response.homesteadheritage.comResponse to Criticism - Homestead Heritage

Response Homestead Heritage Response Response to Criticism Homestead Heritage Our Story Beliefs Events FAQ Contact Us In the Press Visitor Comments Response to Criticism Videos Site Map Response to Criticism The first to present his case seems right, Till another comes forward and questions him. – Hebrew Proverb A man calumniated is doubly injured—first by him who utters the calumny, and then by him who believes it.” – Herodotus Quick Links For the Sake of the Children… What’s Really behind WFAA’s Report on Homestead Heritage? All Videos Watch all of the videos related to the recent media attacks. Waco Trib: Guest Column about the WFAA Story The guest column as published in the Waco Tribune Herald, May 13, 2012. Response to WFAA Our response to the WFAA news feature. Response to Observer Our point by point response to the Observer article. Petition Ex-members’ petition against slander. Comments Important note about this web page: We at Homestead Heritage hold no ill will towards any of the former members who instigated and participated in this slanderous media attack against us (which has found two venues but is really one story with common sources). Nor do we hold any personal animus towards the media personnel involved. Our goal with any who may differ with us has always been reconciliation, not polarization. This is one reason why we feel the public news media is not an appropriate forum to seek as a mouthpiece for airing grievances, as that course inevitably tends to drive wedges deeper. Our place as Christians is to forgive wrongdoing, not to retaliate. Nonetheless, we also feel an obligation to do what we can to uphold and defend the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ and His work on the earth, whether that be in our own community or in any other individual or church expression. Thus we felt it appropriate to offer some explanation of our position in these matters. The purpose of this website is simply to give place to the truth, for the sake of those who still hold it dear. Media Criticism of Homestead Heritage Over the past decades, our community has received much unsolicited media attention from both local and national sources. The vast majority of this has been positive—we’ve been featured in and recommended by numerous distinguished organizations and publications, including Southern Living magazine, Texas Highways magazine, Christianity Today magazine, Baylor University’s KWBU public broadcast network, Better Homes and Gardens magazine, Woodwork magazine, the local chamber of commerce, several Texas TV stations, a brief column in the New York Times, and many other newspaper and television pieces. (Click here for links and references) No one can embrace our nonviolent, nonpolitical, simple agrarian lifestyle with its traditional Christian values and not expect to become the target of some less tolerant social elements, people who attempt to exploit the public media as a tool to further their own agendas. No one, however, can embrace our nonviolent, nonpolitical, simple agrarian lifestyle with its traditional Christian values and not expect to become the target of some less tolerant social elements, people who attempt to exploit the public media as a tool to further their own agendas. This is most easily accomplished not by openly contesting our actual beliefs on intellectual or religious grounds, but rather by airing sensational, inflammatory accusations. While typically subjective and unverifiable, such accusations nonetheless have a strong shock factor and emotional impact on the public. They also leave a residual taint even if the accusations prove to be false. Unfortunately, media outlets are sometimes all too willing to be drawn in simply because they, too, can profit from the big scoop” on a sensational story. This proves particularly tempting if the story follows what other journalists call the law of currency”—that is, if it contains material that is similar to other popular current stories. The recent article titled Heritage of Abuse in the Texas Observer news magazine (March 2012) and the recent news feature on WFAA Channel 8 TV in Dallas (April 2012) are both examples of this kind of irresponsible, sensational reporting. These stories both came from the same sources, and the reporters were in competition with each other to be the first to blow the whistle.” The stories feature the testimony of individuals who were once associated with us to one degree or another (many of whom remain anonymous) but who now claim to be exposing physical, psychological and sexual abuse that they and others allegedly suffered while a part of our community. The false accusations even include the allegation that we tolerate and cover up sexual abuse of minors—a particularly volatile charge in the aftermath of the recent Penn State scandal. (In fact, in a promotional email sent to the Observer’s supporters, the editor specifically compares their story to the Penn State scandal.) Our Open Community We’ve been open to the public for over twenty years, and we now have well over 50,000 visitors annually. One of the single most preposterous claims or insinuations made about our community at Homestead Heritage is that we have attempted to hide our life from others. We’ve been open to the public for over twenty years, and we now have well over 50,000 visitors annually. Some of these are visitors to our Homestead Craft Village, which is open six days a week year-round, featuring our craft shops, a gristmill, a cafe and fine gift store. Others attend workshops and seminars in our Ploughshare School of Sustainability or attend one of several special music events. Thousands have made our annual Homestead Craft Fair an annual tradition on Thanksgiving weekend. We also host 4,000-6,000 public and private school children each year for a field trip and tour of our farm. Church, senior and civic groups make frequent visits. University professors bring classes out for tours and field studies on topics ranging from geology and sustainable agriculture to sociology, religion, church history and theology. Seminary graduate classes regularly come to ply our members with questions about our Christian beliefs and our lifestyle. Still others attend our church picnics or join us for meetings and fellowship in our homes. We’ve distributed many books that go into great depth about our teachings and practices. We minister and hold church services and Bible studies in nursing homes, prisons, detention centers, rehab centers and underprivileged neighborhoods, in addition to ministering in area churches not affiliated with us. On top of all this, we’ve generally been quite open to the public media, even allowing TV investigations in the wake of the David Koresh debacle, when we weren’t sure that the current cultural climate would be particularly favorable towards a small, close-knit religious community on the outskirts of Waco! But in spite of all this, it seems that there are still a few individuals and media personnel who feel it their duty to expose our grand deception” and inform those hundreds of thousands of duped visitors, as well as thousands of long-acquainted neighbors, family members and friends of our community (not to mention our hundreds of members), of the terrible truth”that they couldn’t see for themselves. Why Some Former Members Are Bitter In nine times out of ten, the slanderous tongue belongs to a disappointed person. —George Bancroft There are many former members of our community who still maintain friendly, respectful relationships with us. In fact, many of them are quite incensed at all the inflammatory accusations of other former members who now claim that they have the inside story” on our community life that they’ve escaped” from. These friendly former members have also expressed their disappointment that their positive testimonies about our community have been all but ignored by the media. Some of them even asked us to make available to them some way...