(If you’re familiar with Arkansas Rep. Justin Harris and his rehoming of two adopted girls, feel free to skip to the break below. For everybody else the context here is pretty important)

Before reading this go find a bucket, a bowl, anything that will hold a decent amount of vomit. Place it beside you as you read just in case.

So, remember Justin Harris? He’s the Arkansas legislator who owns a private preschool named “Growing God’s Kingdom Preschool”. Back in 2011 this preschool was getting grant money from the state government:

Harris’ school has received $534,600 in Arkansas Better Chance grant money in the past two years.

This is, of course, against the law. You can’t use state money to proselytize your religion. But perhaps the school’s name is just a misnomer. Well, the Department of Human Services swung by the school to check it out.

The inspector wrote in her report that she found “scriptural pictures and decorations,” a hanging rug with a Noah’s Ark theme and two posters that refer to a “Pledge of Allegiance to the Christian Flag” and the “Pledge to the Bible.”

Nope, that’s illegal. No grey area. But c’mon, you can’t really expect him to know all the laws.

Webb said she hasn’t found language in grant documents clarifying to schools they can’t teach religion. She said the department is evaluating whether it can be more clear, either during the application process or during annual audits.

Of course! It’s not Rep. Harris’ fault! The grant application didn’t explicitly say you couldn’t use the money to break the law! How could he have been expected to know you can’t use state money for a religious cause (aside from the fact he’s a legislator and it’s his fucking job to know the laws of the land)? While they’re at it, they should include language in the grant documents that forbid the use of grant money for trafficking drugs, buying beer for pre-schoolers, or for acquiring hookers for high-ranking federal employees. Y’know, just in case the legislators are ignorant of the law.

To quote my father: “Isn’t it wonderful how those claiming the moral high ground don’t hesitate to break the law when given the opportunity to feed at the public dollar trough?”

And the real kicker? There was no attempt to recoup that money. It’s gone.

Anyway, Harris hired a man named Eric Francis to teach at the school but fired him after three months for poor work attendance. However, Justin Harris later adopted two young girls and gave them to Eric Francis to raise almost immediately after completing the adoption paperwork (while continuing to enjoy the tax breaks for “raising” them). Eric Francis would wind up raping the six year-old:

The sexual abuse of the 6-year-old girl came to light only because of a call placed to the state’s child maltreatment hotline on Friday, March 28, from an unidentified caller who said the Harrises “gave their adoptive children to a family” and “that family in turn gave the children to another family” and that they had “continued to accept adoption subsidy money even after giving the children away.” Investigators evidently determined that this third home was a safe place for the girls because they remain there today.

When asked for comment, Harris suggested the reporter was evil and quoted a bible verse:

In February, the Arkansas Times asked Rep. Harris to comment on the case and explain what became of the girls he and his wife had adopted. He refused, and stated that the Times was attempting to “smear” him. “It’s evil,” he said, becoming visibly upset. When asked whether he rehomed his adoptive children with another family, he replied, “I’m not confirming that.” When asked about the statements made in the State Police report in the Francis case, Harris said he hadn’t read the file because of the disturbing descriptions of sexual abuse that they contain. Harris then quoted Isaiah 54:17: “No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.”

Good call. And you know he’s not lying because the bible prohibits that too.

Harris then decided to “refute every tongue that accused him” by declining to comment any further:

Overcome with emotion, he then turned and walked away. Harris has not responded to repeated requests for further comment, even again this week when advised this story would be published.

It was later revealed that the two girls suffered abusive treatment at the hands of Harris and his wife for the short time the girls were in their home. Why? According to Justin and his wife it was because one of the girls was demon-possessed.

This sick fuck is still in the Arkansas state legislature (though he’s said he will not run again) and received no sanctions from the GOP-dominated body.

So why rehash all this old history? Yes, everybody knows that Justin Harris exhibits about the worst possible way to manage a family and that he treated two young girls without care, as tools – avenues to getting government money – rather than daughters. He’s a terrible person and it’s obvious he’s a terrible person.

Or at least, I thought it was obvious.

A group called the Family Council Action Committee is presenting Harris (and fellow Republican Charlene Fite) with its first Power of Courage Award:

The group’s press release say Fite and Harris “demonstrated courage by standing strong in faith when situations were tough at the State Capitol and they did so with grace. They are consistently models of their Christian values in their homes, their communities, and their churches.” … “The hardships that legislators go through at the State Capitol are sometimes unknown to the public, and during these times it sometimes takes tremendous courage to stand up for what is right” said Cox in a statement. “The Bible often speaks of courage and these legislators have consistently shown courage and taken it to heart.”

Those are some pretty rancid values Harris has displayed in his home. I think it’s more of a denigration to Christianity to call them “Christian.”

So what is the Family Council Action Committee?

The Family Council Action Committee describes itself as “a nonprofit organization devoted to standing up for traditional family values in the political arena.”

mmmMMMmmm…traditional family values. Yeah, give this guy an award while also screaming about how loving gay couples are destroying families. Those Christian priorities, though. If you think Justin Harris represents family values then you’ve detached any sense of love or care from the word “family” and re-branded it to simply mean “being Christian.” And the sad thing is that’s enough for groups like the FCAC. That’s all they care about: whether the person in question is Christian. They don’t care if he’s a good person or what horrors he’s visited on children in his care, they just care that he’s Christian – specifically, they care that he’s the type of Christian who hates gay people/women’s health as much as they do.

Normally it’s exemplary people who get awards. Add the right flavor of Christianity into the mix though and suddenly the dregs of humanity can get awards, because apparently we shouldn’t care what a person does, just that they believe in Jesus while they do it.

But don’t these people know about what Harris did to those poor young girls? Aren’t they aware of the way he used them and put them in a position to get raped?

The press release doesn’t mention the rehoming controversy directly, though it does say this:

Even when opposed by the liberal media, Representative Harris has always held firm and stood tall in his faith. No one can deny Representative Harris’ faith has always led him while serving at the Arkansas State Capitol. In 2015, Harris sponsored the Parental Involvement Enhancement Act, requiring parents to be involved in their children’s decision to terminate life by requesting an abortion. This is now law today.

I see. So if you care about a zygote you’re a champion of children, but if you use them to get government money while shedding responsibility for them in about the most callous way possible…you’re still a champion of children.

It’s really enough to make you sick. Here’s the whole press release so you can confirm for yourself that this isn’t a demented joke in poor taste.

If you think Justin Harris is a sterling example of the right way to manage a family, you don’t get to accuse anybody else of endangering the well-being of children or harming the very notion of family, because you clearly don’t give the first shit about those things. Instead you should just give awards for the guy who claims to love Jesus the most regardless of their character, because that’s clearly what this is really about – if not for your own integrity, then for the book you claim to love so much which prohibits lying in several places.

In the interest of securing both sides of the story I sent the Family Council Action Committee the following email:

Greetings! My name is JT Eberhard and I write a blog for the Patheos network. I’m covering AR Rep. Justin Harris receiving your Power of Courage Award and was wondering if you could answer a few questions. 1. Are you aware that he gave away two young girls he adopted without telling the state while continuing to receive state funding to raise them? 1a. If so, are you aware that the man to whom the girls were given raped one of them? 1b. If so, of all the other Christians in the state of Arkansas who didn’t do any of the above things, why did you feel Justin Harris, in particular, should receive an award from your organization? 1c. How does Harris’ treatment of his adopted daughters jibe with your commitment to family values? 2. Do you have an regrets about selecting Harris for this award? 3. If you had to explain to either of those two girls why Mr. Harris is receiving an award for his defense of children, how would you go about it? Thank you.

If they have the power of courage to respond, I’ll post their response.