well they'll just have to pay up and I don't mean that by the monetary value.

Personally, if I had to attend one of these God-awful assemblies, I would have walked out whether it was allowed or not. If I was forced to sit through this "propaganda torture" (my own words) you bet I would (and my mother) would be on the phone to the ACLU.

Dee

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Me too

I was just stunned when I read this.

[TwentyFive]

14. Hold SOMEBODY accountable! This is child abuse!!

If somebody came in offering 'free breast exams' to the female students, but it turned out to be a hoax by some child molesters...somebody would be going off the Big House.

Same thing here. These kids minds were RAPED....what if your parents were gay or liberal? These kids ears were damaged. This group should be sued....forced to pay for damages...and if they don't have the money to pay....go after the groups that fund them. There is legal precedent for this!

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. I agree

The damage to their hearing is also definitely child abuse.

[TwentyFive]

38. Yes! This is assault.

If this was a group of child molestors, heads would roll.

1. Used lies and deception to get into a restricted area.
2. With the kids held captive, they tell more lies...lies that assault the parent/child relationship....or worse, sets gay & lesbian kids onto a path of self hatred.
3. Caused permanent hearing damage to their captives.

So, we sweep the assault under the rug because they travel under the "People of Faith" banner?

No way! They targeted these children because they couldn't fight back. Call these people what they are...CHILD MOLESTORS...and treat them accordingly.

[Blue Belle]

41. This is Cruel and Unusual Punishment...

There's no way I'd have my child be forced to sit through that bull shit.

[wickerwoman]

56. It says the principal intervened in favor of letting students leave

when some teachers tried to stop them. I doubt that the administration of this particular school knew what was going to happen (or they would have done more to make the students stay). But the assembly may have been organized by the district.

I used to work in primary schools and would like to second what was said downthread. Assemblies, particularly for kids under 12, are a phenomenal waste of time. It's hard enough getting 20 or 30 kids that age to sit at their desks. To keeping them sitting on the floor in a line in the dark being reasonably quiet and well-behaved for upwards of an hour is a super-human task. To do it so their ears can be blasted by propaganda *is* child abuse. Hell, I would have walked out and taken my entire class with me.

[HeeBGBz]

2. Eureka Springs is a very progressive town in northern Arkansas

I'm not surprised they were pissed.

This atrocity would have played much better 60 miles north in Branson.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Yep

very true

[kliljedahl]

3. Never heard of them before

They're scary, have you checked out their website?:
http://www.youcanrunbutyoucannothide.com/youcanrunintro.html

Thanks for the heads up.



Keith’s Barbeque Central

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. You are welcome

and thanks for posting their website.

[cynatnite]

16. Here's an eyebrow raising article about them

http://www.gangwar.com/blog/2005/03/these-school-kids-understand.html

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. An interesting exerpt

Dean, founder of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, said the message in the group’s performance has been altered by liberals in the school who are "bending" what was said. He acknowledged the "leftovers" comment but said it was meant to encourage teenagers to make the right decisions.

"Do you think that was the heart of her intent, to tell kids they’d be a bunch of leftovers? You’ve got a bunch of liberal kids listening to what they want to hear and that’s the bottom line," he said.

There were no direct references made to the Bible or Christianity during the skit, he said, although he added he identifies himself as a Christian and supports religious principles. The group’s Web site, www.youcanrunbutyoucannothide.com, states that the organization is a non-profit "charitable church ministry."

Dean said he’d received two phone calls from Eureka Springs residents complaining about the presentation’s content. The group generally makes $2,000 to $2,500 for performances outside a five-state radius surrounding Minnesota, he said.

He said the group receives financial backing from major retailers and businesses, which allows it to perform at schools that can’t afford to make a "donation."

"We got our poop in a group up here," Dean said of support for the organization.

[Fridays Child]

4. Heads should roll for allowing those lunatics into the school.

And, from the description of the guy's behavior, I seriously doubt if he's an *ex* drug abuser.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. He's an abuser all right

Sounds like he believes in abusing the kids' hearing. Yep, make em deaf today - tomorrow we'll make em stupid.

[bonzotex]

5. wow...just wow ..... nominated

I guess I shouldn't be surprised some wingnutty fundie school administrator would think this is a good idea, but still...wow.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. nomination seconded

Can I do that when I started the thread?

[kliljedahl]

13. Don't think you can nominate your own post

so I'll do it for you.

Keith’s Barbeque Central

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. Thank you

[bonzotex]

33. somebody else will say wow! and nominate

I'm still thinking and laughing about this scene in the gym. These "Christian youth entertainers" aren't new. Nor are schoolmasters that think kids will actually think this is good. They've even gotten more attention since the fundies have been feeling their oats and believe people actually agree with them. This is the same old shit, different gym.

The thing is, this crap was bad and ignored as the dreck it is 30 years ago, 20, 10, now, and always will be. Besides being unconstitutional in a public school setting, it's counterproductive to the fundie cause. The one way to ensure something is seen as totally uncool and totally fucked up is for the school to endorse it and force you to sit through it. I wonder how many more kids went out and got fucked up and had sex after this assembly? *LOL*

Morons! It's one reason Progressives always win in the end. Religious nut jobs and Conservatives don't get it, never have.

[Gay Green]

71. In a way maybe they should keep on foisting this dreck

on captive audiences in high school gymnasiums.

That way fundamantalist, Dominionist xtianity will be utterly discredited in two generations' time, or less.

[LightningFlash]

6. Truly pathetic raised propaganda...

We need to picket to get these crazy, and in some cases monstrous people out of our country permanently. And throw the voting machines out with them hopefully outlawing it eventually.

:thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :banghead:

[vogonjiltz]

10. Wow, there is hope

some of these people are turning into their caracatures. The more they act out the more their insanity is evident.

[libnnc]

15. free-kee.

What happened to the good old days when sorry-assed boy bands headlined school assemblies? :scared:

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. I am a teacher and I oppose assemblies

period. They are a total waste of time. I do not appreciate my instructional time being robbed for stupid assemblies. We have maybe ONE decent assembly a year.

[Craig3410]

28. As a student.... I agree.

I just sat in the computer lab whenever we had an assembly. No one ever noticed. :D

[proud2BlibKansan]

30. If you were in my school

I would have covered for you.

[Hissyspit]

50. I sat through some SERIOUSLY shitty assemblies back in the 1970s.

[rateyes]

19. I nominated it before posting this...

This is disgusting. We need to e-mail this story to:

[e-mail]

They'll probably bring a lawsuit!!

Edit: I just e-mailed the link. Everybody else do it, please!

[cynatnite]

20. It's ambush christianity

They snuck in under the wire with the pretense of talking about alcohol and drug use. When people least expected it they rolled out their narrow minded and twisted agenda in which to brainwash our youth. Truly disgusting.

[proud2BlibKansan]

24. We had a similar Christian group

come to our school. They presented a 'black history' program. They are from a local Assembly of God church. One of our teachers was a lay minister there.

The assembly was horrible. Loud music, got the kids all hyped up and virtually nothing about black history but for a few brief oral biographies.

The next year, they called and wanted to come back. The teacher who was the minister there had retired from teaching and was no longer at our school. So the counselor who talked to the church told them we were looking for a black history program, not loud music and silly skits that hyped up our kids. So they promised to tone it down and the assembly committee voted to let them come back.

I didn't go. But the teachers who went said it was much better and they did emphasize black history. I have decided to be on the assembly committee next year for the sole purpose of voting against this group coming back.

[lateo]

23. Wow...

What a bunch of freaks...

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. I never thought I would see the day

when crap like this invaded our public schools.

[mongo]

47. once you get out of the blue areas

Crap like this invades our schools everyday. And the progressive kids put up with it so they are not ostracized from their friends and everyone else at the school.

[ebayfool]

59. The fundies are taking over schools in the blue states, too.

I'm in CA - had to move from the little town my boy had lived in for most of his life because it got so bad! He went from K to middle of 6th grade in the same (& only ) school in town of @ 300 people, not counting outlying ranches. After battling the school board & seeing him singled out to punish us for speaking up, I had to give up & move to the 'big city' (which isn't much better!). Final touch was the teachers passing out candy to reward the kids that attended 'bible study' during school hours, on school property, at a PUBLIC school!

The locals in the church & still (privately) speaking to me said that the churches were actively promoting for members to get on the school boards (everywhere) to ensure that they were able to get them run 'the right way'! Sure worked in our town, every teacher & board member after a 2 year period were super-fundies! Of course, I was just acting for the Antichrist when I complained to the school board @ only 1 teacher out of 5 total having a CA teaching credential - & she was also the principal. The rest of the teachers were church wives, no experience or training. We had highly qualified & credentialed teachers apply & turned down, the school just put the local moms through on 'emergency permits'.

It's happening in alot of places, I think - but there is alot of pressure on people to not complain.
:banghead:

[mongo]

64. And they have been doing this shit since the 80's

[MountainLaurel]

65. Amen, Mongo

I remember this assembly in high school (north central WV) where the speaker was a Vietnam vet who had had half his face and a couple of limbs blown off. He then became a drug abuser, until he found Jay-sus. There was a lot of railing against the secular world, and how psychology couldn't do anything for him and then he became born again. I was attending a fundie church at the time, and even I thought it was pretty fucked up to have him speaking.

When my brother was in school, they had one of those Christian weightlifting teams speak.

It's really not surprising that so many of the people involved in these covert conversion programs are former drug abusers -- they stop one addictive behavior and move on to another.

[Craig3410]

25. Being an Arkansan....

I'd like to say that this does NOT describe how we feel; a majority of the kids at my high school (and just about all the teachers) supported Kerry in the last election.


Don't blame the state, please. :)

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. I don't think anyone is

blaming Arkansas or Minnesota where this group is based. The enemy here is this group of RW zealots invading public schools AND getting paid (with our tax dollars) to brainwash our kids.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

29. THEY ARE A TAX FREE MINISTRY! From their own site, pasted

from the donate page:

Donate


You Can Run But You Cannot Hide Ministries a charitable church ministry is not for profit and maintains its nontaxable status consistent with 26 USC 508(c)(1)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code with respect to section 501(c)(3) organizations special rules as a “mandatory exception.”

WTF are school systems doing paying these zealots to come in and preach?

[proud2BlibKansan]

31. Now THAT is rich

They don't pay taxes but OUR tax dollars are used to pay them????

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

35. I'm no constitutional lawyer...

but this sounds fishy as hell.

[cynatnite]

32. Here's a few questions as well...

Would they be allowed to receive faith based funding? Does NCLB have a loop hole that grants them the right to perform in schools?

I think these guys and their practices need to be investigated.

[proud2BlibKansan]

34. The article said

the funding is coming from a Drug Free Schools program. It's probably a grant the school got. But that is still funded by tax dollars.

[rabbit2484]

36. Unbelievable

I used to say nothing surprises me anymore, but this is crazy. All I can picture is Joseph from the "Jesus, Joseph, and Larry" episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm preaching to kids laughing at him.

Thankfully the principal had the right mind to let the kids leave, then again maybe he was just worried about losing his job if he made the kids stay.

[LSK]

37. might want to read Thomas Jefferson....

Jefferson's Wall of Separation Letter

Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802 to answer a letter from them written in October 1801. A copy of the Danbury letter is available here. The Danbury Baptists were a religious minority in Connecticut, and they complained that in their state, the religious liberties they enjoyed were not seen as immutable rights, but as privileges granted by the legislature - as "favors granted." Jefferson's reply did not address their concerns about problems with state establishment of religion - only that on the national level. The letter contains the phrase "wall of separation between church and state," which led to the short-hand for the Establishment Clause that we use today: "Separation of church and state."

http://www.usconstitution.net/jeffwall.html

http://members.tripod.com/~candst/tnppage/baptist.htm

http://www.usconstitution.com/Jefferson'sWallofSeparationLetter.htm

http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpre.html

Use freely to DESTROY the freepers attacks on Seperation of Church and State.

[Lorien]

51. Thanks for the links!

Very handy. :thumbsup:

[Canuckistanian]

39. Nominated.

This shit should be exposed for the vile propaganda that it is.
And the fact that it was done to a captive audience of children (and possibly casusing real harm)is unforgiveable.

Thanks, proud2Blib.

[proud2BlibKansan]

40. You're welcome

It's funny. I found it on a strange blog site of this college professor. (That is the link I posted in the OP)

[FormerOstrich]

42. I keep reading more and more on their web site.......

and I can't even articulate my emotions......I would love to have a discussion with Mr. Dean......

The have multiple referrals...schools writing in saying how great....I think I'm sick to my stomach.

Then there is always the CDs

You Can Run But You Cannot Hide presents five powerful messages on four cds. Disc 1] High School Assembly – Bradlee Dean <79:54> Disc 2] Under the Influence (Guys’ Class) – Jacob MacAulay Virtue (Girls’ Class) – Stephanie Joy <73:05> Disc 3] Shock Treatment (Teachers’ Class) – Wayne Ruark <79:24> Disk 4] 10 Things You Forgot – Bradlee Dean <59:59> Today’s youth are in serious trouble. The increasing tide of secularism and godlessness has all but washed away almost two centuries of Christian influence in our society, leaving the latest generation to fend off the tragic consequences of these worldviews. Most young people today are either ill-equipped to fight the tide or are simply unaware of, or indifferent to, its deadly course. The goal of this series of messages by the crew of YCRBYCH is to challenge and inspire today’s youth to, like the young hero of Scripture, David, rise up and slay the Goliaths of their generation and take back the land for the honor of the Lord of Hosts and General of the Armies of Heaven, Jesus Christ, the ultimate man of war.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

43. "Jesus Christ, the ultimate man of war?????"

WTF??? That's like calling Hitler a hamanitarian.

Yikes!

[proud2BlibKansan]

44. Any decent public school administrator

who reads this crap would NEVER approve this group coming to their school.

[atommom]

45. Unfreakingbelievable! I would be furious if anything like this happened

in my child's school. Are the non-fundie parents storming the gates with pitchforks and torches? And if not, why not?

[mongo]

46. Welcome to the real America

My daughter's middle school hosted religious assemblies twice a year. It was supposedly "voluntary", but at least one friend of hers was forced to attend.

She knew it was wrong, but begged us not to do anything about it. We had so much trouble with the school district anyway, we home schooled her through high school.

[Lindacooks]

48. What the hell does YCRBYCH stand for?

Yellow-bellied Crybaby Church?

[proud2BlibKansan]

54. You Can Run But You Can't Hide

[Lindacooks]

61. I like mine better...

:)

[proud2BlibKansan]

62. Dare I ask what yours is??

:)

[Lindacooks]

66. Sure: Yellow-bellied Crybaby Church

}(

[Hissyspit]

49. "Pornography Increased 97% When Bill Clinton Was President" ?

How the hell do you measure something like that? I mean, WTF?

[Hello_Kitty]

52. I'm thinking

The Internet took off during Clinton's Presidency so that might explain a dramatic increase in sales of pornographic material during that time. But to state a causal relationship like that is simply absurd.

[AgadorSparticus]

57. I've got some statistics too. Illiteracy jumped 99% in the first Bush

term despite no child left behind and violent deaths increased by 185% in the second term. Though, I think I am being very generous with the latter number.

[spindoctor]

58. The Vietnam war started when the Beatles came to the US

See?

[Lindacooks]

67. Yeah, and abortions have shot up since chimpy has been

squatting in the White House. That obviously means he approves of them; after all, he got his girlfriend one to get himself out of trouble.

[UdoKier]

53. OMFG I'm speechless.

If I didn't know better, I'd think this was from one of those parody movies like "Saved!".


I AM SO GLAD MY KIDS ARE IN PUBLIC SCHOOL IN SAN FRANCISCO AND NOT SOME NUTTY RED STATE!

[Swamp Rat]

55. Send Bradlee Dean and his bunch of hooligans to Iraq.

Give him a goddamn bible and parachute him into the center of Falluja so he can give his sermon there.

[ebayfool]

60. Something tells me you might have caused a more than a little trouble!

Good catch here, proud2Blib - I know you have a good heart for students!

Kick & recommended!

[proud2BlibKansan]

70. Thank you

I know if these fools came to my school I would refuse to let my class attend the assembly.

We did have some abstinence trainer come this year - for 5th graders! The counselor told me about it and I said WTF are we doing that for. Apparently some parent had requested it. OUr counselor is as opposed to religious indoctrination at school as I am and she said she called the district's legal dept before booking the guy to come. They told her that under new federal law, we have to make the training available to our kids if a parent requests it. But each teacher is free to decide if it is appropriate for her class. Then she said she was sure I wouldn't find it appropriate for my 5th graders. I said you got it. So the guy came and passed out some little trinkets to the kids he spoke to. Then of course my kids complained that they didn't get the stickers or whatever he had passed out. So I gave them all a shiny new pencil and said that's a better treat. And they stopped complaining.

I did ask one of my 5th grade parents if she would have wanted her kid to hear this guy. She said yes, when he is in high school, not 5th grade. And she called the district office to complain that this abstinence crap was being given to 5th graders. She told me she didn't give a F__ what the law said, her kid was NOT going to learn about abstinence at age 11!!

[Maestro]

63. Well, well, well.

This group has definitely crossed that line. Bringing in character education groups is fine, but with this much religious overtones and really in this case, preaching, a line has not only been crossed but erased! I would be hopping mad if my child was subjected to this crap.

Let's look at the law.

The law as interpreted by many courts and in my estimation the Supreme Court allows schools to teach values such as civic virtues, honesty, good citizenship, sportsmanship, courage, respect for rights and freedoms, respect for others and their property but in now way can this be done in the guise of religious tenets.

The Supreme Court has developed a sort of litmus test for laws with what seem to have religious overtones in public schools. These are the Lemon tests and are derived from the 1971 case Lemon v. Kurtzman.

1. The purpose of a challenged law or practice must be secular as opposed to sectarian.
2. The primary effect of the law or practice must be one that neither advances nor inhibits religion and thus does not impair the practice of one's religious beliefs.
3. The law or practice must not involve excessive entanglement between state and church.

It would seem that with all the religious "preaching" done to encourage high moral character in this event that this activity definitely doesn't pass muster with the third test and probably the second, espeically given the website's information for the group.

[ulysses]

68. I'd like to see us follow this up the chain.

Who, and whose rules, let these hairballs inside a school?

[Gay Green]

69. "You can run but you can't hide"...

...but that doesn't stop these Dominionist cockroaches and their corporate sponsors from making a mad dash to the baseboards when light is thrown on them.