Daniel Webster-- Now A Florida Congressman Without A Cult

Last night I took old friend, Wisconsin Democratic Senate Leader Chris Larson, for dinner at the best vegan restaurant in the area, Crossroads. Unfortunately, all the desserts are made with sugar so afterwards, we went down the road to Cafe Gratitude for some sugar-free, gluten-free desserts. As we were parking and walking over to the restaurant, I explained to Chris that the place was run by a cult. He seemed stunned. "Oh, they're harmless enough," I assured him. He seemed skeptical and I explained that I thought they were affiliated with Landmark, a group that grew out of the wreckage of est after that popular cult's founder, Werner Erhard, was accused of having incest with his daughters. Larson seemed totally creeped out and didn't want to go in. I was eager for the apple crumble with cashew nut milk "ice cream." Larson's instinctual revulsion for a cult was something I thought about later. And it drew me back to a time when we were looking at the frightening connections between Christo-fascist cult leader Bill Gothard and extreme right Florida politician Daniel Webster.

A little political background: In 2010, the Florida legislature carved up central Florida around Orlando in such a way to create 4 relatively safe Republican seats for John Mica (FL-07- R+4), Bill Posey (FL-08- R+9), Dennis Ross (FL-15- R+6), and Daniel Webster (FL-10- R+6). To accomplish this, they had to squeeze as many Democrats as possible into one district-- FL-09, which gave Alan Grayson a super-safe D+8 seat. Ungerrymandered, the area would probably send either 3 Democrats and 2 Republicans or, in a really bad year, 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats to Congress, not 4 Republicans and one Democrat-- even if Alan Grayson alone is the equivalent of, at least, 4 Republicans.

The weakest of the 4 Republicans is Daniel Webster, a deranged religious fanatic that many normal people in Orange County and Lake County and some in Polk County are saddled with. Under the old lines, Obama won the district (FL-08) in 2008 by 5 points. The new 2010 boundaries would have had Obama losing the district by 5. In 2012, the district went to Romney 54-46%. Webster was reelected on that day 52-48%, underperforming Romney significantly. Webster is the most politically prominent member of Gothard's deranged Illinois-based cult. Part of Gothard's sick vision that Webster takes so much inspiration from includes "stoning as a form of capital punishment for rape, kidnapping, murder, heresy, blasphemy, witchcraft, astrology, adultery, 'sodomy or homosexuality,' incest, striking a parent, extreme juvenile delinquency, and 'unchastity before marriage'." Worse, Webster has used Gothard's hateful fanaticism as an inspiration for legislation. His degenerate Covenant Marriage bill and his attempts to outlaw divorce in Florida come right out of Gothard's pseudo-religion/cult. Webster doesn't believe in public education; he opposes it and subscribes to Gothard's homeschooling precepts. Webster has a gaggle of uneducated, unemployable offspring who were home-schooled and now work in his air-conditioning repair business.

This week, Kathryn Joyce did a spectacular job in explaining the sex abuse scandals rocking the milieu the Quiverfull Gothard-Duggars-Webster cult exists in, By Grace Alone for The Prospect. Sexually m and raping young women is almost standard operating procedure for cult leaders. Gothard has been forced out of his own cult for multiple rapes of women and underage girls. Dozens of women have come forward with testimony about Rep. Dan Webster's spiritual guru harassing and molesting them.

For years, Protestants have assumed they were immune to the abuses perpetrated by celibate Catholic priests. But Tchividjian believes that Protestant churches, groups, and schools have been worse than Catholics in their response. Mission fields, he says, are “magnets” for would-be molesters; ministries and schools do not understand the dynamics of abuse; and “good ol’ boy” networks routinely cover up victims’ stories to protect their reputations. He fears it is only a matter of time before it all blows up in their faces and threatens the survival of powerful Protestant institutions.

In the past couple of years, Tchividjian has begun to look prophetic. Reports and allegations of sex abuse, rape, and harassment-- and a culture that has badly mishandled them-- have become more and more frequent. In fall 2012, former members of Sovereign Grace Ministries, a “family” of about 80 conservative churches from various theological traditions, filed a class-action lawsuit against the ministry for failing to report allegations of sex abuse in the 1980s and 1990s-- including abuse perpetrated by church leaders’ immediate family members-- and discouraging victims and their families from going to law enforcement. (The lawsuit was dismissed last year because of expired statutes of limitations and jurisdictional questions, but an appeal and criminal investigations are under way.) This spring, an exposé in the New Republic revealed that Patrick Henry, the college of choice for evangelical homeschoolers, has covered up alleged campus rape and sexual assault, thanks largely to its victim-blaming emphasis on women’s purity. Allegations of similar practices soon surfaced against other Christian colleges, including Pensacola Christian College in Florida and Cedarville University in Ohio. A documentary released in February, No Place to Call Home, recounts the systematic sexual abuse of children in the 1980s at Jesus People USA, an evangelical commune in Chicago. The empire of Bill Gothard, founder of the fundamentalist Institute in Basic Life Principles, crumbled earlier this year after bloggers revealed dozens of sexual-harassment and molestation claims against him.

…Tchividjian delivered a scary set of facts: If general statistics apply-- a quarter of U.S. women and a sixth of men have been sexually abused before age 18… Congregations need to understand that churches are targets and havens for abusers. One study has found that 93 percent of admitted sex offenders describe themselves as religious. Offenders who report strong church ties abuse more often, with younger victims. That’s not because Christians are inherently more abusive, he said, but because they’re more vulnerable to those who are. Tchividjian repeated what one convicted sex abuser told clinical psychologist Anna Salter in her book Predators: Pedophiles, Rapists, and Other Sex Offenders: "Church people"-- always looking to see the best in people, to welcome converts, to save sinful souls-- are “easy to fool.”

Tchividjian rattled off ways in which Christians’ openness can allow abuse to go unchecked: Perpetrators tend to use scripture to coerce, justify, and silence. If they’re clergy, they will exploit their positions; if they’re laypeople, they will take advantage of a church hungry for volunteers and rely on the trust given to members of a church family. “The reason why offenders get away with what they do is because we have too many cultures of silence,” Tchividjian said. “When something does surface, all too often the church leadership quiets it down. Because they’re concerned about reputation: ‘This could harm the name of Jesus, so let’s just take care of it internally.’"

Although Webster is the Republican most frequently associated with Gothard and his crackpot cult, the serial rapist has, according to the Washington Post rubbed shoulders with Republican luminaries, from GOP presidential wanna-be Mike Huckabee and former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue to Ms Republican herself, Sarah Palin. Gothard's tale of woe sounds exactly like cult leader Werner Erhard's back in the '70s and early '80s when his followers included Yoko, Diana Ross, Cher, Joe Namath, John Denver, Jeff Bridges, Patrick Swayze, Peter Gabriel, Ida Rolf (the creator of rolfing) and several members of the 5th Dimension.

The allegations against Gothard dovetail with financial woes. In recent years, IBLP’s net revenue has dropped significantly, and the ministry is losing money. In 2009, it reported a net income loss of $1 million. It lost $4.1 million in 2011, and $3.5 million in 2012, according to its most recently available tax forms. Its net assets dropped from $92 million in 2010 to $81 million in 2012.

Since it started as a class at Gothard’s alma mater, Wheaton College, in 1961, more than 2.5 million people have gone through his “basic seminar” training on authority, success and other issues. IBLP held 504 seminars in 2010, but that number dropped to fewer than 50 in 2012.

The financial decline came around the same time that the whistle-blowing website Recovering Grace was formed in 2011. A string of allegations has been posted on the website, including one alleging Gothard molested a woman who was underage in the early 1990s. Four articles allege Gothard engaged in sexual harassment, and four articles allege his failure to report child abuse to Child Protective Services.

Calls placed to IBLP Thursday and Friday were not immediately returned.

Gretchen Swearingen, who goes by her middle name “Charlotte,” wrote on the website that Gothard requested she come work for him in 1992 at IBLP’s headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill., when she was 16. During her time there, she said Gothard would play footsie with her and hold her hand. At one point, she said, he had coordinated a ride from the airport for them to be together. “That’s when he first put his hand between my legs and felt me all the way up,” she wrote.

Now 38, she said the statute of limitations has expired, leaving her unable to sue. She said she told her mother, who told her that she was lying, so Swearingen assumed there was nothing she could do.

“No one was there when the molestation was happening,” she said in an interview. “I never had the guts to say anything. I thought if my mother didn’t believe me, who would? You’re not to bring home false witness against someone at headquarters.”

She said that she and her mother have reconciled since she wrote her story.

Swearingen said she reported her story to the Hinsdale (Ill.) Police Department a week ago. A police spokesman said no investigation has been opened at this time.

“It’s not about revenge, not about suing him or taking him to court,” she said. “It’s about my healing and giving other people voices.”

Gothard would create an emotional bond with several women during counseling, said Rachel Frost, who also worked at IBLP’s headquarters when she was 16.

“There was a very common grooming pattern of creating emotional bonds and physical affirmations, the footsie, the leg rubs, the stroking of the hair, the constant comments on physical appearance,” she said.

She also wrote about her experience on the Recovering Grace website.

Julie Terrell, another woman who worked at IBLP’s headquarters, said Gothard sexually harassed her when she worked there in 1998. But before stories were posted at Recovering Grace, she never thought to say anything.

One woman behind the Recovering Grace website, who declined to be named because she did not want to hurt the reputation of her husband who is a pastor, said 34 women told the website they had been sexually harassed; four women alleged molestation. She said she refers anyone whose story is within the statute of limitations to the police.

Daniel Webster (FL-10) on Gothard's demented teachings: "They are the basis for everything I do today." He brags about using Gothard's sick, corrupted rants in the political life of his district: