WWJD? He'd out the LGBTQ kids, of course. Gratuitous cruelty is VERY Christian these days.

If Jack Hibbs is a Christian, I'm Rush Limbaugh's love child

(Because Smiling Jackass Christianity is ALL about gratuitous cruelty directed at children.)

(Quoting her friend Tom Black on an amateur hunter's injury:)

"Lion, rifles -- and stupidity.”

• Beryl Markham, West with the Night

I suppose that one reason I have always detested religion is its sly tendency to insinuate the idea that the universe is designed with 'you' in mind or, even worse, that there is a divine plan into which one fits whether one knows it or not. This kind of modesty is too arrogant for me.

• Christopher Hitchens, Hitch 22: A Memoir

You may call me naïve if you’re so inclined, but during the years my parents required me to go to Sunday School, I was taught that being a Christian was about love, tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion. And more than anything, it was about humility, the idea that none of us are better than anyone else.

Of course, not all of those who attempted to impart those lessons to me lived those words, but I understood that there were good things to be taken away from them. My parents reinforced the idea that people were people and that I was no better or worse than anyone else. The qualities that made me who I am didn’t make me better than someone else; they only made me different.

Fast forward about half a century or so, and I’m still learning that lesson. I’m also learning that far too many “Christians” believe their faith and way of life make them far superior to others who aren’t traveling the same path.

Take American Taliban pastor Jack Hibbs, f’rinstance, who’s a caring and committed Christian like I’m Diana, Princess of Wales. The man’s a flaming, homophobic asshole…and that’s being charitable. This is (nominally, at least) a family show, so I’ll spare you what I really think about him.

Earlier this year, far-right anti-LGBTQ pastor Jack Hibbs announced that he was launching a campaign to pressure local school boards to adopt policies requiring schools to inform parents if their children identify at school in any way other than as the sex listed on their birth certificate.

A bill imposing this requirement on all schools in the state had been introduced in the California legislature, but when it stalled, members of the Chino Valley Unified School District school board enacted a local policy based on the bill’s language.

Because virulent homophobia and gratuitous cruelty to children begin at home, no? Teach ‘em to hate early; they’ll have blood pressure issues their whole life.

It is no coincidence that the Chino Valley school board was among the first to enact this policy, given that the president and several members are congregants at Hibbs’ Calvary Chapel Chino Hills church, as Hibbs confirmed when he appeared on his close friend Charlie Kirk’s program on Wednesday.

“As soon as somebody sent me something that said, ‘Chino Valley school board fights for parents, rights,’ I said, ‘I know Jack Hibbs is involved,'” Kirk said. “I have now learned that my suspicion was correct. All of the Chino Valley USD school board members whose voted for parental disclosure go to your church.”

“Right, Charlie,” Hibbs gloated. “In fact, the president of the school board, Sonja Shaw, she is from our church. You’re exactly right.”

“We took the verbiage from that [state] bill and then introduced it to our Unified School District school board, and they voted and adopted the verbiage,” Hibbs continued. “So what was supposed to go state law turned out to be defeated there at the state—not even heard—but that’s okay. Guess what happened? We found out something, Charlie: That the most powerful politics is local. And so what happened is the school board voted to adopt his verbiage and since that time, Charlie, we’re looking at Murrieta school district, we’re looking at Orange school district, Temecula school district; four school districts have adopted the verbiage, and they are standing strong. We’ve got five others in the state of California coming online to do the same. Charlie, this is the groundswell of involvement.”

The most powerful politics are local? How about the most powerful hatred, bigotry, and homophobia? This isn’t about politics; it’s about enforcing homophobia, transphobia, and gratuitous cruelty as official educational policy. It’s about putting teachers in a position of having to violate their position of trust with students or risk losing their jobs.

If a public school’s job is to educate children, what difference should it make if a child identifies as anything different from what’s on their birth certificate? How does that impact the school’s educational mission?

The short answer, of course, is that it doesn’t. Indeed, some issues may, at some point- locker room and bathroom usage, for example- have an impact. But to require a school to inform on a student would, in some cases, seem to represent a violation of that student’s 1st Amendment rights. Not to mention their trust and sense of security.

Earlier this week, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that his office is suing the Chino Valley school district over this policy on the grounds that it represents a threat to transgender and gender nonconforming youth. For his part, Hibbs says that he welcomes the lawsuit, vowing to “take it to the Supreme Court if necessary.”

What interest does a Christian minister have in ensuring that schools are required to inflict gratuitous cruelty upon vulnerable students? Why would that representative of a Christian God not be primarily concerned with the spiritual and physical well-being of those students?

Because he hates the LGBTQ community more than he loves children (and he’s a truly, profoundly shitty and hypocritical human being).

And since when is such gratuitous cruelty toward children something to be so tremendously proud of?

Unsurprisingly, Jack Hibbs has also launched a nationwide campaign to out LGBTQ students. Yes, Pastor Hibbs Will. Not. Rest…. Until every queer child in America fears for their privacy and safety.

Because that’s what God has called him to do- to be an asshole.

Hibbs—who just last month declared that he was “embarrassed” that he and other pastors are not being attacked for standing against “LBGTQ transgender lunacy” while “kids are being raped by the public school system”—posted an “urgent call to action” on social media Monday in which he announced that he’s launching a campaign to push back against the “demonic and dark satanic powers” that are supposedly “sexualizing” and “mentally abusing” public school students.

The public school system is raping kids? How, precisely, is this happening? “Demonic and dark satanic powers” are “sexualizing” and “mentally abusing” public school students? That’s a lot of heated and hyperbolic rhetoric offered without proof to support it- no examples, no evidence, and nothing to back up his overheated claims.

Then again, Hibbs knows that plenty of people are already inclined to believe him, so all he needs to do is to keep repeating the propaganda, and it won’t be long before it becomes Gospel.

“We are launching right now a campaign to equip and mobilize every citizen to petition—every parent, every grandparent—to petition their local school board, no matter where they live … and demand that your school board adopt the language of AB-1314,” Hibbs said. “We are going to be instructing you shortly on how to do this in your town, requiring your school board to adopt AB-1314 verbiage. … I want parents to know that the school has to notify the parents before they do anything with your child that’s secretive regarding their health, their sexual questioning, whatever. Parents are to be notified.”

He went on to warn that the belief that this nation is a “democracy” is dangerous.

“A democracy steals your kids, kidnaps them, so to speak, at school and takes control,” he continued. “A constitutional republic says, ‘Wait a minute, we have a say.’ Here’s what we’re asking you guys to do: Get your pastors on board, your city council members on board, get your mayor on board, get the word out because we’re coming with this, and it’s going to be great.”

So, Hibbs couldn’t get his bill- AB-1314- adopted statewide, so he resolved that his next best option was to take his campaign school district to school district in California and nationwide.

The sad thing is that Hibbs feels righteous using his monstrous, bastardized Christianity as a basis for his campaign of hatred, bigotry, and gratuitous cruelty.

I may have long outlasted my Sunday School days to become an atheist, but I remember being taught that Jesus Christ never preached against the LGBTQ community. He preached love, acceptance, tolerance, and inclusion, among other positive things. Jack Hibbs- a Christian pastor- practices none of those qualities, and yet he’s leading a church.

I hope there will be reserved parking spaces in the Hell I don’t believe in for Hibbs and those members of his church working to support his efforts to oppress children. And you can add a parking spot for Charlie Kirk's celebration of Hibbs’ work.

And may Jack Hibbs spend eternity with the Sword of Damocles suspended above his neck.

If these folks are Christians, I’m Conan O’Brien.

(All of my posts are now public. Any reader financial support will be considered pledges- support that’s greatly appreciated but not required to get to all of my work. I’ll leave it to my readers to determine if my work is worthy of their monetary support and at what level. To those who do offer their support, thank you. It means more than you know.)