Book Review: Jesus and John Wayne

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation (2021) by Kristen Kobes du Mez.

I borrowed the audiobook version of this book from my local public library, not knowing anything about it.  I expected a screed but it was remarkably neutral (-ish) and straightforward history of the authors, organizers, and celebrities of the religious right from the 1950s to the election of Donald Trump.

Her previous book, A New Gospel for Women: Katharine Bushnell and the Challenge of Christian Feminism (2015) was about gender bias in Christianity from a feminist perspective, so this second book's focus on Christian views about masculinity is a book-end for that work.  

From the cowboy masculinity of John Wayne (literally), admired by McCarthy-era conservatives, du Mez weaves a story that results in a new kind of masculinity, infused with a belief in Jesus the sword-bearing warrior and a Christianity that embraces "strength" and forgives sexual misbehavior in its leaders.  She relies on books, video, and other written records rather than interviews, so it is a bit distant though not as chilly as a scholarly text.

If you want to learn the who's who of the religious right this is a must-read.  She discusses internecine disputes, TV hosts and the cult of Bill Gothard -- a single man who never had children yet became the pope of family and childhood patriarchy for many.

Mormons Explain Ruby Franke's Journal

Something wicked this way comes.... from the Mormon community.  As if the Ruby Franke/Jodi Hildebrandt situation weren't depressing enough, John Dehlin's "Mormon Stories" podcast explains it in the context of modern Mormon trends.

After learning about Jodi's visions and Ruby's delusions, I thought these women were just crazy people who found a religious context for their symptomology. But no... they are the symptomology and a toxic thread within Mormonism is the disease. John Dehlin and his guests explain that visions, possession obsession, and end-times theology are promoted in a book that's popular with Mormons: Visions of Glory: One Man's Astonishing Account of the Last Days by John Pontius. The author has written Mormon fiction, so how should we take the back cover description? In this true account of near-death experiences, we learn about the miracles of the millennium, the return of the Ten Tribes, the building of the New Jerusalem and temple, and many other astonishing events long prophesied in scripture but never before described in such vivid detail. Visions of Glory is a mesmerizing and fascinating read that you will not be able to put down. The book came out in 2012, so this is a recent development, but as Dehlin explains, end-times theology is an essential element of Mormon belief.  That's the "Latter Day" idea. One of the unique features of Mormon theology is the belief in prophets as a continuous stream of pope-like figures who lead the church from one generation to the next.  Unlike the papacy, though, anyone can imagine themselves to be a prophet Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell, who were convicted of murder, were also influenced by the book.  Vallow killed her own children, a fate that Ruby Franke's two youngest narrowly escaped.  Vallow was reading it at the time of her arrest!  The Daily Beast covered this movement, discussing these murderers and also disgraced phony child-rescuer, Tim Ballard.

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This is not the polygamist faction. It's similar to the fundamentalist wing of other Abrahamic religions but without that element (so far).  And like other religions the argument that "those are just the extremists - that's not the real version of my religion" just doesn't hold water.  If your holy book has language that can be used to hurt other people, then your religion is toxic.

Child Abuse and Religion: Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt

This week, Idaho authorities released some of the evidence in the case of the "Eight Passengers" mommy vlogger Ruby Franke and her business partner, bad therapist Jodi Hildebrandt.  Ruby and Jodi pled guilty to four felony child abuse charges each and will serve as little as four years in prison to a maximum of thirty years.  (Redditors have compiled the evidence here.)

If you haven't followed this case, the "eight" passengers were the two parents and their six children. Ruby's tactics were questioned at the time, and CPS were contacted, but no legal action was taken. Ruby refused to bring lunch to school for her five-year-old daughter who'd forgotten it, and forced a teen to sleep on a bean bag chair in the living room for eight months after pulling a prank on his younger brother.  

Over the years, Ruby fell under the spell of Jodi Hildebrandt, a Mormon therapist who was recommended to her, originally to help with the oldest boy.  As Hildebrandt had done to other couples, she drove a wedge between husband and wife, and the husband, Kevin Franke, moved out in 2022, ostensibly to save their marriage.  He joined a men's support group organized by Hildebrandt, and believed he was a sex addict.  He had no contact with Ruby or any of their children for a year.

In 2023, Ruby and the the younger boy, "R," and the youngest daughter, "E," moved to the 10,000 square foot home of Jodi Hildebrandt. Ruby joined Jodi's company, "Connexions," and they made videos together, sharing their religiously based, cultish advice on how to inculcate "truth" in children and banish "distortion."  Meanwhile, the two children endured horrible mistreatment under the guise of getting right with God, including going up and down stairs carrying heavy boxes, weeding a cemetery for hours in the desert heat (without permission of the cemetery owner!), doing manual labor outdoors at Hildebrandt's home, being forced to stand outdoors in the sun, being forced to sleep outdoors or being confined in a closet, being denied food and water, and Ruby played mental games that gave them little hope of meeting their mother's approval.  According to Ruby's journal, the two children knew that what she was doing was wrong, and they rebelled against her.  She kicked and beat R with a cactus and forced "E" to hug a cactus. "R" escaped one night and Ruby found him walking on a road, then bound him to her to prevent him from escaping again.

Apparently, she ramped up the bondage, because when "R" escaped again, he had wounds from being bound at the wrists and ankles.  He sneaked out a window and went to a neighbor's house asking to be taken to a police station, possibly because his mother asked him if being in jail would be better than being with her. The neighbor called 911, and police found an emaciated boy with wounds on his body in addition to the rope wounds -- which had been "treated" with honey and cayenne pepper.  He told them about his younger sister, and police immediately went to find her.  She refused to stand up or speak for four hours!  She only reluctantly ate pizza they offered her... and then ate the whole thing. 

This week, authorities released evidence including Ring doorbell footage, body camera video, police interviews, photos of the boy's injuries, and heavily redacted scans of Ruby's diary. It's far worse than it seemed when the situation came to public attention last year!

The Hidden True Crime YouTube channel has uploaded individual audio and video files, which are chilling.  That channel's focus is on the psychology of crime, not religion, but it's worth following because many of the cases they study involve religion and/or cults.  They have a playlist devoted to this case so you can catch up if you were not aware of this criminal case.

Key takeaways:

Demonic possession and evil children: Jodi read Bible verses about children rising up against their parents ... and who could blame the Franke children for doing that!  Ruby wrote in her diary about the children being evil and accused them of being influenced by Satan.  This is probably the most vile thing about the Abrahamic tradition.  Children are presumed to be in a state of sin, and abuse is the remedy.

Shame and guilt:   The two children believed they deserved their punishment abuse because they were evil and could  not be around other people.  The little girl refused to leave her closet/prison cell for four hours!  

Sadism:  Ruby seemed to have a very sadistic streak, which would have made her a bad parent in any case, but she was able to justify what she did through religious teaching and her own revelations.

Religious Therapy:  If someone advises you to seek spiritual counseling or a clergy member offers to make a referral for you, RUN!  If someone is already religious and has serious problems, applying that same religion is throwing good money after bad.

The Aftermath Foundation: An Update

Shortly after my previous post about the Aftermath Foundation, they announced new board members, and people working on the short-lived billboard project have spoken out.

The new board members include British apostate Jon Atack, who left Scientology in 1983 and wrote one of the must-reads about Scientology, A Piece of Blue Sky and interviews people on his YouTube channel, "jon atack, family and friends," Phil Jones, whose self-funded "Call Me" billboard campaign, inspired this year's billboard, and Stefani Hutchinson a "never-in," (a term coined by YouTube commentators when the SPTV movement gained momentum), who has been actively fighting Scientology online since 2017, according to her profile.  You can read her blog posts here.

You can learn more about Phil in an interview with Mark Fisher and Janis Gillham-Grady on their Scientology - Peeling the Onion channel. He is 70 years old and hasn't given up hope that he'll reunite with his two children one day. After this week's billboard take-down, he was interviewed by journalist Tony Ortega on his Underground Bunker podcast.

Phil Jones on Peeling the Onion:

Phil Jones on Tony Ortega's podcast (on YouTube):