Can confirm. I lived in C. Springs in 98-99, and sporadically for years after that, when fate brought me through.

Focus on the Family had its claws DEEP in that town, at every level, and especially in the military families stationed there.

For years, including my own military service, FOTF was my yardstick for crazy, over-the-top evangelical conservatives.

Until I met a particularly memorable Air Force chaplain, who opined that he felt Rev. Dobson didn't go nearly far enough.
And I grew up in Indiana, a hotbed of Christianity-motivated murders and mutilations.

Like, parents cutting off their own kids' hands to keep them from masturbating. That kind of crazy.

But back home it was individuals going off the rails. Not massive, organized megachurches.
The Air Force Academy is a place where people enter as children, are immediately thrust into a deeply traumatic environment, their personalities assaulted and broken down from all sides, then built back up to be leaders.
Anyone going through that experiemce--ANYONE--will reach out for any emotional lifeline they can find.

And a lifeline of unconditional love and salvation sounds mighty good when the rest of your life is people screaming at you for being a worthless failure.
The community gets into people, becomes a habit. A foundation. A rock to stand on when their whole world is blood and chaos. It gives them the strength to do what they could never do alone.

But when the foundation of your personality is poisoned, you have no defense against it.
I was an Army chaplain assistant. In summer/fall of 2000 I was the ONLY U.S. chaplain assistant stationed in the Middle East.

I was flown around, loaned out to every branch, every religion, even allies from other countries. I heard confessions that still keep me awake at night.
And the common thread running through it all was a simple need for acceptance.

People. Flawed, scarred, terrified people, needed to know that somebody loved them, despite everything they'd done.

And if you're the one selling acceptance, you will have no shortage of customers.
Community is a powerful force. Maybe the most powerful in human experience.

If you can sell someone an identity, you can make them do anything.

ANYTHING.

And none of us are immune.

More from History

Folks who don't know history just tweet whatever they want.

On Feb 1935, Bose attacked the Nazis as he was angry as Indians were described as Sub-Humans in Mein Kampf. The British arrested Bose in April 1936, because he insulted the Nazis.

#Thread


The West at this point had a soft spot for the Nazis. France, Great Britain, Netherlands, Poland all gave the Nazi Salute during the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

Even during the Spanish Civil War (1936 - 1939), the Western powers observed neutrality as the Fascists rose in Spain.


In 1937, Hitler told British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax that one of his fav movies was ‘The Lives of a Bengal Lancer’. Why?

‘The Lives of a Bengal Lancer’ depicted a handful of "superior race" Brits holding sway over an entire Indian subcontinent (Sub-Humans).

"Shoot Gandhi. If necessary, shoot more Congress Leaders (Nehru & Bose)."

- Hitler to Lord Halifax, Britain's Foreign Secretary

This statement by Hitler in 1937 angered many pro-Leftist leaders of the INC including Bose.

Bose reached London in Jan 1938, and he met many leaders of the British Labour Party including Attlee.

1938 & 1939 were two huge years for the Indian National Congress. As i always say, the 10-year phase from 1938 - 1948 shaped modern India and it began in 1938 Haripura session.

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