Yet Another Student Handbook That Would Make Draco Jealous

From the Handbook of Calvary Christian School, a “ministry” of Calvary Baptist Church of King, NC. One can only assume that none of these children have parents.

Any student who decides to operate a personal online website or contributes to a blog must register the website/blog with the school office. (Ex: facebook, blogger.com, YouTube, etc.) The website must be registered immediately upon its creation.

Any student who creates a website or blog prior to attending Calvary Christian School must register the website/blog before final acceptance is granted. All websites/blogs will be monitored for content on a regular basis. Any student found with an unregistered website or blog, or website or blog material that is deemed inappropriate to the purpose and mission of Calvary Baptist Church and Calvary Christian School will be in direct disobedience to this ruling. This will result in disciplinary action as detailed below, and repeat offenses can lead to dismissal from Calvary Christian School.

1st offense: 25 demerits + 1 detention
2nd offense: 1-day out-of-school suspension
3+ offense: Case-by-case administrative ruling

“Inappropriate material” posted on any publicly accessible location (website, blog, YouTube, etc.) includes, but is not limited to,

1) any words, phrases, communications, pictures or images deemed by the pastor or principal to be inappropriate,

2) any text naming or referring to Calvary Baptist Church or Christian School, its personnel or students,

3) any images of CCS students, faculty, or facilities without the
express consent of every person in the image, the parents of students shown, and the school administration.

NOTE regarding Myspace: Because of the uncontrollable nature of
Myspace, the regular ungodly advertising banners, the easy links to ungodly material, etc, Myspace is completely off limits. Anyone who has already opened a Myspace account must cease from using it, and must register it as described above (because it cannot be deleted).

See also: Controlling The Flow Of Information.

311 thoughts on “Yet Another Student Handbook That Would Make Draco Jealous”

  1. Hey – this is my first time posting! Just wanted to say thanks for your blog – my dad was (recently retired) an IFB pastor and I went to PCC, so I feel like y’all are my people. Did anyone else grow up fundie and Doctrines of Grace? We grew up hating on both the Jack Hyles (shudder) types AND the liberals 😉

    1. My kids may fall into that category now, although the craziest of the fundies would disavow us for using the ESV, being too contemporary in terms of music (although I still think we are too conservative), supporting efforts like T4G or The Gospel Coalition, etc. Our high school graduates have ended up at BJU, Clearwater, Maranatha and, (gasp) Moody.

    2. My parents were Fundy and Reformed. It meant that for most of their church-going lives they had to ignore what the Fundy preacher said about their “type”.

    3. I may know you…are you from Georgia?

      We were “Doctrines of gace” and anti-Hyles etc. and PCC also

      If you are new here….beware the bitterness of frquent backsliders who like to use this as as a weapon, and the infiltration of lost people who mock Christianity itself, but Darrell and Pastors wife and others here are great
      😉

  2. I see the church has its own diploma mi—erm, college, and that all the staff are graduates of said college. I’m willing to bet that no one there would blink at the inbreeding problem.

    When I was on staff at Fundy U there was a similar list of dos and don’ts for the staff. This list also applied to the spouses of grad students, even if the spouses weren’t students. I had one grad student coworker fly into a rage on the phone one afternoon when someone called him and told him to tell his wife that she couldn’t wear shorts while she was doing her gardening in the middle of summer.

    Me, I just ignored all the rules that I knew they had no right to enforce. I was hourly – you can’t tell me what I can and can’t do when I’m at my own apartment that I pay for, on my own time that I’m not getting paid for. Only once did someone call me on it, and they received the most disinterested look in the history of disinterested looks while they tried to chew me out. When he finally said his bit, I asked, “Are you done? I need to get back to work.” Never heard another peep. 😀

    1. That’s seems like a superfluous rule at a place that says it doesn’t allow sex at all in the past, present, or (we assume) future.

      1. IDK for sure, but I assume they mean any kind of same gender attraction or any questioning of your sexual identity is also banned, not just sexual behavior.

  3. The Bible on their emblem is clip art. I used to use it years ago when I would made the teen church prayer lists.

    1. All the images on the shield are cheap-jack clip art I recognize from the 1980s. Apparently, whoever designed the thing couldn’t figure out how to change the size of any of the clips, or just didn’t care enough to try. At least, I’m guessing that’s why the flag is bigger than the Bible, and the snarling animal is bigger than everything, and the rabbit’s foot or whatever that thing at the top is looks like it was crammed in there as an afterthought when there was no space left.

  4. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, so after finishing my degree at BJU (long, sad story there) I heard of a schoool in Charleston who badly needed a teacher. I contacted the principle and he was highly interested in me, asking me to come down for an interview the following weekend.

    Literally on my way out the door to go meet this man, I gave their student handbook a quick read. Thank God I did! It was the usual uber-fundy concentration camp. Shiver. I called the principle and told him I was no longer interested 💡

    1. I almost applied to the local Christian school. I was innocent enough that I didn’t understand why it called itself “the” Christian school when there was a Catholic school about a mile down the road. Then I saw the box for “Date Saved” on the job application.

      First response: “About 2,000 years ago, give or take a few. Why? 😀 ”

      Second response: “Wait–WAIT–are they seriously asking that on a job application? This is disgusting. What are they going to ask me next, the details of what my husband and I do in private?” As a cradle Lutheran, I was raised to think of the two topics as equally nobody else’s business and people who insist on discussing either topic as creeps.

      Third response: *crumple* *toss*

      Reading here, I’ve learned what kind of bullet I dodged. Whew!

    1. Also, no drinking bathtub gin at speakeasies where flappers are doing the Charleston.

  5. Listening to one of the sermons from the website.

    “We ought never get over being a fundamental Baptist, amen?”

    1. Well, I had that once, but a couple courses of antibiotics cleared it right up!

    2. The question is do any of us ever completely get over it? I think it’s one of those viruses that lie dormant, then break out again. If one does not keep taking the Truth Serum, it can expunge 20 years of true living in 3 seconds.

  6. My brother, Uriah, has several websites and forums where he posts things about his technical forays into the techie world. I don’t know anything about those, but he says that the general rule is “you’ll find what you are looking for.” He says that if you are looking for a place to “be yourself” that the internet is the worst place for that. Nobody is themselves online.

    I don’t understand that at all. I mean, all your info is on your profile of whatever site you are on and it tells me all about you right there, right? I read a lot of blogs written by other maidens-in-waiting and the comments left are always positive and Savior-honoring. I haven’t ever seen a negative comment!

    Also, I read a site called “Ladies Against Feminism” and it is full of articles warning against the emotional adultery found on Facebook and the heresy that can be found on some forums that claim to be Christian.

    I do my best to stick with only those sites that honor God and that I know my Pastor would approve of. He doesn’t even use a computer. He says that John R. Rice never needed one, so neither does he!

    1. I know not to get too serious, but I gotta AMEN something.

      “you’ll find what you are looking for.”

      That’s exactly it. If you want to use the web for good things, you’ll find good things. If you don’t, you won’t. What a person does online only reflects what they already are. I have no fear of being corrupted by what I do online. OTOH, I know people who I wouldn’t trust online or off. It’s all a matter of the heart.

      And yes, there are honest people online, and I get disgusted by those who aren’t and have to ruin everyone else’s fun.

      All that said, your pastor might want to lighten up. The only reason JRR wasn’t online was because there was no public access to the Internet in his lifetime. If JRR were alive today, he’d use Facebook 😀

    2. Two proverbs for you:
      “On the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog.”
      (From an old New Yorker cartoon)

      “In Internet chat rooms, men are men. Women are also men, and children are undercover cops.”
      (Alex Boese)

      1. *or children are Shaq. I always wished they would make a reality show of Shaq (an honorary deputy in whatever city he is selling his talents to this year). he poses as a child an trolls online for pervs. i’d love to see their faces when HE showed up with a gang o’ cops to arrest the scum.

  7. So if I have an unregistered website and they find it and it is completely harmless, then nothing happens right?

  8. I know for a fact that my old IFB church had people who worked as Facebook spies. I said something entirely true about the folly of having double standards, and within 24 hours, I had been ordered to remove what I wrote and ordered to meet with the pastor before Wednesday service. Because I was still running the Stupid Minion OS, I complied.

    Now, Pastor was not on Facebook, so he wouldn’t say how he found out. But, he luckily gave me his copy of my status update, and it was in an email message from one of the deacons. At least I knew who to block and unfriend.

    1. I had that happen, but the deacon who called me told me it was the head deacon who told him. So I deleted and blocked all my church “friends”. Now I can say whatever the heck I want.

      1. @ Tammy
        I posted a blog from SFL on my facebook page and one of my fundy friends got all butt-hurt over it and said that I had to either take it off OR unfriend her. I told her I wasn’t unfriending anyone and that she didn’t have to read it if she didn’t want to.

        End result: I have one less friend on facebook. Probably for the better.

    2. My husband and I got in trouble at a church because of a joke Tweet at each other. The tweet was seen by the children’s pastor, who forwarded it to the head pastor, who then sent the college pastor to deal with us. That was the last Baptist church we attended, because I said I’d had enough. We’ve been happy Presbyterians ever since. The worst part was that, what we were joking about wasn’t even a sin, the pastor himself said so from the pulpit, and if anyone had bothered to talk to us about it, I could’ve cleared it all up and said it was a joke. There was no need to bother them with facts. It worked out for the best, though. We’re in a great urban church now. Very diverse and full of great people.

    1. Did you see this quote from March 16th?

      It was exciting to see 2 of my former students teaching a Bible lesson in chapel this morning. They are 9th graders now. They did such a good job. “Yesterday” I saw them as sweet little girls; today as sharp young ladies wanting to serve the Lord. I’ll be thrilled to see what tomorrow holds for them.

      I’ll just let that sink in… then go that the popcorn and soda and watch the comments. 😉

        1. They wouldn’t preach in HS chapel, but they would use women sometimes to teach the elementary school kids, just 6th grade and under. We also had men speakers in elementary school too.
          What we really need to talk about in reference to chapel, is the prayer chapel that they have/had once a week, where we would exchange prayer sheets and the principal would read them all and if he detected anyone in wrong doing based off of them, he would make inquiries and offending students would get in trouble. I had friends who were suspended because of them.

        2. I can’t find anyplace that I can post a comment! What kind of crap is that?? hehe

        3. @AreYouSerious I’m assuming you haven’t liked them? I believe you should be able to if you like the school. I don’t wanna like them to find out for sure.

      1. that makes me want to puke. in an earlier post some one said “I want to marry Pastor when i grow up.” probly how alot of this $#!T starts. easy for the IFB to rant and rave about the “Sick Papist” and their cover-up and shuffle of offenders, but it has happened countless times in the IFB circle i was part of. Huge part of the reason i “separated” from that mess

      2. Last year, on the FB page the principal quoted an old testament verse about grumbling, and said that when parents and children grumbled about the school/ teachers, they didn’t realize they were actually grumbling against God.

  9. I love the part where slang is not allowed, and the examples given were “gosh, golly, and gee.” Because, you know, THOSE are the slang words we need to be concerned about! Of course, as a heathen public school kid, my ears were probably violated with slang words their virgin ears have never dreamed of! 😀

  10. My favorite reason for insanely stupid, controlling rules:

    “Well, we have to draw the line somewhere.”

    Thanks, because that’s totally what Jesus was about, drawing a bunch of lines and telling you not to cross them.

    WEIRD.

    1. That makes me think of that bugs bunny cartoon (I think it was him) where he draws the line in the sand multiple times and tells Yosemite Sam not to cross it, and in the end Sam is falling off a cliff. 😀

    2. Actually, Jesus did write in the sand. But it wasn’t a line. And all the pharisees walked away in shame. I wonder what He would write today, and how many church leaders could still stand there? ❓

  11. Not being able to mention the school, that just seems like damage control to me. Let’s be a light to the world but let’s keep all our fundy secrets.
    My mom is a hard-core fundy. I finally told her the fundy movement loses more young peole than any other Christian movement. Why do you think this happens? She couldn’t answer me because she knew the truth is the legalistic rules are crazy and wrong.

    1. I think this hits a raw nerve with so many people, because so many of us that grew up in IFB church went to IFB schools. These schools had a many flaws that I feel did such a disservice to so many children. They were filled with hypocrisy; did not prepare us for the world outside of the Christian bubble; and if you look at the crazy rules, tried to break you.

      I have to say, that in my personal experience in IFB CC, the hypocrisy was devastating to my mind. The double standards that existed blew my mind. If you were a student in the inner circle (pastor’s child, deacon’s child, big-time tither’s child) a different set of rules applied. They were treated different, disciplined different and constantly elevated as the ideal model (regardless of what we knew about their personal life).

      I did not have BJU or PCC on my list of colleges. Because of that, not one teacher/ guidance counselor (oh wait, we didn’t have one of those)/ or any other staff gave me the time of day. My mother was pretty with it, so at least I knew to take my SAT’s. We had not SAT prep, no pre-SAT pre (all things that are offered and encouraged in the *gasp* public school where I teach now.)

      When I was in school, I had teachers lie about me (thankfully I had proof that got me out of that punishment), I had teachers punish me for totally bogus infractions, and I had to live by the totally insane set of laws that they arbitrarily set up. I’m pretty sure God freed us from the law, only to have men set up their own new laws. Hummmm .. God complex anyone?

      The lies told to us about secular colleges/ public schools were ludicrous as well. This caused me to question many of the other “fact” I had been taught while sitting under these mennagawd. If they lied about the public school environment, why should I believe what was taught about anything else? When I went to public college, no one offered me drugs, I wasn’t invited to any orgies, and no one asked me to worship Satan.

      All of this hit a (still) raw nerve and it has been 15 years. The damage done to my developing mind is still there and the bitterness is still there. It is something that I acknowledge and I pray about. My heat is slowly healing, but no thanks to the IFB churches I have attended.

      1. Shoe, I agree with you 100%. I would have gotten a better education at the local public schools.
        Students who attend schools like this are getting an inferior education. Their knowledge of science is dismal. “Talking Snake Theory” is not a gateway to a rewarding, well paying job.
        Many will end up being members of America’s underclass, working low paying jobs for the rest of their lives.
        When I announced I was attending a secular college, I got the cold shoulder at my fundie school. Getting away from fundie “education” was one of the best decisions I even made.

      2. I know exactly what you mean. We have had similar backgrounds as far as schooling is concerned. The times I was accused of something I was always able to get myself out of it with a logical argument.

        I saw nothing but hypocrisy in the “Christian” schools. Especially since my mom was a teacher there. I was definitely treated different, except the other teachers and administrator took a more harsh approach to me. I remember my brother getting written up for “improper use of a kleenex.”

        When it was time for me to go to college, my mom pretty much said that I WILL be going to PCC. I said no and it’s been a rough relationship ever since. So instead of going to college right out of high school, because I wasn’t allowed to apply anywhere else, I joined the military and ran the risk of being blown up. Looking back, I was really surprised at myself on how far I was willing to go to get away from fundyland.

        I am now going to a secular college. The same exact result as you. I haven’t been offered any drugs, invites to big parties or anything. Everyone I’m in contact with is fairly objective to everything. I’m learning that things that I was taught were evil, aren’t.

        Although, I just recently renounced fundyism, I still have those stupid idiosyncrasies that have been ingrained into my skull. It may take a while to get rid of all the condemning and judgmental attitudes.

        Thanks for your insight and openness Shoes.

        1. Chalk me up as having similar experiences, including being a teacher’s kid. Unfortunately, my older sister got the brunt of the abuse…although I had my fair share. She got it first though, so when they got to me, I think they felt like they already did that to her. The hypocrisy was maddening, especially to a “powerless” child/teenager. I questioned everything, and at my church/school, that was not a good idea. I was generally curious though, because most of the explanations we were given made no sense, so I tried to use logic…bad idea.

          Thankfully, I was spared a fundy college because my parents paid for my sister to attend HAC, and when it was my turn, they couldn’t afford it, so I went to a local community college. Talk about eye opening! And…it wasn’t at all what they made them out to be, I had a great time there.

      3. “When I went to public college, no one offered me drugs, I wasn’t invited to any orgies, and no one asked me to worship Satan.”

        Me neither. I can’t say I wasn’t disappointed. I guess you and I both picked the wrong public colleges.
        Actually, most of the overtures I got were from students inviting me to study with them, or to play ping-pong in the Student Union. Somehow, they hadn’t gotten the message we were supposed to be having orgies.

        1. What really blew my mind was how genuine everyone was. No looking one way, acting another. that was what i was used to from 12 years at CC. As time went by, I DID see that if you wanted to, there were outlets for ungodly activities, but it was a choise. No one held a gun to my head or even offered these activities. it really was something you had to search out. And really that was my wicked heart choosing to sin, not the result of pressure from someone.

  12. Would someone please tell me that the original posting was made up? I find it absolutely incredible that in 2011 anyone would be willing to cede that much of their personal life to any organization or creed.

  13. From one of the teachers on the schools FB page:

    Dinah M. Satterfield
    Nineth grade is about to start their first research paper! I appreciate their enthusiasm, and from their topic choices I will have some exciting papers to read!

    Nineth grade? 🙄 😆

  14. This is disturbing, imo. Children as young as K-4 are punished with “palm pops” ” which are 1-3 “pops” on the palm of the hand with a ruler, given by the teacher.

    1. “Palm pops”? Putting a cutesy name on a punishment intended to produce pain is rather disgusting.

    2. “Palm Pops” = sleight of word.
      That makes punishment sound like fun candy! That’s awesome! didn’t they do that in “1984?” The Ministry of Truth put out some sweet Doublespeak!

  15. I agree with you on this article. However, a parent does read the rules and guidelines and signs the consent for their child to attend. If the parents have a problem with it, they need not to send their child there. When you sign on the dotted line, you are making a promise. Would you rather have your child attend the Godless public schools? Really now! Is this all you have? Not much!!

    1. Please keep it up! I’m getting a laugh a minute at the idiotic drivel you’re just repeating regardless of how detached from reality you are!

      Godless public schools.

      God has abandoned public schools, all attenders & teachers, and especially any innocent young Christian fundamentalists “stuck” in public schools.

      1. When I taught teen class at my church the best kids I ever had were the ones attending public schools. The best Bible study groups I ever had were in public high schools initiated by the students. All denoms, wanting to learn about Christ. Never saw zeal like that in the kids who attended Christian or homeschool. It was a stark difference.
        Do what you have to for your family: Christian, public or homeschool (or funky combinations of all of them) but do not put people on guilt trips because they do not educate their children the way you think it should be done.

        1. I wasn’t. I was mocking his/her idiotic use of “Godless public schools”. It was a stupid trope back in the 80s, to still be claiming it now, is just ignoring reality. Standard fundy practice. Nothing to see here.

  16. What I don’t get is why in the world would we want to make so-called younger Christians adhere to something that is not in their own heart to do. Like keeping a blog clean, etc., or keeping off filthy sites on Myspace. I am on the internet all the time and manage to keep myself relatively unspotted by the world. It’s called self control, you know, one of the fruits of the Spirit? And how in the world are these kids or young adults ever going to cultivate the fruits of the Spirit if A) it’s not even in their own heart to do and B) they’re never given the chance to cultivate listening, hearing and obeying the Spirit for themselves on their own? By the time college comes around it seems like parents already had their chance to flesh out Christ in the home to the point where the kids see what’s what in pursuing a life with God. After a certain age, I think the parents, colleges, and all the Christian day care centers in America need to step back and let God do His work in the life of these kids, teens, college students.

    Oh, btw, this is runofthemill’s wife, Deb (Ashmore) Paul. I met my lovely husband at PCC and my blog is freetoreallythink.blogspot.com. Love this blog…check out mine. 🙂

  17. I was kind of surprised that this church managed to pick up your radar. Speaking from personal experience, this church is a bad egg. Spent a few years there until the abuse. That was the nail in the coffin for my parents. not how controlling they were, how hateful they were, or the fact that my mother was bullied because she sent her children to *gasp* public school. It was because when my parents told others about the abuse that had happened and who had done it, they just didn’t care. They didn’t try to down play it, or cover it up, or direct blame onto anyone else, they just did not care. It was that complete lack of empathy that led my parents away from that church to mountain view baptist down the road. Compared to Calvary they were the nicest people…

  18. I went to a Christian school in IL from 8th grade til I graduated. Of course it was attatched to an IFB church. The thing I noticed when I was at school and church six days a week was that the kids who attended the church but went to public schools were a lot more genuine than anyone, including me, that went to the Christian school. I think the reason was that they had to choose to believe, choose how they wanted to act, what they wanted to do, based on being a Christian. In the CC, we were told exactly what to think and do at all times. No one really gave much thought about living like a Christian, because we were completely insulated from the world. All I wanted to do was play sports and chase the hot girls. I never had to decide that I wanted to differentiate myself in any way because we were all together all the time. I was and am a Christian. I believed that Christ’s sacrifice was the only way I was getting into heaven. I was the captain of the Bible Quiz team that won state almost every year, and finished 3rd in the nation at nationals down at BJU. I was the captain of the basketball team, MVP of the state tournament, so it wasn’t like I wasn’t involved, but I never gave much thought to how I should be different as a Christian because I was never confronted with the freedom that would require me to make a choice. Almost all of us tried to get away with breaking every rule we could, drinking, stuff with girls, you name it. I was always impressed with the quiet dignity of the kids who went to public schools and acted like Christians while they were THERE. They were better than we were. I think Christian Schools can be a good idea, but when I have kids, I’m going to put them in public schools where they have to make a choice of what they want to be. If they’re trained up in the way they should go, why do they have to be completely insulated from the real world?

    1. Your post was fantastic. And true. The [few] kids in the teen church at my fundamental church who went to public school were the nicest ones in the bunch. Quiet, but that was their personalities.

  19. It really says something about a school when their web usage policy is so constraining that saying “_____ is a wonderful school” on a pre-approved website can get someone detention.

    On second look, asking a fellow student what the math homework assignment for Tuesday is (not the answers, just the page numbers) would get someone detention if seen as a public Facebook comment, because mentioning the teacher’s name would also fall afoul of the ‘no mentioning personnel’ rule. 😯 😕

  20. I really laugh when I read all of the comments made on this page from our handbook. Y’all act like it’s impossible to follow some rules. Goodness they’re just rules, they’re given to you up front before you decide to come to school there and when you put your name on that dotted line at the bottom, you agree to all of them, including the ones that seem stupid. As to the logo, the school started in the 80’s and no one has changed it since (many other things to worry about besides a silly logo). And as to the whole ‘godless public schoolers’ thing, they’re not godless, they just have to deal with a lot more pressure than those who are in Christian schools. But it is true that most public schoolers are more genuine. Let’s be honest, the majority of Christian schoolers aren’t there because they want to be; they’re there because their parents make them. And this particular school tells the high schoolers on orientation day that if they don’t want to be there, all they have to do is stop by the office and tell them. In about two weeks time they will be out of the school and going somewhere else. The school wasn’t designed to be (and isn’t) a prison, it was designed to keep as much negative influence away as possible. Anyway they see nothing wrong with using Facebook or blogs and such, they just monitor what you put on it. You give them your website info, and nothing else happens (unless you do something stupid like post porn on your wall). So really, it’s not that big of a deal. Be adults about it and grow up.

    1. Well, you’re almost a year late to the party but thanks for you contribution anyway.

      1. Yeah I noticed after I posted it. I was thinking that the comment about the two girls teaching in elementary chapel was old (they’re juniors now) but it didn’t make sense until after I posted and looked at the date. Sorry.

    2. Why does the burden of proving the non necessity of the rules fall on the student with no power or authority to make changes?

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