I knew he was trouble

 

Years ago, I became acquainted briefly with the beliefs and ambitions of Michael Farris. Though it was a couple of decades ago now, it was clear then he had the potential to be a big source of trouble from the arch-conservative political side.

Now, years later, it turns out that this assessment was pretty accurate. Farris has been operating under the radar (somewhat) on some of the biggest cultural issues currently diving America.

And he seems pretty proud of that.

The Christian home-schooler who made ‘parental rights’ a GOP rallying cry

Some "highlights":

"In recent years, he [Farris] has reached the pinnacle of the conservative legal establishment. From 2017 to 2022, he was the president and chief executive of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a powerhouse Christian legal group that helped draft and defend the restrictive Mississippi abortion law that led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. ADF and its allies have filed a flurry of state and federal lawsuits over the past two years alleging that public schools are violating parental and religious rights."

And later on:

"Yet to those who have followed Farris’s career, the adoption of his arguments by so many families unconnected to home schooling is a measure of his success. In the eyes of his critics, he has masterfully imported an extreme religious agenda into the heart of the nation’s politics through the seemingly unobjectionable language of parents’ rights. Some argue that it has always been the goal of the most radical Christian home-schoolers not merely to opt out of the public schools but to transform them, either by diverting their funding or allowing religion back into the classroom.

“Everyone should be aware of Michael Farris and his influence on the Christian right,” said R.L. Stollar, a children’s rights advocate who was home-schooled and has long warned of the conservative home-schooling movement’s political goals. “To Farris’s credit, he is really good at what he does. He is really good at taking these more extreme positions and presenting them as if they are something that would just be based on common sense.”

And finally:

"Farris was approached after the speech by Peter Bohlinger, a Southern California real estate magnate who helps lead Ziklag, a group devoted to expanding Christian influence over American culture and government.

Membership in the organization — named after a town in the Bible that David used to organize raids against enemies of the ancient Israelites — is restricted to people with a net worth of at least $25 million, according to a page on Ziklag’s website that was viewed by The Post but has since been made private. The group envisions schools that welcome prayer and “a conservative, biblical worldview in science, humanities and the arts,” according to a Ziklag document that was among several recordings and other materials obtained by Documented and shared with The Post."

Yes, that's Farris.  And he's trouble.

Bad trouble, not good trouble.