PROBE OF ABUSE CHARGES AT "BIBLE DISCIPLINE" HOME LEADS TO BUSH, RAISES QUESTIONS OF FAITH-STATE PARTNERSHIP
Web Posted: April 12, 2000
police investigation into a Corpus Christi, Texas area Baptist group has uncovered allegations of child abuse, and a curious relationship with Texas Gov. George W. Bush. The incident also involves questions about Bush's call for a "faith partnership" between religious groups and government to administer social welfare services, and the history of a controversial evangelist -- Lester Roloff -- who locked horns with Texas state authorities over his operation of numerous "Bible discipline" homes for youngsters, alcoholics and drug addicts.
Last week, county sheriff's deputies conducted a search of the People's Baptist Church youth homes looking for evidence which according to the Corpus Christi Times Caller newspaper, could corroborate reports of abusive behavior at the 600-acre facility. Eighteen-year-old Justin Simons told officials that a church employee punched him in the chest, and punished him and another young by tying their wrists together and forcing them to run through the woods and even dig a 15-foot-deep pit.
"Simons told deputies he was not allowed to take a break unless he jumped across the pit," reported the Caller. "When he tried to jump the pit, he fell and sprained both ankles." The youngster's mother removed the boy from the church-operated home on Friday, and had him treated at a local hospital.
On Saturday, deputies arrested the superintendent of the People's Baptist Church, Allen Smith, and charged him with abusing the two teens. Church pastor Wiley Cameron Sr. was also arrested when he refused to turn over records that were included in a warrant executed by the Nueces County Sheriff's Office. After a brief time in the local jail, Cameron ordered the information to be turned over, and was soon freed.
More arrests could follow, according to local media reports.
The People's Baptist Church operates the Rebekah Home for Girls and the Anchor Home for Boys, and carries on a ministry founded by the controversial evangelist Lester Roloff. Raised in a strict Baptist atmosphere, Roloff took his pet Jersey cow with him when he enrolled in Baylor University in the 1930s and sold milk to pay for his tuition. After college he pastored at a number of hard-shell Baptist churches, and in 1949 launched a "Family Altar" radio program. Roloff soon became known for his strident attacks on smoking, consuming alcohol and other vices, and as a proponent of "Bible discipline" for youngsters. He was soon branded as "controversial" by other Baptist ministers, especially after he opposed Baylor University's decision to grant President Harry S. Truman an honorary degree because of the latter's use of explicit language and lack of adherence to certain Bible standards.
By 1956, even the fundamentalist conservatism of the Southern Baptist Convention was not enough for Roloff, and he left the organization after delivering a scathing attack during a sermon at Baylor University. It was then that he began to open a series of "homes" and "ranches" for troubled youth in Texas, Georgia and even on a barge- houseboat in the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway, accessible only by boat or sea plane. In January, 1968, Roloff Enterprises opened the Rebekah Home for Girls in Corpus Christi; young women were taught homemaking skills and how to conduct themselves "as becometh holiness." The People's Baptist Church was established the following year on 600 acres of land near Cuddihy Field. A "Jubilee Home" and "Lighthouse Ministry Center" soon followed, along with the Anchor Home for "troubled boys." Many of the youngsters and other residents were sent to Roloff's institution by disgruntled parents, judges and probation officers.
Trouble began, though, in 1971 when the Texas Department of Public Welfare (later the Texas Department of Human Services) informed Roloff that the youth "homes" must meet certain licensing standards. Roloff, citing the separation of church and state, refused to comply, and after a lengthy court battle the homes were temporarily shut down in October, 1973. Roloff ended up in jail, but the Texas Supreme Court finally ruled in his favor. Passage of the Texas Child Care and Licensing Act in 1975 put Roloff back in the public spotlight, and once again the combative evangelist was locked in a legal battle with state authorities. After refusing to admit DHS investigators to the church grounds, Roloff was again in jail; at one point, youngsters and other residents of Roloff Enterprises were taken by police to the State Youth Prison.
Roloff then launched what soon became known as the "Christian Alamo" incident. In 1977, Roloff and supporters organized a giant "Save Our Nation" rally in Dallas, Texas. A crowd estimated at 10,000 was joined by 1,500 ministers and representatives of other religious groups from across the country in a show of support for Roloff. In an effort to circumvent new state orders that he license the homes, residents of the Corpus Christi facilities were moved to other ministry compounds in Georgia and Mississippi; ownership of the homes was transferred from Roloff's corporation to the People's Church. Wiley Cameron, the current PBC pastor, came on board Roloff's operation in 1974, and today administers Roloff Enterprises. Lester Roloff was killed in an aircraft accident when his small plane crashed on November 2, 1982. His "Family Altar" program continues to air on 120 Christian radio stations throughout the country.
Practices at Roloff's various "homes" and other ministerial operations attracted concern from media and authorities over charges involving abuse, beatings and other forms of "Bible based discipline" which the evangelist unabashedly espoused. An investigation by several newspapers, including the Tucson Citizen, brought many allegations to light, as did columnist Molly Ivin's article "Whippings for God" in New Times magazine. Roloff defended his punitive child-control techniques, though, declaring "Better a pink bottom than a black soul." Then-Texas State Attorney General John Hill bluntly responded, "I don't mind pink bottoms. What I do object to is black, blue and bloody..."
THE BUSH CONNECTION:
RFRA AND "FAITH PARTNERSHIPS"
Roloff's creed of Bible-based punishment of rebellious youngsters -- a residue of Calvinist belief which teaches that a child's will is sinful and must be "broken" -- still plays well in many fundamentalist and evangelical circles. In an October 1977 magazine article, Dr. James W. Prescott, former president of the Maryland Psychological Association, warned that along with awareness about rising rates of child abuse, "The time has also come to recognize the painful truth that traditional Judeo-Christian moral values of pain and pleasure in human relationships have contributed substantially to child abuse and to the prevalence of physical violence in Western civilization." Prescott adds: "The religious system upon which our culture is based holds that pain, suffering and deprivation are moral and necessary to save one's soul and make one a 'good person.' The crucifixion and scourging of Christ are examples..."
It may be odd, then, to find reputed ex-playboy turned presidential contender, George W. Bush, as a supporter of institutions like the People's Baptist Church. In fact, the church operations -- including Rebekah Home for Girls and the Anchor Home for Boys -- no longer seem to be under the scrutiny of the state of Texas. Instead, under a constitutionally suspect scheme, the religious homes are "licensed" by a private organization known as the Texas Association of Christian Child Care Agencies Inc. which in February, 1999 accredited the PBC outreaches. This reversed a Texas Department of Human Services effort that began in the early 1990s to prevent the Church from using a form of temporary legal adoption of its clients in order to keep children at the Rebekah and Anchor homes.
"The Christian agency will re-inspect the homes annually and has the power to take the accreditation away," notes the Corpus Christi Caller Times. It adds that the Texas Association of Christian Child Care Agencies Inc. is "a private organization created by Gov. George W. Bush last year..." The "Agency" has inspected and accredited only one institution, and that is the People's Baptist Church.
The cozy arrangement between PBC and the Texas Association of Child Care Agencies Inc. is part of a larger plan proposed by George W. Bush which calls for "partnerships" between faith-based groups and government. Under the Bush plan, a series of tax credits and direct grants would funnel public funds to faith-based organizations which would in turn administer social services. Religious groups would not be required to give up their "identity" as faith-based sects, thus opening up the prospect of public funding for sectarian outreaches. An editorial in the Houston Chronicle (7/22/99) criticized the Bush scheme and its peculiar tie to the Roloff homes. A similar piece in the Dallas Morning News quoted Carole Shields of People for the American Way suggesting that the scheme might force religion on people seeking held, and possibly crossed the line separating church and state.
Lester Roloff and his legacy of abuse and "Bible discipline" also came up during debate over the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act in March, 1999. The measure requires the state government to demonstrate a "compelling interest" before interfering with any religious group or practice, and use a "least restrictive means" test when enforcing regulations. Major denominations throughout the state eagerly supported the RFRA, as did Mr. Bush. Sen. John Whitmire, though, raised the question of how far the state could go in trying to stop child abuse in religious schools and homes, citing Roloff's various "homes" and the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.
CHILDREN AS VICTIMS OF "BIBLE DISCIPLINE"
With the social faddism of everything from juvenile boot camps (shown to have poor results in correcting adverse behavior in youngsters) to "Bible-based" regimens that incorporate physical punishment and heavy doses of religious teaching, the latest reports of abuse at the Roloff homes should raise concerns about government-church partnerships -- particularly when dealing with children. The abuse charges, if true, suggested the "privatizing" the monitoring of institutions like the People's Baptist Church amount to an anemic form of self-policing for sectarian groups.
Equally disturbing is the extent of such abuses. Roloff's "homes" were often located in secluded environments -- one could only be reached by boat or sea plane. The Corpus Christi charges are chillingly similar to allegations revealed by the Denver Rocky Mountain News in November, 1998 about an "American gulag" operated by Rev. Mack W. Ford.
"He is a fiery Louisiana preacher who has incarcerated children for 27 years," noted News staff writer Lou Kilzer. The "juvenile detention compound in northern Louisiana" was operated under the aegis of Ford's New Bethany Baptist Church, and included 10-foot-high barbed-wire fences, and gruesome accounts of Ford's "private jail," "beatings," "lickings" and "paddling." The grandmother of one boy whose father converted a "strict fundamentalist Christian theology" had sought to rescue the youngster from Ford's control. Beginning in 1988, state authorities had raided the compound, freeing 28 youngsters aged 12 to 17 during one operation. "An affidavit in the case indicated that several children had severe bruising of the buttocks..."
The problem of insular religious schools, "homes" and other institutions may only be exacerbated by state funding, and the poor monitoring of in-house religious groups like the Texas Association of Christian Child Care Agencies Inc. Worse yet, under the Bush plan -- and possibly even a scheme embraced by Vice President Al Gore -- everyone may end up paying for faith-based social services. The allegations of child abuse now surfacing in the Corpus Christi case raise serious questions about calls to form dangerous "partnerships" between government and sectarian religious groups.
