https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/06/people-of-praise-accused-child-abuse-amy-coney-barrett

The founder of the People of Praise, a secretive charismatic Christian group that counts supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett as a member, was described in a sworn affidavit filed in the 1990s as exerting almost total control over one of the group’s female members, including making all decisions about her finances and dating relationships.

The court documents also described alleged instances of a sexualized atmosphere in the home of the founder, Kevin Ranaghan, and his wife, Dorothy Ranaghan.

A third woman, Susan Reynolds, said in a sworn statement that she lived in the Ranaghan household, and that she had at one point been “shocked” to hear that Kevin Ranaghan sometimes showered with two of his daughters, who were ten or eleven at the time. She said in her statement she was later told by Dorothy Ranaghan that Kevin had “decided to quit showering with them” after Reynolds had questioned Dorothy about the practice.

The Ranaghans did not file any affidavits in connection to the 1993 proceeding, to which they were not a party.

Dorothy Ranaghan declined to comment to the Guardian. Kevin Ranaghan said: “These allegations are nearly three decades old, outlandish, and completely without merit. We have a loving and affectionate marriage of 55 years and have welcomed dozens of people into our home as part of our religious faith and commitment to service to God.”

It was one of my supervisors (and a good friend) at my job in the 1990s who once told me that when the doors are shut and locked and the lights go out (and sometimes when the lights stay on), you have absolutely no idea about what's going on inside that residence. This story is a case in point. Both liberals and conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court have said in past decisions (I'm thinking about the one involving technology that can actually see what's going on inside a house from outside) that a man's home is his castle and that police officers need probable cause and a full-blown search warrant before entering that castle. I don't think this is going to change, at least not for conservative, wealthy white people who are religious. So, expect to occasionally read (or hear) stories like the one posted, but understand that it will be hushed up very quickly and no further action will be taken because of what I've just mentioned, because of the Statute of Limitations, and because it is not considered a misdemeanor or felony (though it is certainly improper) for a father to shower with his own daughters.

Yeah, funny how that works!

You show me someone as weird about religion as the handmaid judge and I'll wager there's a culture of abuse behind them.

Sheep gotta be sheep getting fleeced and bred.

I don't see anything wrong with living in a nudist family as long as it doesn't involve any coercion or intimidation regarding sex sexuality or other åreas of life. A respectul parent allows children to make their own decisions on this & other important lifestyle items.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/2022 11:46AM by GNPE.

It's no different than Joseph Smith making up a story about "god" telling him via an "angel with a flaming sword" to have sex with his fourteen-year-old maid.

anybody Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> . . . a secretive
> charismatic Christian group . . . total control over one of the
> group’s female members, including making all
> decisions about her finances and dating
> relationships . . .
> . . . sexualized atmosphere in the home
> of the founder, . . .
===============================

Recurrent pattern (authoritarian hierarchy, control/obedience, exploitation, poly-ish sex in some form or another, willing participation at the time e.g. NXIVM & numerous others not only Christian) almost to being the rule rather than exception.
Pattern is of passing interest; question is why.

In the Pacific Northwest from a couple miles up on a clear day can see a line of volcanic cones north-south paralleling the coastline almost as if laid by straight edge. Theory now is well, it's plate tectonics - volcanoes being but the symptom of the cause (moving geological plates)

So if the recurrent pattern is "symptom," question is what are the tectonic underpinnings, and is it a feature or a bug.
Characteristic seems to have survived through aeons

I wish that this had been investigated more extensively when Barrett was nominated. Catholic is one thing, but this odd cult, quite another.

Not a chance. Trump and McConnell and the Congressional Republican delegation wanted someone who was 1) committed to overturning Roe, and 2) a woman.

Recall what happened to Kavanaugh. Jeff Flake had a fit of conscience and insisted on an FBI investigation, and witnesses from Yale begged the bureau for interviews but were denied the opportunity. I know one of those people--I don't like him but he is honorable--a classmate of Kavanaugh's who went on to clerk for a Republican-appointed circuit judge and then an SC justice and hence was credible. But the FBI had been instructed to keep the investigation short and narrow, and Flake did not object. So the investigators discovered nothing.

Meanwhile, Susan Collins, that cheap date, pronounced herself "deeply concerned" and then did just what the men in her life wanted.

Given that Flake had assuaged his elevator conscience, there was no one in the GOP to take a stand in favor of a pretend investigation of Coney Barrett's background. In short, there was no chance in Hades that a meaningful investigation would have occurred.

I know. But it's still odd to see someone caught up in a questionable cult get a free pass in that regard.

Welcome to the modern United States of America.