Thursday, March 02, 2006

Phil Heimlich’s Gothard Connections Say Citizens Are “Fools”

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati

When Silja Talvi at In These Times published ”The Cult of Character,” she pointed the national spotlight on Cincinnati, Ohio—specifically the role County Commissioner Phil Heimlich has played in bringing Bill Gothard’s organization to Cincinnati politics, education, and policing.  Today, The Cincinnati Beacon has new documents in this developing scandal.

In 2000, and in 2002, the Character Council of Greater Cincinnati brought Sheriff Ray Nash to town to give an extensive “character training” seminar to the police and fire departments.  Public records are sparse on this training, but we did acquire a packet entitled “Police Dynamics Institute Conference Workbook.” It consists of some original writing, and then reprinted newspaper articles about the Character First! program.

To your right, you can see an image representing one page from the training materials.  (We apologize for the low resolution.) The page is labeled “Dynamic of Discretion,” and it starts by naming “Five Types of Fools”:

As you can see, underneath these definitions is a diagram.  It places a stick figure labeled “authority” at the top of a pyramid.  Under the figure’s feet the block is labeled, “under authority,” and all the steps on which this authority stands have each been labeled “Fool.”

I find all of this rather troubling, and strange.  First, I don’t like the definition of Fool #3.  I don’t like the simple idea that courts are in charge of supervising those who are “immoral” or “impure.” These terms cross wires in terms of private religious beliefs and public policy. 

Can it be any surprise that Sheriff Ray Nash, moderator of the event, made headlines in his local town when he fired someone for living with a woman out of wedlock?

From The Daily News:

The Character training here for our police and fire was overwhelmingly well received, but there were some noteworthy “minority reports” in some unsigned evaluations of the program.  My favorite:  “Sometimes I got the feeling I was at a Promise Keepers meeting.  Kept waiting to get baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.”

In some capacity, this training is still with our police department.  Go to the links page through the Police section of Cincinnati’s government site, and the second item you will find points toward a “Character Counts!” web page.

So there you have it.  Phil Heimlich is affiliated with a cult-like group of Bill Gothard followers who trained our police officers to think that everyone under authority is a fool. 

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Betty Rubble says:
02 Mar 2006  at  12:25 pm | #

This reminds me of the creepy mind games that Scientology and other cults use. The thing that jumps out is the name-calling like “fool.” This is the hallmark of unethical cult groups. They identify vulnerable people by using denigration and/or aggressive tactics. Those who respond are identified as good marks for the cult to move in on.

Anybody remember EST? At their infamous seminars, they called attendees “assholes” and denied them the right to go to the bathroom when they wanted to. The healthy response to such treatment is to leave, but lots of people didn’t and handed over their savings to Werner Erhard and company. 

What does any of this have to do with police work? Dean, are these meetings compulsory or optional for Cincinnati Police? Why don’t you call Chief Streicher for a comment?

funnelcake says:
02 Mar 2006  at  02:47 pm | #

4—Mocks authority, gets simple fool in trouble, needs public punishment

Uh-oh.  The Gothards must be after bloggers (especially the Dean).  I mean come on, mocking authority MUST be punished.

Fool#4 says:
02 Mar 2006  at  03:12 pm | #

Philty Phil likes to go to mega-churches like crossroads and ask for small contributions. As if $25,000 from Carl Lindner isn’t enough. Watch out for the bible thumping Jews for Jesus, like Hiemlich.

SupaFreak says:
02 Mar 2006  at  10:37 pm | #

1—Believes anything, needs instruction
2—Out for a good time, needs discipline
3—Immoral, impure, needs court supervision/intervention
4—Mocks authority, gets simple fool in trouble, needs public punishment
5—Set on evil, needs prison

Jesus, this is like something from S&M or bondage/fetish porn.

“You’ve been a bad boy. Out for a good time, but now you need discipline. On your knees, Fool! Develop your character...or taste the lash of the Lord!”

Anon says:
03 Mar 2006  at  12:02 am | #

Truly alarming. Thanks for bringing all of this attention to it.

Another Anon says:
03 Mar 2006  at  12:15 am | #

Dean - How about inviting Phil Heimlich to write an article on your blog about Bill Gothard and the “Character” program? I’d love to read what he has to say.

says:
03 Mar 2006  at  12:18 am | #

Thanks for your work on this issue, Dean.  The diagram appears to illustrate that there are 2 desired types of people, the umbrella of “authority”, and those who submit to authorities. Every other type of person is a “fool”.  The message is: Submit to authority, and never question it - ("Never question dear beloved leader").

Betty Rubble - EST is now “Landmark Education” and even more dangerous, probably because it isn’t in the public eye so much.

Influence Peddler says:
03 Mar 2006  at  01:43 am | #

Is this is the same group of people that are involved with KHK in Milford? If it is they need to go away, probably to jail. Scary stuff.