In mid-August 2024, as parents were preparing to send their kids back to school, actor-turned-Christian fundamentalist Kirk Cameron dropped some parenting advice no one asked for on Elizabeth Johnston’s podcast.
In case the last time you heard from Cameron was 1992, when Growing Pains ⏤ the hit sitcom he starred in as Mike Seaver ⏤ went off the air, Cameron quit mainstream Hollywood to co-found a ministry, make Christian-themed movies and TV shows, support Donald Trump, and take hardline evangelical stances on everything from evolution to homosexuality. He also has an ongoing beef with the “nefarious forces” he believes are “indoctrinating kids” by “killing God,” which isn’t a red flag or anything.
Like Cameron, Johnston is an outspoken Christian, as well as a homeschooling advocate, a mother of 10 children, and the host of House For Him. Additionally, she’s the author of Little Lives Matter, a children’s book with a thinly-veiled villain named Culture. Culture is a vulture who teaches children to only “live for themselves” and essentially acts as a stand-in for parents perceived as “woke” or “progressive” threats in the broader society. Speaking of culture, Cameron recently took the time to explain to Johnston why so many of America’s children are allegedly heading down dark and dangerous paths. Get those barf bags ready.
Who’s to blame for turning America’s children into little demons?
Like many MAGA types, Cameron lays the blame on public schools for a strange list of problems he says children are currently facing. “If we outsource our parenting because it’s easier or we believe the lie that we’re not qualified experts to educate our kids so we have to subcontract our parenting and discipleship out to the government,” Cameron told Johnston on her show, “we’re gonna have little kids that come back as little Marxists, little statists, little atheists, drag queens, strippers, drug dealers, and you name it.” This was enlightening, as until this very moment, we had no idea that kids “turning” into these things was more problematic than issues like poverty, hunger, and gun violence in schools. But okay, Kirk, you pick your battles, and we’ll fight ours.
It wasn’t the first time Cameron has criticized public schools. About two years before his Johnston podcast appearance, Cameron said public schools groom students for “leftist politics and sexual chaos, and racial confusion, than they are doing any real educating about truth, beauty and goodness.” Responding to that comment, a former school teacher wrote on X, “I taught for 25 years in a liberal state and not once were any of those things on my agenda. It’s so convenient to blame the bulk of our society’s ills on teachers. One day you will have no teachers. Oh wait, that’s what you want?”
Is Kirk Cameron a MAGA foot soldier?
Cameron’s bizarre public school criticisms are also keeping with MAGA Republican ideals as well as Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation agenda believed to be the blueprint for Donald Trump’s potential second term. Atheist podcaster and writer Hermant Mehta shared Cameron’s Johnston podcast quote on X. “Well, at least I know for sure my kid will come out of public school not believing the world is 6,000 years old and that people roamed with dinosaurs,” one comment said. “Makes me feel so old. My high school never taught any of those subjects,” another added. Eagle-eyed viewers will notice that Growing Pains is not currently available to stream on Disney Plus, but there’s no word yet on whether or not this is related to Cameron being what many would deem a raving lunatic.
Published: Aug 14, 2024 03:36 pm